Beryl Swain: the woman who challenged the Isle of Man TT
Beryl Swain is a name that deserves to be far better known, so that's why this episode of Belinda Automotive: The Road is Ours is dedicated to her.
In 1962, Beryl became the first woman to compete as a solo rider in the Isle of Man TT. At just 26 years old, she entered the 50cc Ultra-Lightweight TT alongside 32 male competitors, taking on one of the most demanding motorcycle races in the world on a small Italian Itom. But getting onto that starting grid was already an achievement in itself.
Beryl weighed less than eight stone, yet a minimum rider weight of 9 stone 6 pounds had been introduced for the event. Rather than allowing her to race as she was, the new requirement meant she had to gain weight and use ballast to meet the limit. What makes the rule particularly interesting is that the FIM had not introduced equivalent weight restrictions across other races, which understandably led to questions about why this particular restriction was being applied.
Beryl didn't let it stop her. She got onto the grid, completed the race despite losing a gear and finished 22nd out of 33 starters. She was also presented with a finisher's medal, which is no small achievement when you consider the demands of the TT and the machinery she was riding.
Beryl wanted to come back. She had plans to return the following year with a faster motorcycle. Instead, her international licence was revoked and the FIM subsequently banned women from competing as solo riders in international motorcycle racing.
The reason given was safety.
This is where Beryl's story becomes particularly interesting, because the decision wasn't simply the end of one woman's racing career. It prevented women from competing at international level for the next 16 years.
So who was Beryl Swain, what drove her to compete in the first place and why did the people running motorcycle racing decide that women shouldn't be allowed to race?
More importantly, what can Beryl's story tell us about how women in motorsport were viewed in the 1960s, and how much of her story has been lost because of the way she was portrayed at the time?
Beryl Swain's early life and career
Beryl was born in Walthamstow, London, in 1936 and worked as a senior secretary at P&O before marrying motorcycle racer and motorcycle shop owner Edwin Swain in 1958.
Her interest in motorcycles developed through her husband, but it's important not to reduce her story to simply being a woman who followed her husband into motorcycling. Beryl went on to become a competitive racer in her own right.
She joined the Racing 50 Motorcycle Club and began competing in motorcycle races around Britain. She wasn't simply turning up for the novelty of it either. She was competitive and had already won medals and trophies before making her way to the Isle of Man.
Her experiences at Brands Hatch also give us an early indication of the attitudes she was dealing with. Despite her results, Beryl was often placed towards the back of the grid. She reportedly summed up the situation by saying, “I presume that because I am a woman, I must be lucky that I am allowed to race at all.”
It's a quote that feels remarkably telling when you consider what happened to her afterwards. Beryl wasn't unaware of the fact that she was being treated differently. She could see it, and she was willing to say so.
How Beryl Swain discovered motorcycle racing
Beryl's move into motorcycle racing came at a time when women were still very much expected to fit into traditional roles. Her marriage to Edwin Swain gave her a connection to motorcycles, but her subsequent racing career was something she pursued for herself.
She became involved with the Racing 50 Motorcycle Club and began competing in events in Britain. The 50cc category was particularly significant because it gave riders the opportunity to compete on relatively small-capacity motorcycles, but the racing itself was still highly competitive.
Beryl developed her skills through this racing and began collecting medals and trophies. By the time she reached the Isle of Man TT, she was not an inexperienced rider who had suddenly decided to enter one of the world's most famous motorcycle races.
She had already been racing.
That matters when looking at the way her story was reported. Much of the media coverage focused on the fact that she was a woman, rather than the fact that she was a competitive motorcycle racer who had earned her place on the track.
Beryl Swain and the 1962 Isle of Man TT
The 1962 Isle of Man TT was a particularly significant event for Beryl because the 50cc Ultra-Lightweight class had international championship status. For a rider looking to establish herself, competing at the TT offered an opportunity to race on one of the most famous circuits in the world.
