Eliska Junek, a beautiful love story in racing

World War I is behind us. Europe tries to recover normal life. The soldiers who return from the front have found many changes, especially in the women. His appearance is not the same, his clothing has changed, and his way of thinking too. Replacing men in factory jobs, or their work on the battlefields, makes these women of 1918 have little to do with those of 1914.

In Prague, Vizenzes Junek, a young banker with a passion for cars, makes his racing debut in 1921. He has talent and he shows it at the wheel of a powerful Mercedes. His fiancée’s name is Eliska Junek. Passionate about traveling herself, however, cars do not attract her too much. But she decides that, if these are Vizenzes’ great passion, it’s worth dedicating a little “love” to them, especially to her Bugatti. And thus, almost unintentionally, a true hobby is born.

In the following season, the couple, already married, acquires a Bugatti. At first they share him in several tests, but soon Eliska, now Junek, who learns very quickly, makes his name begin to sound on its own merits in the racing environment.

Eliska Junek sitting in front of one of her beloved Bugatti

In 1924 he began to participate in international competitions and won the general classification of the Pilsen hill race. The following year he achieved ten wins, six of them in the general classification.

In 1925, a two-litre Bugatti enters the Juneks’ garage in Prague. The young couple compete in numerous events throughout Europe. Eliska racks up victories, beating all her male rivals in Prague and Brno. Second place in the women’s standings at the Swiss Mountain Grand Prix in Klaussenplass. she gives her great fame. She is barely 25 years old.

In 1927, Vinzenzes Junek bought another Bugatti, a 35B 2.3 liter with a compressor, and gave the old one to his wife. Both decide to participate in the Targa Florio where the Bugatti have already achieved victory in 1925 and 1926. Eliska goes to Molsheim, the birthplace of the brand. Constantini, the team leader and winner in 1926, is not very enthusiastic, but the great Ettore Bugatti does like the young driver’s project.

Eliska Junek leaves for Sicily and immediately starts training. The opinion is unanimous among pilots and fans: a woman cannot resist the physical demands of the Targa. But Eliska works hard on her psychological preparation as a weapon to face the hardness of this race: 108 kilometers per lap, and a thousand curves… and there are five laps!

Elizabeth_Junek, in her later years, at a meeting of Bugatti fans

His goal is to cover the lap in two and a half hours. In the first step, she leaves the clock at 1 hour and 54 minutes, and sends a telegram to her husband: «everything is going well, but I must have misread the clock». The next day she lowers the time even more: 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Three weeks before the race, her husband arrives. Everything seems to be ready, but in the course of the last training session, she goes out in a curve and hits a stone. You have to change the address. The day of the test arrives, Eliska has only run 12 kilometers when she is forced to stop: the harshness of the steering is such that the Bugatti is undrivable. She tries to solve the problem and resumes the race. But on the second lap, after a corner, the steering doesn’t respond and the car ends up in a ditch. Eliska is unscathed, but she has to retreat.

The rest of the season will go better for him: he wins in his category at the German Grand Prix, the Ladies’ Cup at the Parisian circuit of Linas Montlhery with the 2.3-litre Bugatti, and the “Grand Prix du Salon L’Automobile”.

On the targa Florio

A modern preparation

The winter of 1927 to 1928 was dedicated to preparing a new participation in the Targa Florio. Eliska works in a very modern way for the time: she establishes a scheme of the race kilometer by kilometer, curve by curve. And he also resorts to the help of aerial photos of the tour. Both memorize the gear ratio in which they must face each zone, each curve. Definitely an exhaustive job.

And three weeks before the race, Eliska arrives in Sicily to train on the spot. And the first problem arises: the route has been partially modified. The second problem is participation: the best drivers of the time are present: Materassi, Divo, Chirón, Campari, Fafioli, Alfieri Maserati or the young Tazio Nuvolari. And as if that were not enough, the German Countess Einsiedel tells journalists that she will beat Eliska Junek because “I am stronger.”

Change the way you drive

But the young pilot is not scared. Indeed, she knows that her physical strength is not with her and, therefore, the best thing for her is to change her driving style to overcome the 540 kilometers of hard race with a good result. «She knew that she had to achieve a driving style that did not require great physical strength. Riding technique generally calls for hard braking and downshifting before corners, but I intended to tweak those principles a bit. Braking in the corners and changing gears at low revs, I found that I wasted no time. Shooting with Louis Chiron helped me a lot because, as a driver who doesn’t like skidding, his driving technique suited me perfectly ». Her goal was to finish the test around a tenth position.

Eliska and Vinzenzes Junek

Cherish the triumph

the truth hour has arrived. The cars leave one by one every two minutes. Eliska starts behind her teammate Albert Divo. At the end of the first round, she is fourth behind Chiron, Campari and Divo. In the second lap she engages in a duel with Divo and his blue Bugatti. And on lap three, Elisabetta’s black and yellow Bugatti, as the Italians called her, is already leading the race, ahead of Conelli, Divo and Chiron.

The fifth and final lap arrives. It looks like a woman is going to win the Targa Florio. Suddenly, the Bugatti’s engine temperature gauge starts to rise. Eliska always uses a higher gear to bring the mechanics to a calmer regime. The heat fumes burn his face, and the engine gradually loses power. They have to stop and the mechanic who accompanies her, raises the hood: it is a simple leak in the connection of a hose with the cooling pump. They quickly repair the fault, replenish the water and return to the race. But they have wasted too much time. When she passes under the checkered flag, she is fifth behind Divo, Campari, Conelli and Chiron. And behind her many of the best drivers of the time (including winners of previous editions). Countess Einsiedel will arrive nearly an hour later.

Epilogue

After the Targa, Vinzenzes prepares his participation in the German Grand Prix, which takes place at the Nurburgring. In its category, the Bugatti 2.2 liters has made the best time and also occupies an excellent position on the starting grid. The race arrives. Suddenly an accident in Breidscheid is announced over the loudspeakers.

Eliska mourns the death of Vizenzes Junek. She doesn’t want to compete again and sells the Bugatti. His racing career lasted only four years, from 1924 to 1928. And the victory that could have consecrated his life escaped him on the last lap of the 1928 Targa Florio. In 1994 Eliska Khasova met her beloved Vinzenzes. Thus ended a beautiful love story in racing and for the Bugatti.