It seems a long time ago when I was attending a race meeting at Mallory Park in the late 1960s and it was a bitter start to a Spring. I was camping in the Paddock in my Ford Anglia 105E and was sited next to a German Sidecar team.

I watched the practice and was surprised to see the passenger remove the helmet and I saw the passenger was a girl.

She was literally blue with cold and shivered uncontrollably as she stood and watched as the sidecar outfit was wheeled into a tiny enclosure tent.

I was concerned and suggested she sat in my car to get warmed up and to have a hot soup from my large size vacuum flask. She was very pleased to receive this attention and I found out her name was Armgard Neumann who was passenger for Arsenius Butscher on a BMW

I watched this team during the weekend and Aga came back to the car with Biscuits and reciprocal drinks to show her appreciation.

When the meeting had finished and we were all wrapping up to go home I learnt that the team was entered in the TT in June... In passing I said that I hoped it would be a lot warmer by then.
We kept in touch and I was able to get details useful for media use and we gave her and Arsenius quite a bit of publicity.

AGA IN RED TOP

BERYL SWAIN

In 1962 we had the first female solo rider Beryl Swain, but it was still closed doors at the September event so I got involved in trying to get Liz Skinner of Bracknell a ride in the Manx. She was very successful on short circuits was not allowed to enter the Manx Grand Prix because of the Men Only rule. We appeared on Manx Radio, in the weeklies and the monthlies and after a number of other girl riders had joined in, we were able to get an entry for her and the other girls.

LIZ SKINNER

FRANCESCA GIORDANO

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