Barry Sheene

Animals, and in particular cats, were a big passion of Barry’s from an early age and at least half a dozen of them would roam the sprawling grounds of his Charlwood mansion. This one is enjoying the comfort of Barry’s RG500 Suzuki.

‘I’m just an ordinary guy who makes his living out of riding a motorcycle in front of folks prepared to pay for the privilege of watching.’ BARRY SHEENE

In 1978, Barry moved from a four-bedroom house in London’s Putney to a 34-room, Elizabethan-style mansion house in the Surrey village of Charlwood – both Barry and Nixon the dog were completely at home.

People admire world champions, but they love world champions who do it all with a nod and a wink. Barry Sheene is still the antidote to the modern sports star with the manager, the PR and the portfolio of corporate diktats. What goes through your mind when you crash at high speed, he was once asked. ‘Your arse,’ he said.

Witty, intelligent, profane and profound, he had a style that coated his substance in gold dust. His legacy endures way beyond those who won more crowns, simply because of how he did it. Only Valentino Rossi has come close to matching his colour with his post-race stunts and late-night flourishes. Little wonder that Rossi, a nine-time world champion, regards Barry as a kindred spirit.

Podiums and near-death experiences were only part of it. His daughter, Sidonie, is now preserving these paternal traits. ‘I’m definitely like my dad,’ she said. ‘My mum and brother are quite reserved, but I tend to say what I think straightaway. It’s not necessarily a good thing, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to honesty and standing up for something – and he certainly didn’t mind upsetting the applecart.’

Her brother, Freddie, says people often stop him to talk about his father. ‘I was going through Customs recently and needed to sign some forms. When the officer saw my surname he just started going on about Dad. That sort of thing happens all the time.’

It may be hard to be objective from within the family, but Freddie probably nails the reason. ‘He was quite cheeky and was always joking, but he was really friendly and remembered everyone’s name. When you’re in that scene and you show interest in your fans it goes a long way.’

He was the playboy prankster who flew a helicopter and crashed a Rolls-Royce. He was the schoolboy dropout with a degree in absenteeism, but he was the street-smart East End geezer, as happy in an oily garage as he was on a Monaco yacht. He cut through snobbery by being himself and having the gift of the gab, something he employed to crowd-pleasing effect on TV shows like Parkinson and This is Your Life. The latter, a prime-time career review, showed the respect in which he was held as Mike Hailwood flew in from New Zealand. ‘I used to look over the fence at Hailwood surrounded by all these girls and think, “lucky bugger”,’ Barry said as he puffed away on a cigarette beside presenter Eamonn Andrews. His surgeon from Daytona flew in from the United States for that show. Steve Parrish shook his hand and grinned. When Giacomo Agostini, who had flown in from Italy, was announced as the last, star guest, Barry quipped: ‘There’ll be some fun tonight.’

Barry was renowned for having a cheeky sense of humour – as he demonstrates here alongside fellow motorcycle racer Roberto Pietri, in Venezuela in 1980.

The nights out were ribald subplots. Parrish recalled how he once dressed up in Barry’s leathers and qualified for him, while Barry was smuggled out of the Mallory Park circuit in Leicestershire on the back seat of a Rolls-Royce.

‘You had dog collars with your blood group on, so if I’d crashed they’d have put the wrong blood in me,’ he said. ‘It was just a wild time. It was so dangerous then and it seemed like someone died at every race, so you thought, “F*** it, let’s have some fun.” It’s why Barry didn’t encourage Freddie to get into motorbikes. No father wants to hang off a pit wall and see his son come past at 170mph.’

Another Parrish tale concerns a clandestine rescue mission to reclaim £250 of goods owed to Sheene’s housekeeper by a former boyfriend. ‘So we broke into a house wearing balaclavas and using a Rolls-Royce as a getaway,’ he said.

Racing in that era was a mix of debauchery and deadly seriousness, but Barry’s appeal crossed from the man in the street to the Beatles. ‘It’s artistic,’ George Harrison said when asked what appealed to him about Barry.

