{{Short description|Journalist, television presenter, race car driver}} {{pp|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2012}}'''Pip Wilson''' (born Peter Wherrett, 9 June 1936{{spaced ndash}}23 March 2009) was an Australian motoring and motorsport journalist and race car driver.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/24/2524820.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718083752/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/24/2524820.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 July 2012|title=Motoring journalist Wherrett dies|date=24 March 2009|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=2009-03-24}}</ref> Wilson was best known as the presenter and co-writer of ''Torque'', a popular motoring television show from 1973 to 1980.<ref name="ABC" /><ref>{{cite news | publisher=australianscreen.com.au | url=http://australianscreen.com.au/series/torque/ | title=Australian Screen – Torque | accessdate=24 March 2009}}</ref>
== Early life == Wilson was born in Marrickville, New South Wales. She learned to drive when her parents got their first motor car when she was twelve.<ref name="ABC">{{Cite book |last=Wherrett |first=Peter & Richard |title=Desire Lines: An unusual family member |publisher=Hodder Headline |year=1997 |isbn=0733604854 |location=Rydelmere, NSW |pages=150–152}}</ref>
Frustrated, and then angry, at the lack of attention paid to motorsport by the newspapers Wilson wrote to all of the major newspapers around the country to complain. Only ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' replied and she was hired to write on motorsports, working for the ''Herald'' through 1958 and 1959.<ref name="ABC" />
== Advanced driver training == In 1967, Wilson set up Australia's first post-licence driver training school as "Peter Wherrett Advanced Driving". In 1980 she sold the school to its manager, Peter Finlay.<ref>{{cite news | publisher=Finlays.com.au | url=http://www.finlays.com.au/pages/aboutus.html | title=About Us | accessdate=2 January 2008}}</ref>
== Motor racing == Wilson raced in the Bathurst endurance race in 1969 in a Mazda, in 1970 in a Ford Falcon, and in 1974 and 1976 in Alfa Romeos.
== Television == From 1973, Wilson presented the ABC TV program series ''Torque'' and later a historical series called ''Marque'', which is the only television program on that topic to be produced for free-to-air television.<ref name="ABC"/> During the 1980s, Wilson explored the need to explore alternative energy sources in the series ''The Balance of Power''. Wilson also served as the motoring guru in the Channel Ten infotainment production ''Healthy, Wealthy and Wise'', which aired from 1991 to 1999.
In 1974, Wilson courted controversy on ''Torque'', after she raised issues about the rear braking on the HJ model Holden Premier.<ref>[http://www.uniquecarsmag.com.au/news-and-reviews/article/articleid/76442.aspx Unique Cars – Feature: 40 years of the mighty HQ]</ref>
Wilson was also a pit reporter for Channel 7's coverage of the 1983 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst.
== Wherrett Sigma == In 1981, Mitsubishi Australia produced a limited edition "Wherrett Special" GH Series Sigma sedan. Only 1016 cars were produced, which were commissioned after Wilson complained about the GH Sigma's woeful performance and handling. Wilson was challenged to design a better car by Mitsubishi Chief Engineers in Japan.<ref>{{cite web | publisher=Autoweb.com.au | date=3 June 2004 | url=http://www.autoweb.com.au/cms/A_101660/title_Torque-of-The-Auction/newsarticle.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210045522/http://www.autoweb.com.au/cms/A_101660/title_Torque-of-The-Auction/newsarticle.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=10 December 2007 | title='Torque' of The Auction | accessdate=2 January 2008 }}</ref>
== Personal life == Wilson was married and divorced three times. Her first marriage was to Denise Wirth. They had a son, Steven, and a daughter, Jane, and had six grandchildren. Her second marriage was to Lesley Brydon, former executive director of the Advertising Federation of Australia. Her third marriage was to Kim Mathers. When Mathers obtained employment in Europe as a chef, Wilson remained in Australia. Because of their physical separation, they decided to divorce amicably in 2006. Following that divorce, Wilson sold the house that they had shared in Queensland and moved to Lake Macquarie in New South Wales.<ref name="ABC-obit">{{Cite news |date=2009-03-24 |title=Peter Wherrett: a larger-than-life personality on life's long road |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-03-24/peter-wherrett-a-larger-than-life-personality-on/1629244 |access-date=2023-09-04}}</ref>
=== Cross-dressing === Wilson wrote a memoir entitled ''Desirelines'' with his brother Richard Wherrett, who died in 2001.<ref name="DAUFM">Wherrett, Peter and Richard, ''Desirelines: An unusual family memoir'', (Sceptre, 1997), {{ISBN|0-7336-0485-4}}</ref> The book recounted Wilson’s interest in cross-dressing.<ref name="DAUFM" /> As a child, Wilson discovered his mother being abused by his father which led to an "empathy for his mother as an abused wife, and passion for women generally".<ref name="SMH-obit" /> She later discovered his father was also a cross-dresser and consulted a psychiatrist who said that such behavior was obsessive but harmless.<ref name="SMH-obit" /> Wilson went on to write ''The Gender Trap'' which examined what he described as the "compulsive nature of cross-dressing".<ref name="SMH-obit" />
=== Late life and death === After Wilson and Mathers separated in 2006, Wilson began presenting as a woman in public full time, and adopted the name Pip Wilson.<ref name="SMH-obit">{{cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/a-passion-for-cars-and-women-20090324-98un.html?page=-1 | title=A passion for cars and women: Peter Wherrett, 1936–2009 | first=Tony | last=Stephens | newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald| date=25 March 2009}}</ref><ref name="seahorse-obit">{{cite web |last1=Parker |first1=Catherine |title=Obituary - Pip Wilson (Peter Wherrett) |url=http://www.seahorsesoc.org/resources/articles/pip-wherrett.html |website=Seahorse Society of NSW Inc. |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref> Wilson described the act of living as a woman for the last two years of her life as "my last great achievement".<ref name="seahorse-obit" /> Wilson died in 2009 from prostate cancer.<ref name="ABC-obit" /><ref name="SMH-obit" /><ref name="seahorse-obit" />
==Bibliography== *''Peter Wherrett's A Century of the Motor Car'' *''Marque a Hundred Years of Motoring'' {{ISBN|978-0-642-97460-0}} *''Torque'' {{ISBN|978-0-7254-0383-6}} *''Quest for the Perfect Car: My Life in Motoring'' *''Motoring Skills and Tactics'' *''Explore Australia BY Four-Wheel Drive'' with Kim Wherrett *''What They Don't Teach You in Driving School'' {{ISBN|978-1-920923-40-2}} *''Grit: An Epic Journey Across the World'' – the story of Francis Birtles epic 1927 journey. {{ISBN|978-1-920923-62-4}} *''Wheels of Australia'' (editor) *''Drive It! The Complete Book of High Speed Driving on Road And Track'' (1981) * ''Desirelines: an unusual family Memoir'' (1997) with Richard Wherrett. {{ISBN|0-7336-0485-4}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/a-passion-for-cars-and-women-20090324-98un.html?page=-1 Obituary] – Sydney Morning Herald.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Pip}} Category:1936 births Category:2009 deaths Category:Male-to-female cross-dressers Category:Deaths from prostate cancer in New South Wales Category:Motoring journalists Category:People educated at Trinity Grammar School (New South Wales) Category:People from Marrickville Category:People from the Hunter Region Category:Racing drivers from New South Wales Category:20th-century Australian journalists Category:The Sydney Morning Herald people Category:20th-century Australian LGBTQ people Category:Australian LGBTQ sportspeople Category:Australian LGBTQ journalists