Mary Driver
A ‘Five-minute wonder’ and some gross indignation at the £2.00 price tag, was Eric Buxton’s response when his daughter Mary informed him that she needed a motorcycle helmet to ride pillion on her new boyfriend Dennis’ BSA Gold Flash. Little could Eric have guessed that motorcycling then, in 1953, would be anything but a ‘five-minute wonder’ and by the following decade Mary Driver would be known as one of the country’s leading off-road lady motorcyclists, someone good enough to earn the ride of a works Greeves in one-day trials, become a medal winner in the International Six Days Trial and a scrambler with the staying power and tenacity to finish in the top ten at the Twickenham club’s tough annual 100 mile competition. If that wasn’t enough her organising talents had also been recognised and in 1966 she was appointed as Competitions Manager with the sport’s organising body the ACU at its headquarters at Belgrave Square, a job she would manage with aplomb, earning much respect, for the next nine years.
Mary was born in North London and still lives just a few miles away in Hertfordshire with her husband Dennis — the man who introduced her to motorcycling with his BSA A10 in 1953 — and, as I soon discovered, she has plenty of clear and fond memories from those halcyon days of motorcycle sport.
“After I met Dennis, Dad insisted that I wore a helmet for riding pillion on the BSA — however he wasn’t very pleased when I told him it was going to cost him £2.00, as he was convinced that motorcycling and me was going to be a ‘five-minute wonder’.”
A Wonderful World
Dennis was and still is a keen motorcyclist, and during the sixties worked as a machine manager at Cornwall Press, the then printers of The Motorcycle paper.
Mary: “I loved riding on the back of the BSA, drifting into the wonderful world of motorcycling, but decided I’d like to have a bike of my own so in 1954 went along to the RAC/ACU training scheme at Haringey and passed my test on a 197cc James. The same year I also got a secretarial job working with the ACU in Belgrave Square. By then Dennis had decided he fancied doing a bit of competition work, so he’d joined the Wood Green Club and started riding in some trials, firstly on a James two-stroke and then later on a 500cc Ariel.”
At that time the club organised several major events including the Paley Cup, the Beggars Roost and Clayton Trophy trials, and it wasn’t long before the enthusiastic Mary was roped into helping out — some extremely enjoyable tasks in which she covered many miles on her little road machine.
“I started following the trials and after a while really got the bug; to begin with I helped out with the paperwork and used to ride to events all over the country, including one in
Derbyshire where I assisted Dennis in his job of clerk of the course for the Clayton Trophy.
“After about three years’ road riding experience I really fancied having a go myself, so with plenty of encouragement from fellow club members I entered my first event — a local club trial — on Dennis’ James. I can’t remember much about it now but I can recall that although I managed to finish I didn’t get on too well; I fell off several times and had lots of ‘fives’.
“We couldn’t afford a car and trailer or a van so for the first couple of seasons I rode the machine to the trial, competed and then rode home again, covering many miles in the process. The first few trials were hard work, but I loved them, and by the end of the season I’d won my first novice cup.”
Riding to and from the events and fettling her machines also gave Mary a keen appreciation for the mechanics of motorcycling, and with tips picked up from Dennis she became adept at wielding the spanners; skills which in future years would hold her in good stead when she started competing in the International Six Days Trial. It also gave her a zest for speed and the following year (1958) she competed in the MCC high-speed trials at Silverstone on a 500cc AJS and again in 1959 aboard a 197cc DKW two-stroke. Little from the two events is now remembered, although Mary laughed as she recalled the look of shock on a marshal’s face after a sidecar competitor had crashed. The rider was not seriously injured but got up holding his severed leg: an artificial one ripped off in the spill!
Wedding Bells
1958 was a year for celebration, as not only was Mary showing steady improvement in her trials — winning her first, First Class award — it was also the year that she and Dennis got married. By 1959 she’d progressed to a 250cc BSA C15T and had begun competing in the important nationals, although by now the couple travelled in the relative luxury of a Bedford van.
“When I started riding in the nationals we decided to get a van and managed to buy an old Bedford from a fellow club member who was emigrating to Australia. I recall that they wanted £10.00 for it but money was so tight for us at the time we had to send the money on to them later on.
“On the way to ride in my first ‘Scottish’ in 1960 the Bedford overheated badly and we had to stop and get some water out of a river and fill the radiator before we could carry on!”
It was the first of her seven rides in the highland six-day classic and, as one of the few lady competitors, the smiling young woman from North London quickly became a firm favourite with the appreciative crowds. Riding for six hard days was no easy task but Mary soon proved that she had both the skill and stamina to compete with the best. In fact she had improved so much that by the following year she had won an award in the national Hoad Trial — qualifying her for expert status — and earned sponsorship from Bill Slocombe.
“Dennis and I had bought all of our machines from Bill so he started sponsoring me in 1961 on a 250cc BSA: a bike prepared by Alec Wright, who was a wonderful engineer.”
