Following occasional drives with the family car on the Nordschleife, all three Schmitz sisters started racing, but only Sabine continued and went on to achieve several notable victories.

After getting married and running a hotel in Pulheim near Cologne, she won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1996 and 1997 as Sabine Reck, all with a BMW M3 Group N entered and co-driven by local veteran Johannes Scheid.

[3] In 2006 Schmitz and Klaus Abbelen drove the #97 Porsche 997 in the Nürburgring VLN endurance racing series, entered by Land Motorsport.

[1] Schmitz came to mass public attention driving one of the two BMW M5 "ring taxis" around the 20.8 km (12.9 mi)-long race track in an entertaining manner.

[4] As a result of her popularity as "the fastest taxi driver in the world", and her charisma, Schmitz became an occasional motorsport guest commentator, known for her gleefully dry descriptions of driving incidents.

[7] In December 2004, Schmitz gained further recognition in the United Kingdom after appearing in the BBC television programme Top Gear with presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

Plus, she is both German and a woman, a combination of traits so alien to the majority of Top Gear viewers that the whole programme would probably self-destruct within an hour of her taking the job.

She was consistently outqualified and outpaced by Joubert and Van Der Linde, both of whom had extensive experience of the race tracks on which the series was run.

A mid-season crash involving Toyota driver Mike White at Killarney during an open practice session resulted in neck injuries and a damaged right knee, forcing her to sit out three consecutive race meetings.

At the end of the 1995 season, Schmitz finished last in the Class A points standings,[20] with no race wins, pole positions or fastest laps.