Beryl entered the race and became the first woman to compete as a solo rider in the Isle of Man TT. There were 33 starters, and Beryl was the only woman among them.
However, there was a significant problem before she could even get onto the starting grid. Beryl weighed less than eight stone, while a new minimum rider weight of 9 stone 6 pounds had been introduced.
The controversial weight restriction
The introduction of the weight restriction is one of the most striking parts of Beryl's story because of the circumstances surrounding it.
Beryl was too light to meet the new requirement, so she set about gaining the weight she needed. She also used ballast, including a diver's belt, to bring herself up to the required weight.
The FIM presented the restriction as a safety measure, but the fact that the rule was not applied across other races has understandably led to questions about whether Beryl was being specifically targeted.
It is difficult to separate the rule from the wider context. Beryl was the only woman entering the class, and the weight restriction effectively created another barrier between her and the starting grid. Rather than withdrawing, she found a way to meet the requirement.
Beryl Swain's historic TT race
Beryl lined up alongside 32 male competitors for the 50cc race, riding her Italian Itom against machinery from manufacturers including German and Japanese competitors. Her motorcycle was not considered a match for some of the more advanced bikes in the field, and she also suffered a mechanical problem during the race when she lost a gear.
Despite that, Beryl completed the two-lap course and finished 22nd out of the 33 starters.
She was duly presented with a finisher's medal, which is an impressive achievement in itself when you consider both the demands of the TT and the machinery she was riding.
More importantly, Beryl wanted to return.
She had shown that she could compete and was determined to come back the following year with a faster motorcycle. At this point, there was every reason for her racing career to continue developing. Instead, the FIM revoked her international licence.
And this is where her story changes from being about one woman entering a motorcycle race to becoming a much wider story about women's place in motorsport.
Why the FIM banned women from motorcycle racing
The FIM's decision went much further than Beryl's individual licence. Women were subsequently banned from competing as solo riders in international motorcycle racing.
The justification centred around safety. The argument was that motorcycle racing was too dangerous for women and that the death of a female rider could create damaging publicity.
But that argument raises an obvious question: if motorcycle racing was dangerous enough to potentially kill a woman, why was that danger considered acceptable for men?
The TT was already an extremely dangerous motorcycle race. Its risks didn't suddenly appear because Beryl entered. What changed was that a woman had demonstrated that she wanted to take part.
The decision also reflected a much wider attitude towards women at the time. Rather than allowing Beryl to make her own decision about the risks involved, the governing body decided that it knew what was best for her.
Beryl Swain's fight against the FIM
Beryl didn't accept the decision. She wrote a 2,000-word appeal, took her case to the press and continued challenging the decision. She also tried to explore the possibility of another organisation setting up a women's-only race, although the organisers refused to lift the restrictions.
Her response is important because it shows that Beryl wasn't simply disappointed about losing her own racing opportunity. She was challenging the principle behind the decision. She had entered the TT, completed the race and demonstrated that she could compete. When the rules were then used to prevent her from continuing, she fought back.
Her contemporary comments also show that she understood the gender prejudice she was facing. Her remark that she must be “lucky” to be allowed to race at all was not simply a throwaway comment. It reflected the reality that she was being treated differently because she was a woman.
Sexism and the media portrayal of Beryl Swain
The way Beryl was portrayed in the media is another important part of her story. Rather than simply being presented as a motorcycle racer, she was often described in terms of her appearance and her role as a housewife. Cartoons portrayed her as a blonde woman encroaching on what was effectively a boys' club, while some coverage suggested that she was simply a bored housewife looking for something to do.
That framing matters because it changes the way people perceive her. Calling Beryl a bored housewife who fancied having a go at motorcycle racing makes her sound like a novelty. It overlooks the work, skill and commitment involved in becoming a competitive racer.
Beryl was a working woman who raced motorcycles, won medals and trophies and travelled to compete. She was not simply someone who happened to be married to a motorcycle racer.
