Mildred Mary Bruce was the car world’s rule breaker who thrived on extremes and surprises. Stepping into the cockpit of a beast she'd never driven, and smashing a 24-hour solo endurance record at nearly 90 miles per hour. That’s exactly what Mildred did in 1929 at Montlhéry, behind the wheel of a Bentley 4½ Litre. She covered a staggering 2,164 miles on her own, wiping out previous marks and rewriting the playbook for female racers and speed enthusiasts alike.
Mildred, who preferred to be known as the Honorable Mrs Victor Bruce, took on the challenge with raw nerve. The car was monstrously heavy with a 4.5-liter engine, not exactly built for delicate handling. Her sheer grit was on full display when, during a pit stop, she mistook a petrol bottle for water, gulped it down, instantly realized her mistake, and kept hammering the track for six more hours to claw back lost time. Somehow, she stayed razor-sharp, piloting that iron giant through fog, snow, and bone-deep exhaustion.
A daredevil on land, sea, and sky, Mildred set the fastest solo crossing of the English Channel and crushed a 24-hour distance record on water in the Solent aboard the Berengaria. She didn’t stop there after only 26 hours of flying lessons, she flew solo around the world and became the first woman to fly single-handed to Japan. Her diary recordings from her flights reveal an awe-inspiring blend of focus, fear, and relentless optimism.
