By 1935 Anne still in her Type 51A finished in sixth place at the Picardie Grand Prix in May and once again on the podium in third place at the Grand Prix des Frontieres in June. Incidentally, and you may recall from my article on Elsie Wisdom, Le Mans that year saw the most female entries to this day, with Elsie Wisdom, Kay Petre, Gwenda Stewart, Gordon Simson, Doreen Evans, Barbara Skinner, Colleen Eaton and Margaret Allen and Joan Richmond. Including Anne, that makes a total of ten women in the same race for 1935. Anne finished in eighteenth place in the Fiat 508S at Le Mans with Robert Jacob.

After the war, Anne continued racing. She entered the Monte Carlo Rally in a Renault 4CV six more times until around 1953 and rounded her racing career off with a couple more runs in a Fiat 508S Balilla. Anne Cecile Itier lived out the rest of her days on the Cote Azur, where she opened a tea shop. She passed away at the age of 89 in 1980. I would like to think Helle, and Anne overcame their grievances… who knows.

Recently, there is much interest about Anne Cecile Itier, as when her beloved T51A’s racing life was over, it was transformed into a sports car with a 2-seater roadster coachwork replacing the racing body, which is often the case with retired Grand Prix race cars. This car has recently received a lot of press, and it has had quite the journey since it left Anne.

Only forty-one Type51 Bugattis were ever built and only eight of them were the 1.500cc Type 51A specs, so distinguishing this as one of the cars that Anne Cecile Itier owned would be easy research. Her decision to purchase the Type 51A was cunning. It allowed her to race against more powerful engines with an equal footing . Bugatti took a Type 35 from their stock and converted it to a Type 51A with the chassis no. 51142, so whilst investigating the origins of the transformed car, it is no surprise that they found elements of a Type 35, a Type 38, and of course the Type 51A of the Itier original.

The engine was replaced by a larger yet less powerful 2 litre T38A engine. A new registration of the vehicle emerged in 1951, describing the car as a T38A two-seater Torpedo, which at this point it was owned by Mme Suzanne Lenglet,  wife of mechanic Pierre Lenglet. He already owned a T37 and could have sold this to purchase the older transformed Itier Roadster. The car was for sale again in 1957, transformed even further and bought by Danish driver Erik Nielsen. He had to pay more in Danish import duties than the actual cost of the car! In 1959 he undertook a restoration of this mixed car and removed some of the newer additions.

But here, ladies and gentlemen, is the research I find most pleasing: Schou-Nielsen went on the hunt for major components of the car in the Czech Republic where he knew many parts were available from the spares for the cars of Elizabeth Junek, whom you may recall from my previous article, was a major promotor for Ettiore Bugatti.

So, with the Anne Itier Bugatti T51A returned to its authentic original GP iteration, the donor car bought in 2008 now transformed into a sports saloon and these two cars have recently received a considerable amount of press from their outstanding restorations, bringing both Anne Cecile Itier and Madame Junek back to the forefront of Bugatti racing drivers.

Next time, for International Women’s Day, I look at the incredible women who were instrumental in the design, engineering, and inspirations for the motor car.

Until then,

Lara x

Lara Platman is an award-winning photographer, author and photo consultant with a passion for the theatre of motorsport. She has been writing about women in motorsport for us since 2021. To read more, explore the Women in Motorsport series.

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