She had her own ambitions.
Women, strength and society in the 1960s
Beryl's experience also sits within a much wider conversation about how women were viewed during the 1960s. Women were often portrayed as physically weaker, more vulnerable and in need of protection. There were activities that were considered unsuitable for women because they were seen as too dangerous, too strenuous or simply too masculine.
Yet women had been carrying out physically demanding work for centuries. They worked in agriculture, factories, domestic labour and countless other roles that required physical strength and endurance.
The contradiction is difficult to ignore. Women could be expected to work hard physically, raise families, manage households and contribute to the workforce, but when a woman wanted to participate in a dangerous sport, her physicality could suddenly be used as a reason to exclude her.
Beryl wasn't asking for the risks of motorcycle racing to be removed. She was asking to be allowed to decide whether she wanted to take those risks herself.
The 16-year ban on women in motorcycle racing
The FIM's decision had consequences that extended far beyond Beryl. Women were effectively excluded from solo international motorcycle racing for 16 years. It wasn't until Hilary Musson competed in the Isle of Man TT in 1978 that a woman returned to the TT as a solo rider.
Sixteen years is a long time in any sport.
During that period, women who might have wanted to compete internationally were denied the opportunity to do so. We will never know how many potential racers were discouraged from pursuing motorcycle racing because there was no pathway for them at the highest level.
We also don't know what Beryl herself might have achieved if she had been allowed to continue.
She had already completed the TT at 26 and wanted to return with a faster bike. Her career was still developing when the opportunity was taken away from her.
What happened to Beryl Swain?
After her racing career ended, Beryl went on to build a life away from the racetrack. She worked in retail management with Sainsbury's and remained involved in her local community. She became involved with the Women's Institute and helped organise Meals on Wheels for elderly people. Beryl died in 2007 at the age of 71.
For many years, her contribution to motorcycle racing was not widely known, but interest in her story has grown over time. In 2019, a blue plaque was unveiled at her former home in Walthamstow, helping to recognise the significance of her contribution to motorcycle racing.
Beryl Swain's legacy in motorsport
Beryl Swain's story is fascinating because it isn't a conventional tale of sporting success. She didn't go on to win the TT or build a decades-long international racing career, because she wasn't given the opportunity to continue. That doesn't make her story any less significant.
She became the first woman to compete as a solo rider in the Isle of Man TT, completed the race and then challenged the governing body when her licence was revoked. She also used her voice publicly to argue for women's opportunities in motorcycle racing.
What happened to Beryl also raises a difficult question about how we define success.
If a woman enters a male-dominated sport, proves she can compete and then has her career cut short by a rule introduced around her, should we really describe her as someone who failed?
I don't think we should.
Beryl didn't get the chance to discover how far her racing career could have taken her. She didn't get the opportunity to develop as a rider, compete in more international events or find out what she might have achieved with better machinery. And that is perhaps the most frustrating part of her story.
We can look at Beryl's result and say she finished 22nd. We can look at the fact that she didn't become a champion and decide that her career was relatively short. Or we can look at the circumstances surrounding that result and understand what she had actually achieved.
She had entered one of the world's most challenging motorcycle races at a time when women were being told that they didn't belong in the sport. She overcame a weight restriction, lined up alongside 32 men, completed the race despite mechanical problems and then fought the organisation that tried to prevent her from continuing.
That is the Beryl Swain I think we should remember.
Not the bored housewife from the cartoons, not the novelty and not simply the first woman to race the Isle of Man TT, but a competitive motorcycle racer who challenged the expectations placed on women and fought for the opportunity to continue doing something she loved.
Beryl Swain may never have had the chance to become the champion she could have been, but she did something arguably just as important for the women who came after her: she showed that a woman could take her place on the TT starting grid, race alongside the men and finish.
The road was never supposed to be hers, but she took it anyway.
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