There were certainly depths that were kept well-hidden. ‘I didn’t see him as being famous,’ Sidonie said. ‘He was just my dad. There was a completely different side to him other than his racing. Although I don’t doubt he loved racing, it was a job. He did like the limelight, but he could also be private and there were days when he just wanted to hang out with his family. He was multilingual and encouraged me to learn languages. Behind the racing he had numerous different businesses.’

He was never truly the retiring type, so he was never going to swap his leathers for a pipe and slippers when his races were run. His popular appeal and ready smile made him a staple of TV light entertainment, and he had already shown his commercial nous with his Brut and Texaco sponsorship deals.

Synonymous with London and a British icon, Barry surprised some when he and Stephanie decamped to Australia in 1987. They moved to the Gold Coast after taking a trip there with George Harrison to watch the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in 1985. They enjoyed the location’s laidback lifestyle and Barry found the hot weather was better for his mangled limbs.

In Australia he reinvented himself as a TV commentator. A penchant for forthright opinion swathed in entertaining vernacular impressed the bosses of Channel 9. And then he riled them with his enduring antics, whether it be hanging knickers on the studio wall or wearing a fake moustache.

Away from the track he developed a flourishing property empire. It now seems odd to think of a multi-millionaire playboy with a model wife and Surrey mansion as being the boy next door, but Barry carried it off. The hair never changed other than receding slightly in middle age. The perennial wardrobe involved jeans. According to the writer Stuart Barker, he once emptied a can of oil into a hotel swimming pool after a row with management about dinner dress codes.

He did not give up on racing, and indulged in trucks, saloon cars and classic events, but by the late 1980s he was a father too. Sidonie and Freddie both went to boarding school in Australia and remember Barry as a strict father. Freddie recalled: ‘If we borrowed money, he would need to know what it was for and we would have to perform some duty to pay him back. Mum was the soft one.’

However, this being Barry, his limits were idiosyncratic and Sidonie also remembers her father smuggling cigarettes to her at boarding school.

Freddie did not watch any of his father’s races growing up and only truly appreciated his fame when he stepped out of the helicopter at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia to be met by a phalanx of photographers.

By then the helicopters were an integral part of the image. He bought his first three-seater while still on the Grand Prix circuit and blazed a trail for queue-jumping racers thereafter. His love of flying was such that, when he was dying from cancer, he made meticulous plans for the posthumous departure of his last, beloved chopper.

Sidonie says Barry was her ‘go-to person for advice’ and she was not alone. Barry’s generosity to fledgling riders was highlighted by a letter he wrote to Mitsuo Itoh, a TT winner turned Suzuki top brass, about a young rider he had spotted. ‘Mitsuo, I have every confidence in his ability to become a big fighter in the 500 GPs.’ He urged a quick reply because he warned that others were also interested. ‘His name is Michael Doohan. He is 22 years old.’ Seven years later, when Michael had become Mick, he won the first of five successive 500cc titles.

Barry also became the mentor for another talented Australian called Chris Vermeulen, for whom he arranged rides in the British Supersport and Superstock Championships. After Barry’s death, Vermeulen would repay the faith with second place in the 2005 World Superbike Championship and then victory at the 2007 French Grand Prix. He made sure that all his bikes bore the No. 7 in homage to his mentor.

Barry stuck with the No. 7 too, deeming it lucky despite his spills, a nod to how fate had twisted its rules for him. In many ways this was Barry, the rule-twister par excellence. He had been there, done it and bought the t-shirt, even if the logo did not belong to the manufacturer who had contracted him.

His reaction to the cancer was typical. ‘A bloody pain in the backside,’ was the blunt assessment. He refused to have chemotherapy because he had seen people ‘destroyed’ by the treatment, so he tried a diet of beetroot, Chinese cabbage and radish juice – a natural to his premature end in 2003 at the age of just 52.

From 1977 to 1979 the San Carlos circuit in Venezuela hosted its nation’s Grand Prix. Barry won the 500cc GP race in all three of those years – and looked forward to relaxing on the beach when the track activity was all over.

