Earlier this year, Erdington’s pioneering TT sidecar racer Rose Hanks passed away. A stalwart in the male dominated sport, Rose Hanks became the first female competitor to stand on the winners’ podium at an Isle of Man TT – inspiring women and girls everywhere to take up motor racing.
LOCAL AMBASSADOR and journalist, Sheila Pennell, interviewed Rose for a feature in Yours Magazine some years ago – and with fresh quotes from her family, and some kindly donated photographs, Sheila has put together a special feature remembering the life and achievements of this exceptional woman.
With thanks to the Hanks family.
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Words by Sheila Pennell / Pics donated by the Hanks family
Erdington’s dare-devil sidecar racer, Rose Hanks, passed away peacefully in February this year, aged 86. Her achievements in the sport, including becoming the first female rider to stand on the winners’ podium at the Isle-of-Man TT, were featured in the Radio 4 show Last Word with input from her daughter, Julie Hanks-Elliott.
Julie’s twin daughters, Jamie and Bobby, are ensuring that today’s growing female interest in TT and motorcycle sports will live on – with Julie currently competing at the World Women’s Road Race Championships.
The Hanks motorcycle dynasty had humble beginnings, starting life after the war when Fred Hanks and his wife Maizie opened Fred Hanks Motorcycles at 247 Slade Road, Erdington.
Fred decided ‘motorisation’ was going to be the future, and ran the Slade Road store with his two sons – Norman who often raced with Rose, and Roy who was the one who finally won her heart.
However, being a woman in a male dominated sport at the time garnered attention from some more surprising places.
Rose remembered: “When the Duke of Edinburgh passed on, I had an urge to look through my scrap book and reminisce about the time I met him at the TT races in 1968 – and, in typical Prince Philip style, he asked ‘if I ever scraped my bottom on the ground’ as he presented my award. I blushed and replied that the double rubbers protected us quite well.
“What a vivid memory – I was the first woman to take a place on the winner’s rostrum in 65 years of racing. I’d won second place in the sidecar 750cc Race.”
Rose Hanks was born Rosetta Barty, in Bedworth, in 1938. The oldest child, Rose was soon followed by six sisters and two brothers, and it was in her family home where her interest in motorbikes began. “My Dad always had motorbikes, and I started to love them so much I can remember every registration number,” admitted Rose.
“To get away from all the kids at home, I moved to Birmingham. I worked as a gas welder, making hoods for sports cars – but hankered after a bit more excitement in life.
“Then one day a friend, Ken West, took me out to an airfield. He’d bought a scramble outfit and said ‘Rose, come on, sit in and have a try’ – and I never looked back. In that position, low down and keeping the bike balanced, you ‘look forward’ all the time.”
But as the racing bug took hold, Rose built ambitions that were more than just getting out of the house – and soon she would get to start living her dream.
“My ambition was to ride in the TT. And in the TT Jubilee year, 1967, I got my big break – the chance to ‘passenger’ for a local chap, Norman Hanks. Well, we had engine problems and came 27th, but it turned out the ‘top prize’ was just twelve months away.”
Rose continued: “Dozens of weekends away came and went. Norman and I entered events all over the country – Mallory Park, Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Cadwell Park – gaining some wins, vital experience, and a few lucky escapes with our lives along the way.
“The word ‘passenger’ might make it sound easy, but I had to lie flat on the straights and put my weight where it was needed on the bends.
“1968 was the first year of the TT’s 750cc Sidecar class and, riding a 750cc BSA with Norman, we came second. Our time for the three laps – 113 miles – was 1.21.44.0, our speed 83.1 mph – only a point or two behind the winners Terry Vinicombe and John Flaxman. I’d secured my place on the winners’ rostrum; I could hardly believe it.
“The other sidecar crews gave me a bouquet and I was taken on to Hillberry to be presented to Prince Philip. The American and Canadian Division of the Women’s International Motorcycle Federation presented me with a trophy too.”
Despite a recognised dare devil on the track, Rose was to face other obstacles as a woman racing on a notoriously mal dominated track – and racing at a time when conversations about equality in sport were only just beginning to happen.
She remembered: “The headlines that year in the national press wouldn’t go down well nowadays. ‘Housewife stars among the 130 mph men’; ‘A wife doing a man’s job’; ‘A rider for the girls to root for’, and ‘A woman’s world now’.”
But Rose’s legacy lives on, both on the track and at home, inspiring her daughter and granddaughters to compete in motor sports as they grew to love what is now a family tradition.
After her mum passed away, Rose’s daughter Julie Hanks-Elliott, paid a final tribute to LOCAL AMBASSADORS: “When I was born, Dad said perhaps best mum stay home more. I’m not sure if she did, but she made a brilliant job of everything – even when her knees started to go.”
Julie added: “We miss her terribly but are so proud of her achievements. The rest of us live – and still do – within five houses of each other in Erdington. The Hanks-Elliott dynasty will race on. Mum has inspired us all.”
PICTURE GALLERY: Rose Hanks and family
To see more tributes to Rose Hanks, and other members of the TT Riders community, visit www.facebook.com/TTRidersAssociation
For more on the racing activities and achievements of Rose’s granddaughter, Jamie Hanks-Elliot, visit www.facebook.com/hanksracing
To find out more about the LOCAL AMBASSADORS programme, email: [email protected]
