The always shining Inge

It’s May 11, 1947, and Inge Stoll is fastening her helmet, ready for her sidecar racing debut at Hockenheim.

At just 17 years old, she is stepping into her mother’s shoes as her father’s passenger.

The Stolls are pictured with an NSU though the programme also mentions ‘Harley-Davidsohn’ – complete with a rogue ‘h’ – as their machine of choice; the Harley was for the 1000cc class, the NSU the 600cc category. The teenager was passenger for both.

This moment defined and set out the future for one of motorcycling’s lesser-known mavericks: Inge Stoll. From this point on, Stoll would go on to become one of the most successful sidecar passengers of the 1950s and the first woman to compete in the Isle of Man TT. She defied convention by racing throughout the Continental Circus – and beyond – while married, competing at the highest level of sidecar racing.

And throughout all this, almost every single image of her is defined by a huge, beaming smile. Even today – 71 years after that 1947 picture was taken – the trademark incandescence transcends the