Born in Brakpan, South Africa, Wilson began competing in motorsport at an extraordinary age, finishing second in the South African national midget car championships at just twelve years old in 1967. By 1972 she had made her full racing debut and placed fourth in the South African Formula Vee Championship, continuing to develop steadily through domestic formulae. She won the South African Formula Ford Championship in 1975 and successfully defended the title in 1976, earning the "Driver to Europe" award that set her on a path toward international competition.
Wilson moved to Europe for the 1977 season, racing mainly in Formula Ford 2000 in the Benelux and British championships. She showed particular pace at Zandvoort and Colmar-Berg, winning races at both circuits. In 1978 she stepped into a Formula One-specification March 751, updated to 761 spec, racing in the Aurora AFX F1 Championship for Mario Deliotti Racing in a Cosworth-powered Ensign N175 and recording a best finish of third at Thruxton.
The 1979 season marked another milestone when Wilson became the first woman to lead a Formula One race. At Zolder in the Aurora series, driving a Tyrrell 008 for Melchester Racing, she led the field before spinning in wet conditions on the penultimate lap, recovering to finish third and claim fastest lap. She took three additional third-place finishes that season.
Wilson's most celebrated season began in Formula Pacific in New Zealand before Teddy Yip's Theodore Racing team provided her with a Wolf WR4 for the Aurora AFX series. In the second round at Brands Hatch, Wilson won the Evening News Trophy outright, beating Norman Dickson and Eliseo Salazar. The victory made her the first and, to date, only woman to win a Formula One race. She added second at Thruxton and third at Mallory Park before Theodore's budget ran out.
Away from single-seaters, Wilson partnered Alain de Cadenet in sports cars and the combination proved formidable. After a podium in the Brands Hatch 1000km, they won both the Monza 1000km and the Silverstone 6 Hours, making Wilson the first woman to claim outright victories in any FIA World Championship race.
Her success drew the attention of RAM Racing. She tested a year-old Williams FW07 at Brands Hatch, appearing competitive, but the car fielded for the actual British Grand Prix was an inferior specification lacking aerodynamic updates. Wilson failed to qualify for her only Formula One World Championship entry, remaining one of a small group of women who have attempted but not started a championship race. A practice accident at Le Mans that year also prevented her and de Cadenet from starting the 24 Hours.
For the 1981 non-championship South African Grand Prix, Wilson drove a Tyrrell 010, qualifying sixteenth and climbing as high as sixth before gearbox trouble intervened. Her performance impressed Ken Tyrrell sufficiently that he offered further drives, but a lack of sponsorship and the political fallout of the FISA–FOCA war prevented the opportunity from materialising.
Wilson attempted the Indianapolis 500 three times — 1982, 1983, and 1984 — with Teddy Yip's Theodore Racing. During her 1982 qualifying attempt she set the fastest lap ever recorded by a female driver at Indianapolis at 191.042 mph. Engine failures and the early end to a qualifying session in which her team-mate Gordon Smiley was fatally injured denied her a starting position. She failed to qualify in 1983 and 1984 as well, though she competed in eight other Indycar races during this period with a best result of tenth in the Grand Prix of Cleveland. A frightening accident at Brainerd International Raceway, where her March 83G shed its front suspension, resulted in a broken leg; remarkably, she returned to an Indycar just three weeks later.
Sports car racing formed the backbone of Wilson's later career. She raced in the IMSA series and internationally, with a landmark 7th-place finish at the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans sharing an Obermaier Racing Porsche 956 with Axel Plankenhorn and Jürgen Lässig. A return to Brands Hatch in 1984 brought fourth place in the 1000km aboard a Kremer Racing Porsche 956 shared with David Sutherland and George Fouché.
Her American sportscar programme included class wins in the SCCA/Escort Endurance Challenge at Sears Point and at Sebring alongside Scott Pruett, contributing to a constructors' title for Saleen Motorsport. A final Le Mans attempt came in 1991 in an all-female crew aboard a Spice SE90C shared with Lyn St. James and Cathy Muller, which retired after 47 laps.
A grandstand at Brands Hatch bears Wilson's name in recognition of her 1980 victory — the race that gave her a permanent place in motorsport history. She remains the only woman licensed to compete in both CART Indycars and the FIA Formula One World Championship. Her combination of outright race wins in Formula One machinery and FIA World Championship sports car events stands unmatched among female competitors of her generation. Wilson now occasionally appears at the Goodwood Revival and remains an enduring reference point in discussions about women in top-level motorsport.