Miranda seymour

Friends and Family Pay Homage to Hellé Nice

March 23, 2010 By pete

Hellé Nice died in 1984, impoverished and alone. When she was interred, not even a headstone marked the site. Twenty six years after her death, Sheryl Greene is intent upon making sure the world does not forget this daring French woman who raced Alfas and Bugattis before WWII. Inspired by Miranda Seymour’s book “Bugatti Queen,” Greene, a car enthusiast from Atlanta, established the Hellé Nice Foundation to provide financial aid for young women with a passion to race. The Foundation’s inaugural project is raising money for the purchase of that missing gravestone or marker for Nice, whose real name was Hélène Delangle. After Greene visited the gravesite in France earlier this year, we asked her to update us on her efforts to secure a headstone for Nice.

Story by Sheryl Greene
Art by Larry Crane

From time to time I get messages from the author of “Bugatti Queen” Miranda Seymour; she passes along some bit of information or a contact I may find helpful for the Hellé Nice Foundation. In January, she sent an email that was a treasure. It began, “The last living relative of Hellé Nice, just surfaced …” [Read more…] about Friends and Family Pay Homage to Hellé Nice

Death by Delage

May 5, 2009 By Pat

Miranda behind the wheel of the Delage.

In this exclusive article for VeloceToday, Miranda Seymour, author of “Thrumpton Hall: A Memoir of Life in My Father’s House” and “The Bugatti Queen,”visits Australia and finds a French legend.

The Adelaide literary festival takes place every two years. I flew out last year for the first time to talk about my book, “Thrumpton Hall.” Adelaide is a long journey from London; I planned to sleep in on my first morning, even though all the participating writers had been bidden to attend a breakfast in the gardens of Government House. Luckily, I woke early and changed my mind.

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A Death Forgotten

May 5, 2009 By pete

Sheryl Greene is the driving force behind the Helle Nice Foundation.

Perhaps not, if the Helle Nice Foundation succeeds

By Pete Vack

As Renee Friderich’s lifeless body lay crumpled in the remains of the big Delage Sporte, (read Death by Delage) her friend and perhaps mentor, Helle Nice, went on to capture the fastest time of the Paris-to-Saint-Raphael rally that fateful day, February 22nd, 1932, in a car she knew well and drove better, a Bugatti T35C. But unlike Helle Nice, Friderich’s tragic death was never forgotten by her friends and family who mourned her.
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