A full report of the very first WIMA International (or Continental as it was known for many years) Rally was published in Das Motorrad. It was written by Hans Kimmel who later became the husband of one of the participants, Anke-Eve Goldmann and is reproduced (in translation, plus a few explanations) in full here. The Pearl Booklet also carries substantially the same description of this rally.
Of the participants listed below, Ellen Wetzig became Ellen Pfeiffer, European WIMA leader for decades. Anke-Eve became a well-known motorcycle journalist and racer, Juliette Steiner was a much-loved Swiss member, a renowned racer and long distance rallyist, who received the Ellen Pfeiffer award in 2006. Of the rest nothing more is known.
The Best Fun of the Year – WIMA Meeting
The Dutch are an impressive people. They have great roads, a seductive cuisine and an amazing number of motorcycles. Above all, they keep their cool. I have seen few police officers and no smashed cars in Holland; on the other hand, on the last 20 km of the Federal Republic of Germany before the Dutch border, three cars were in the ditch. And almost every second motorcycle on German roads is ridden by Dutch people – or so it seems. The Dutch also had the nerve to host a motorcycle meeting for women – what a thought!
Somewhere in the USA., there is a woman who rides a primeval giant Indian and saves money to buy trophies that are won in the competitions of the women’s club she founded (WIMA, Women’s International Motorcycle Association). Her name is Louise Scherbyn. Five of her trophies stood in the pension in Scheveningen, where the girls who had come to the first European WIMA meeting were staying together. About 15 had registered, from Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, England, Austria and R&S (Editor’s note: Republic of Czechoslovakia until 1960). Unfortunately, the Czech girl did not get an exit permit and the brave girl from the GDR (Editor’s note: East Germany) of course did not either. The nine, who came, were:
- Mrs. Jopy Deijs-van Dinter, Rijswijk, (the Netherlands), on Velocette Venom 500
- Mrs. Jenny Steenbeeke-van Dinter, The Hague, (the Netherlands), Jawa 350
- Mrs. Willy Parson-Liebers, Amsterdam, (the Netherlands), Puch 150
- Mrs. Han Clavan-Selder, Scheveningen, (the Netherlands), Jawa 250
- Ms. Ellen Wetzig, Frankfurt, (West Germany), am Main, Horex Resident 350
- Ms. Anke-Eve Goldmann, Wiesbaden, (West Germany), BMW R 69 600
- Ms. Marleen Lutz, Mannheim, (West Germany), BMW R 51/2 500, sidecar
- Mrs. Juliette Steiner, Yverdon (Switzerland), BMW R 50 500
- Ms. Barbara Batt, Sellindge (England), AJS 16 MS 350
About the characteristics of these individuals: Jopy is the initiator of the meeting. She’s striving to set up a European section of WIMA with regular competitions. Jenny is her younger sister. Her father, Piet van Dinter, must have been a racing ace around 1930, apparently in speedway races. The whole van Dinter family, including sons-in-law, is totally motorcycle mad. Han is a woman of at least 40, with two children of about 12– 15 years. She was also the hostess: all participants stayed in her private boarding house. Her house in Scheveningen was the headquarters for the event. Juliette is a well-known rally and speedway rider in Switzerland. No one would give this delicate woman the credit to be able to cover the 800 km from Iverdon to Scheveningen in one day. Her husband accompanied her on a 250cc off-road Zündapp. Barbara, always with a cigarette, a typical Englishwoman, had left her father’s farm two years ago and made a tour with her AJS from Canada to California, from there to Texas, on to Mexico, back to Texas and finally back to New York. About 27,000 km in 5 months. As a veteran of this trip, she had now come to Holland. She was broke and had therefore approached an airline for a free flight for herself and the AJS. Three days later, the answer was there: the free ticket was enclosed. Anke-Eve, active on the motorcycle for just a year, arrived only three days later. She is a teacher and couldn’t leave earlier. She had the heaviest machine and got along very well with it. Marleen rode her father’s off-road sidecar combination. She is only 16, her rig 15.
About the competitions: On July 15, this was the first competition: Trial near Arnhem on 125cc off-road DKWs. Murderous fun and a clear victory for Ellen from Frankfurt. Ellen has been around for years, has extensive rallying and off-road experience. Who doesn’t know her from the Horex Star Ride, when she rode 4000 km in a week?
The next competition: An orientation run on 16 July. Because of the language jumble, the usual approach hadn’t been working (Editor’s note: ie descriptive). The Dutch had then come up with a picture book approach, with individual pictograms which could be read like maps. It was raining cats and dogs, but an undaunted Barbara won the ride far ahead of the road- experienced Dutch girls Joy, Willy and Jenny.