The trips abroad meant he and Stephanie could get away from the intense scrutiny of the UK tabloids and soak up the sun on the white, sandy beaches both in Venezuela and in Treasure Key in the Bahamas. For Barry, swimming trunks were optional!

‘With Steph I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I’ve got the best. She knows things about me that nobody else knows.’ BARRY SHEENE

Water skiing became a huge hobby for Barry in the late 1970s and he was certainly very accomplished, whether it was in the warm climate of Venezuela or off the shore of Brighton. An owner of a 200bhp speedboat, he’d regularly fly down to the Sussex town in his helicopter and meet up with brother-in-law Paul Smart or good friend Steve Parrish.

Barry also enjoyed sea fishing and proudly shows off his prize catch in 1991.

The 500cc World Championship calendar meant that Barry spent an awful lot of time during the year travelling around the world and aviation became a major interest as soon as he started to fly to the Grand Prix circuits abroad. Emergency visits to hospital prompted Barry to buy a helicopter of his own and he qualified as a helicopter pilot in record time in January 1982. The Hughes 500 was just one of the models he owned.

He was hooked from then on and flying became one of Barry’s major passions and wherever he was in the world he took an interest in helicopters. He even made special provision for his beloved helicopter after his death.

John Surtees, the only man ever to win World Championships on two wheels and four, arranged for Barry to have his first drive in a Formula One Grand Prix car at Brands Hatch in August 1977 during a private midweek session away from the glare of the media. With his car-mad pal and ex-Beatle George Harrison looking on, Sheene completed 70 laps of the short Indy circuit. Despite having faulty brakes, he came within 2.9 seconds of the lap record, but wasn’t overly excited by the experience. ‘It was no major problem to achieve that fast time,’ he said later, ‘and the experience, although enjoyable and requiring immense concentration, did not stimulate me to the point where I felt I just had to switch to four wheels.’

‘. . . the experience, although enjoyable and requiring immense concentration, did not stimulate me to the point where I felt I just had to switch to four wheels.’ BARRY SHEENE

The first British Truck Grand Prix took place at Donington Park in 1984 and Barry was present because DAF trucks had sponsored him since 1980. Unlike close friend Steve Parrish, who went on to win seven European and British titles, Barry didn’t take it, or the other truck races he entered seriously. He was a two-wheel man and truck racing was nothing more than light relief.

‘They asked me if I wanted a go [at truck racing] and I said “sure, it’s right up my alley.”’ BARRY SHEENE

Barry loved animals and at one time had as many as a dozen cats living in his Surrey home. Dogs and even lions cubs were on the receiving end of Barry’s affections.

On a visit to a Formula One Grand Prix at Long Beach, California, in April 1977, Barry met ex-Beatle George Harrison, and they immediately hit it off. Harrison was strolling round the garages when Barry spotted him and promptly introduced himself, and the sight of the two together at race meetings soon became a regular occurrence. Harrison was an avid motorcycle fan and a good friend of Barry’s, and he later helped find sponsorship for Barry’s close racing pal Steve Parrish. The friendship lasted right up until Harrison lost his own battle with cancer in November 2001.

With his success on the track accompanied by friendships with the famous, it’s little surprise that Barry featured in stories on the front and back of the daily newspapers. Indeed, Sheene the celebrity had numerous famous friends, including Monty Python’s Eric Idle. It was George Harrison who introduced the two of them and such was the comedian’s respect for the rider that in 1978 he recorded the song “Mr Sheene”. This featured some questionable lyrics about Barry’s big, red, throbbing ‘riding machine’. It appeared on the B-side of the single “Ging Gang Goolie” and was credited to Rutles-offshoot duo Dirk and Stig.

‘My family and friends are the best judge of me but I would always describe myself as being friendly and generally happy with life.’ BARRY SHEENE

Regarded as two of the most charismatic characters on the motor sport scene, Barry and Formula One’s James Hunt often crossed paths and they became close friends. They shared sponsors, including Texaco and Brut, were press favourites and supported one another at each of their respective events. With a seemingly carefree attitude and desire to enjoy every minute of life, they were often described as ‘playboys’ and competing in two of the most dangerous sports in the world meant that the phrase ‘live hard, play hard’ certainly applied to them.

