Jag aficionado added dash of glamour to racing scene

One of the late Sybil Lupp’s first forays into mechanical engineering came as a little girl when she wired up a large magneto to a toilet seat in the family outhouse and zapped her father enough to send him flying out the door.

In an age when motor racing and mechanical engineering were most definitely a male-dominated professions, Lupp’s father was not the only one to fall prey to her well-known knack for shocking men.

 

She  learned to drive by age 11, and went on to become a prominent Dunedin mechanic, motor-racing driver, garage proprietor and motor vehicle dealer, specialising in MGs and Jaguars.

 

Otago Jaguar Drivers’ Club president Steve McNulty said she became renowned in Jaguar circles when in 1938 she got a job as one of New Zealand’s first female mechanics.

 

She later moved to Dunedin, where she co-founded the Otago Sports Car Club, and later became the first female executive member of the Association of New Zealand Car Clubs (later the Motorsport Association of New Zealand).

 

Lupp won her first racing competition in 1947, and went on to successfully compete in hill climbs, sprints and circuit races around the country.

 

She held the Class F New Zealand quarter-mile flying-start record of 161.77kmh for six years.

 

"She competed against menfolk and beat them many times," Mr McNulty said.

 

Being a fair-haired, grey-eyed young woman, she provided a touch of glamour in the male-dominated sport.

 

"She was always very feminine with flowing dresses on and makeup when she raced, but she would wear overalls over the top.

 

"People always wondered how she did it.

 

"She once replied that she got non-crushable material for dresses and she could tuck one side down one leg, and the other side down the other leg of the overalls.

 

"She was a bit of a character."

 

Lupp then set up her own business tuning, repairing and selling Jaguars, as well as founding the MG Car Club in New Zealand.

 

She became well known around the country as one of the best mechanics to go to if you wanted more power out of your Jaguar.

 

"She was known as the Jaguar lady.

 

"She was a bit of a whizz at getting things to go faster," Mr McNulty said.

 

"She bought a Jaguar Series 1 E-type brand new and modified it, and it became the fastest six-cylinder E-type in the world.

 

"It was clocked at over 180 miles per hour [300kmh], which was phenomenal for one of those."

 

Jaguars were her car of choice and she owned 15 during her lifetime.

 

Her last one — a limited production Jaguar XJS V12 Le Mans, one of only three to come to New Zealand — will be among many cars on display at tomorrow’s Dunedin Auto Spectacular at the Edgar Centre.

 

Mr McNulty said she bought the car brand new from England in 1991, and it was probably the only Jaguar that she did not modify herself.

 

"She had crippling arthritis at the time — she was getting on in age — and she had special, enlarged switches and dials fitted by Jaguar so she could operate the car."

 

A large display would accompany the car, showing her life achievements in the field, he said.

 

Lupp died in 1994, aged 78.