So long, Sabine...

[theprf]

I watched these yesterday. Holy moly. She's passing sport bikes in a diesel Transit van fer pete's sake!
I'd love to see more esp. the Clarkson vids if they can be found.

[32wildbilly]

Yes she was blowing off sport bikes. Not the "bombastic one" you were looking for but an example of her driving skills.
she was no joke behind a wheel.

I watched these yesterday. Holy moly. She's passing sport bikes in a diesel Transit van fer pete's sake!
I'd love to see more esp. the Clarkson vids if they can be found.

[gnat]

Yes she was blowing off sport bikes. Not the "bombastic one" you were looking for but an example of her driving skills.
she was no joke behind a wheel.

Not the same without her running commentary (she was as good at understated comedy as she was driving), but damn did she make the rest of those drivers look like chumps. I can almost hear her saying "Watch this. I pass you on the outside!"

[32wildbilly]

Here is a little more on the TG episode at the ring.

In December 2004, Schmitz gained further recognition in the United Kingdom after appearing in the BBC television show Top Gear with presenter Jeremy Clarkson. After Clarkson (under her tutelage) set a lap time of 9 minutes 59 seconds around the Nürburgring in a Jaguar S-Type diesel (Series 5, Episode 5), she castigated his best lap with the comment "I tell you something, I do that lap time in a van". She did a lap in the Jaguar S-Type, and set a time of 9 minutes 12 seconds, beating him by 47 seconds. When trying to film Schmitz as she drove the S-Type, the film crew were unable to keep up, and had to get Jaguar test driver Wolfgang Schubauer to drive the Jaguar S-Type R chase car. Schmitz also drove a Ford Transit diesel van in an attempt to beat Clarkson's time set in the Jaguar S-Type diesel, missing his time by just 9 seconds (Series 6, Episode 7).

She was indeed a race car driver.