With the American IndyCar Championship visiting Surfer’s Paradise on an annual basis, Barry’s TV work meant he got to spend time with avid motorsport fan and IndyCar team owner Paul Newman. Niki Lauda was another sportsman who held Barry in the utmost respect and regard for being a master of his profession.

‘I like to consider myself a genuine, honest person and, because of that, I am entitled, just the same as anyone else, to speak my mind on subjects I feel strongly about.’ BARRY SHEENE

Barry relaxes by sitting on Kenny Roberts’ 500cc Yamaha and having some fun in a go-kart in the paddock in the early 1980s.

Barry’s new life in Australia saw him reinvent himself as a leading commentator, incorporating both two and four wheel motorsport. Barry is joined on the grid in Melbourne by Stephanie and Sidonie for the 1999 Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Dad Franco and mum Iris joined their son and his family on the Gold Coast soon after he had emigrated to Australia. Barry designed and built his property to be big enough not only for his own needs but also to provide a home for Franco and Iris. Barry cherished his bike collection, which included both the 1976 and 1977 500cc World Championship winning machines, and he took great care in maintaining them. On this occasion, he is tending to the 1979 RG500 Suzuki.

‘Dad was a mix of everything you could ask for in a father. He was strict but fair, fun but serious. My sister Sidonie and I both had a cheeky streak – I wonder where that came from!’ FREDDIE SHEENE

Such was his party-loving lifestyle in the 1970s few thought Barry would become a family man, but a decade later, he and Stephanie had two beautiful children. He married Stephanie in February 1984 and Sidonie was the first to arrive in November that year, Freddie joining her on the scene four years later. Barry had a very close relationship with Stephanie’s son Roman and loved him like a son. He once said he would never live in Australia – because that was where some of his mechanics had come from (!) but a trip there with Beatle George Harrison in 1985 changed his mind, and the new family home on the Gold Coast of Australia was the perfect environment for raising a young family.

By 1998 Barry and Stephanie had been settled on the Gold Coast for over a decade – and it’s easy to see why. Their new home in Surfer’s Paradise had all the trappings and luxuries befitting that of a successful sportsman and the laid-back lifestyle suited him well. ‘One of the lovely things about living over here is that, having a young family, I can spend so much time with them,’ he told Thames Television. ‘There’s no typical day for me, but I do get to spend a lot of time with my family.’

Ever since his crash at Daytona in 1975, Barry had noticed that his previously broken bones ached in the cold, wet conditions of the UK. Heat helped them and this was the main reason for emigrating. ‘I didn’t leave England because I didn’t like it; I love England and had tremendous support there, but the reason I came to Australia was for health reasons and it’s a great way to bring the family up.’

Barry’s warmth of personality and down-to-earth nature meant that he struck up a number of great friendships throughout the course of his career.

Two of his closest friends were Jeremy Paxton (left) and Jason Boland (right). They formed part of the infamous ‘Squadron’ and they used to hang out together on Australia’s Gold Coast, waterskiing, flying helicopters and, once landed, enjoying the occasional drink!

Alan Freedman was one Barry’s best friends from his racedays. He owned the Brutus Jeans clothing company and sponsored Barry for a while.

Julian Seddon was one Barry’s oldest friends. They first met in the 1970s and worked together on a number of projects, including Barry’s movie Space Riders. The film starred Barry and Stephanie as themselves, and told the story of Sheene’s Silverstone crash and his pursuit of the World Championship.

Barry didn’t just move himself and all his family to Australia: his haul of trophies from his 15-year career came with him and it wasn’t long before he had his own private collection of machinery assembled too. His pride and joy, the RT67 125cc Suzuki, had been sold at the end of 1971, but Barry bought it back in 1978, by which time he was a double world champion. He subsequently had it written into his contract that he could keep the bikes he raced and he took eight in total with him to Australia. A ninth machine, the big bore RG652cc Suzuki produced in 1977 for the home internationals, including the Transatlantic Trophy Races, was sent over by Suzuki GB and all of these bikes were carefully restored and maintained by Barry.

