Le Castellet, France - As part of its celebration of 40 years in Formula One, Renault Sport invited 79-year-old Irish rally driver Rosemary Smith to test drive the RS17 Formula One car at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France.
Despite some initial misgivings at the sheer complexity of the controls, Smith soon conquered her nerves with the encouragement of Renault F1 test driver Jolyon Palmer, and her navigator Gillian Gullick - who she didn’t know had been flown in for the occasion - and became the oldest person yet to drive a 600kW racing car.
So the next time somebody tells you that you drive like a granny, smile and take it as a compliment.