On the 18th, two braking and acceleration respectively dexterity tests were held on the race track at Zandvoort. Barbara won both ahead of Ellen and Jenny. The single-cylinder and the 350 were clearly superior, even though Juliette and Anke-Eve veritably laboured to swing their heavy BMWs through the slalom poles. Marleen held up very nicely with the sidecar, especially when you consider that her father does not approve of braking with the front brake, which therefore did not work. A little less fuss on the part of her numerous family members who were present, would be better for the girl. She really can ride, but it’s not good when you constantly hear from your family at the age of 16 that you are a star. They may not have understood the cheerfulness of the meeting and the fun part. The two tests were followed by the training for the women’s race on the following Sunday. The greatest thing was the training of the three 350s: Jenny, Ellen, Barbara. Jenny, a rascally cutie pie with a cheeky nose and wavy hair on the singing Jawa, and Ellen with her dry Frankfurt humour, on the no-longer-new Resident. They romped about like teddy bears, and it was terrific, how Ellen, who rode the track for the first time, hounded Jenny. Sometimes one in front, sometimes the other. In the end, Jenny’s routine prevailed, she ended 100 m ahead of Ellen. Together they came to the finish tower, stopped, looked at each other and… burst out laughing. No dead seriousness, but a murderous fun. Barbara’s AJS didn’t quite get along, although Barbara almost completely disappeared behind her headlight. In the evening she walked around looking for larger main jets. It was fun to see how she disassembled her carburettor into all components within five minutes and reassembled it. She was now ahead in the overall ranking and of course wanted to look good in the road race on Sunday.
The 19th of July was a kind of rest day, it only involved participation in the Pijpensterrit to Gouda Star Ride. The girls rode in a group to the obligatory controls and grabbed the big trophy in the evening for the overall victory in front of a Solingen club, who were amazed that their pot went for a ride because of a bunch of girls. Juliette got the trophy for the individual ranking, because she had had the longest journey.
July 20th should have been the road race. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Kudos to the Dutch, who had the courage to advertise a race for women on a public race day. The low starting numbers of the race programme belonged to the girls. Regarding the mode of the Zandvoorter Sterrenrace (Editor’s note: Star Race) the following should be noted: There are so- called “stars” in Zandvoort, which are pin awards that are obtained for achieving a certain laptime, for example an 80s pin for the 80s section, the 90s pin for a laptime in the 90s. So you can always compete for the next higher pin. Jopy for example already had the 90s pin and tried to get over the 100. In the morning there was another training. First the men’s 125cc, then the 250cc. And then it was the girls’ turn. All of them were a bit pale, Barbara looked ill, Willy was unusually quiet, Anke- Eve swallowed with a dry throat. While the girls pushed their machines and crash helmets for inspection, it had started to rain, and as they waited on their already running machines for the entry into the track, gusts of rain poured down the slope. At that moment, the organiser cancelled the race. Not only the women’s race, as one would think, but all races in general. One can be in two minds over such a decision. It should be admitted that the Zandvoort track, even in dry condition, is dicey and results in an unusually large number of falls. And the organiser will have been afraid of the responsibility, to let girls onto the disgusting track in a rainstorm for a road race. In any case, it is a pity, because in this way the first road race for girls did not come about, after it was actually scheduled against so much probability. Jopy cut a gloomy face: the WIMA meeting lacked its crowning glory. At the same time, however, she had red cheeks again: the wait before the start had upset all their stomachs.
The cancellation of the race also brought mathematical difficulties. It was decided to evaluate the times achieved in the training on July 18th. Although this was not ideal but only the best possible solution, because with the few rounds of training it was hardly possible for the foreigners to catch up with the track knowledge of the Dutch women, who had been training on the ring every week for months. But no one was bothered by this circumstance, which corresponded to the light-hearted and un-grouchy atmosphere of the whole meeting. There had been a 100 lap on the 18th, ridden by Jenny on the 350 Jawa. Jenny had never got over 100 km/h, but in the hunt with Ellen the threshold to the desired 100 needle was crossed. Ellen was unlucky and remained with 99.97 average just below the 100. The class over 350 rode consistently a bit slower than the 350s, even Jopy with the still relatively handy single-cylinder Velocette. 350 seems to be the optimal size for a women’s motorcycle.
In the evening of the day, the prizes were awarded. The scoring method was not easy, as heavy and light, solo and sidecar machines had competed with each other. Barbara Batt from England and her AJS won the trophy. The title is in good hands with Barbara, she has won three out of five competitions and was undoubtedly the best rider of the meeting. Of the rest, Ellen made the strongest impression. Her uncompromising, cold-blooded riding style was less elegant and not as eye- catching as the very harmonious style of Jopy and Jenny, but possibly a few notches tougher and dashier. The most interesting to look at was Juliette, who can barely touch the ground with her feet when the R 50 is jacked up; she rides the BMW almost sitting on the tank, like a racehorse. Not overly fast and far from reaching the limits of her ability, thoughtful and clean: Anke-Eve on the heavy R 69. Willy had the smallest machine: she suited her bike as if it was tailor-made. A bombshell spectacle: Mrs Han, mother of two children, with the Jawa on the Zandvoortring and an average of over 80! And the 16-year- old Marleen on the off-road sidecar rig, handlebars like antlers, practically without any front brake. Her time in Zandvoort: 71 and more. By the way, she does not have a driver’s licence, but a DMV card (Editor’s note: Deutscher Motorsport Verband = German Motor Sport Federation). That’s possible.
On the 21st they all went home, Barbara with the Trophy in a cardboard box on the luggage rack. And they all want to come back next year.