Two legendary motorcycle world champions together: Barry shows Giacomo Agostini around his trophy room.

‘Dad once rode the Transatlantic Suzuki 680 around the streets near home and everyone was looking and pointing at the bike.’ BARRY SHEENE

Sheene may have retired from racing in 1984, but he remained as busy as ever. Following his emigration to Australia in 1987, he was signed up by Channel 9 to co-present their motorsport coverage. Father Franco regularly accompanied Barry to events such as the Australian Formula One Grand Prix and it wasn’t long before son Freddie, born in 1988, was by his Dad’s side, even appearing with him on Channel 10’s RPM motorsports programme.

One of Australia’s great motorcyclists was Wayne Gardner. He made his name in the UK in 1981 and for four years he battled regularly with Barry in the British Championships, firstly for Moriwaki and then Honda Britain. By 1984 he was a regular in the 500cc World Championship and when Barry retired at the end of 1984 Gardner was in the ascendancy. He became World Champion in 1987, retired in the 1992 season and then returned home to find a new career in the Australian Touring Car Championship and renew his acquaintance with Sheene.

Even though he had retired from racing, Sheene kept a keen eye on the motorcycling talent in the country and he did all he could to help the aspirations of numerous riders, including Michael Doohan. In 1988, Barry approached Mitsuo Itoh, then Suzuki’s racing boss and the only Japanese rider ever to have won at the Isle of Man TT, and wrote this letter encouraging Suzuki to sign the Queensland rider before other factories did. At this point, Doohan was already receiving help from Yamaha and Barry saw his potential as a future 500cc Grand Prix rider. Suzuki missed their opportunity, though. For the 1989 season Doohan signed with Honda, riding for them for his entire Grand Prix career and winning five consecutive 500cc World Championships between 1994 and 1998.

‘His popularity in Britain is amazing. He’s a household name there despite retiring almost 20 years ago. That’s because his talent, personality, and quick-wit won the hearts of the people.’ MICK DOOHAN

‘I don’t have any regrets, I did things the way I wanted to do them. The person that made up my mind for me was me.’ BARRY SHEENE

Stephanie would be by Barry’s side at all of his race meetings and she immersed herself totally into her husband’s profession, arming herself with a stopwatch and clipboard, and meticulously recording each and every one of Barry’s practice or racing laps.

Barry’s final UK appearance came at the Goodwood Revival meeting in September 2002. Riding Fred Walmsley’s 500cc Manx Norton, he finished a close second to 1987 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner in the first of two races, but he got his revenge in the second by a slightly wider margin. More than 80,000 fans witnessed his final win, including good friend and former Formula One driver Austrian Gerhard Berger.

In July that year Barry rode the same 500cc Manx Norton in the classic races on the support programme at the British Grand Prix at Donington Park. Despite feeling unwell for some time, Barry wasn’t going to let his good friend Walmsley or his UK fans down and he promptly won both races. On his return to Australia, he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus and upper stomach, making the news public in a brief press release on 23 August. His final public appearance came at the Australian Grand Prix in October. He passed away on 10 March, 2003, aged 52.

The absence of Barry at the 2003 Australian Grand Prix was felt strongly. A year before, he made his last visit to Phillip Island when, despite being already embroiled in his fight against cancer, he made sure he didn’t miss a thing. The adopted Australian saw his life celebrated with a 700-strong convoy of bikes from Victoria, culminating in a full lap around the famous circuit. Five-times 500cc World Champion Michael Doohan also completed a lap on the same Manx Norton used by Barry to win his last race, and Stephanie was there too, bringing it to an end with an appreciative wave of the chequered flag.

The new hero of racing, Valentino Rossi, won the MotoGP race in spectacular fashion, overcoming a 10-second penalty to claim the honours. He had his own celebration and memory of Barry pre-planned, carrying a flag bearing the No.7, made from a bed sheet ‘borrowed’ from the hotel – Barry would certainly have approved!

‘Barry Sheene was not only one of the most brilliant motorcycle racers who ever lived, he was a lovely man too. He was brilliantly cheerful. He had a core of steel.’ MURRAY WALKER