On another Slocombe-sponsored 250 ‘Beezer’ 1961 also saw the name of Mary Driver appear in her first International Six Day event. It would be the first of five consecutive ISDTs for Mary and for the 36th running of motorcycling’s ‘Olympics’ she joined fellow lady riders Jill Savage and Maico-mounted Olga Kevelos on the Llandrindod Wells start line. There was a slight hiccup after she tried to start the BSA with the ignition switch in the wrong position on day one, but the Wood Green rider had a trouble-free week and at the end of six hard days and 1,200 miles of riding came away with a well-deserved silver medal.
In one-day trials Mary continued to compete with a great deal of success on the Slocombe-sponsored BSAs, although her luck was out in the 1962 West German ISDT and she was forced to retire after she ran out of time following a spate of punctures. In an effort to build up her strength and stamina the same season had seen Mary compete in her first scramble, and she was extremely pleased with her debut ride.
“Dennis was then riding in scrambles — in fact he was doing quite well and had managed to get a 2nd in a local event on his Greeves — so I thought that it would be good to have a go myself to build up my upper body strength in preparation for the ISDT. I quickly discovered that scrambling was even more of ‘a man’s sport’ than trials but with my gear on no one realised I was a girl, and in my first event I did quite well, and at least didn’t finish last!”
ISDT Best
There was no doubt that it certainly helped her prepare for the 1963 International in Czechoslovakia; an event which was one of the most arduous in years, with a route so severe in places Sammy Miller likened it to sections in a one-day trial. Mounted on a 250cc Greeves the plucky North Londoner came away from the Spindleruv Mlyn venue with a much-prized bronze medal; a performance she now reflects on as her best in all of her six Internationals.
“After a long drive through Germany we arrived at the border wire and it took absolutely hours before we were allowed to cross into Czechoslovakia. We eventually got in and soon discovered it was like another world compared to what we were used to: little choice of goods in the shops and secret police everywhere. We arrived at our hotel but there were no curtains at the windows and we had to drape a spare blanket across the gap.
“The Czech people themselves were extremely friendly, but for the trial itself I was lucky to make the starting line. We discovered that my Greeves had a problem with the crankshaft, but fortunately for me a Dutch competitor — Simon Schramm — with a similar machine had crashed while practising and broken his leg, so before scrutineering we swapped motors and despite the tough going it ran faultlessly for the whole six days. Looking back now I think it was my best ever ride in an ISDT.”
On a newly acquired 250cc Greeves Mary also qualified for the 1963 Southern Experts — acquitting herself well in the trial — and shortly afterwards she was signed by Comerfords to ride a works supported machine, motorcycles which she would ride in both one- and six-day trials and scrambles with a great deal of success until her retirement in 1970.
“Although the machines were sponsored by Comerfords they were looked after by the factory competition department and I got to know Bert Greeves, ‘Cobby’ and Bill Brooker extremely well. Both Greeves and Comerfords were great to work for and if I’d had a particularly good ride they would send me ‘well done’ cards in recognition.”
Certainly her first season on the Thundersley two-strokes — 1964 — was a highly productive one: successes included a silver award in the Scottish Six Day and a trip to the near continent where she finished 20th out of 98 competitors in the International trial de Forteresse at Namur in Belgium. To prepare for the September International Six Day in East Germany Mary also put in some memorable performances on the scrambles track, although one event left her very saddle sore.
“I loved riding in scrambles and thought that the Twickenham Club’s 100-mile event at Pirbright would be ideal training for that year ISDT in East Germany. Like the International, good machine preparation was of paramount importance but the mental attitude was equally important — it was no good treating it like a five-lap sprint. You just needed to be able to pace yourself, arrange support for fuel and refreshment stops and, most importantly, keep going. I did manage to keep going and at the end of the race out of 77 starters I’d finished 9th — although my backside was so sore I couldn’t sit down properly for a week!”
Hollywood
Steve McQueen was in the American team that year for the ISDT, so the whole concept of a Hollywood star behind the Iron Curtain created a lot of media interest. Again, Mary recalls life behind the Iron Curtain as being very different to that at home and remembered one thought-provoking incident where Olga Kevelos offered a child a banana only to find that they didn’t know how to peel it. Olga was quickly pounced on by one of the local police who told her that offering fruit to children was forbidden! In what was classed a relatively easy trial Mary was forced to retire after a spate of punctures, but back at home she was a regular award winner in both Centre and Nationals on her Greeves, and was often pictured with feet-up in the weekly ‘Blue ‘un’ and ‘Green ‘un’ papers.
In 1965 she travelled to France to compete in the International St Cucufa Trial, took part in the national scramble at Hawkstone Park and, just to show her versatility, rode a factory six-day bike in a very wet Isle of Man ISDT.
In her day job Mary had continued to work as a secretary at ACU headquarters but in 1966 she took on the new challenging role as Competitions Manager.
“The current secretary Harry Cornwall was retiring so I decided to apply for the position and was absolutely delighted to be offered the job. Harry was a lovely man and was so much looking forward to a long and happy retirement, but sadly he died just a few months after he finished with the ACU.”
In those days every road race, trial and scramble held in the UK fell under the jurisdiction of the ACU and it was Mary’s job to administer the decisions of the sporting committees and to make sure that all of the organising clubs were kept happy. In itself quite a daunting task, but on top of that it was also her responsibility to help organise the TT, the long distance National Road Rally, and sort out all of the logistics for the International Six Days Trial teams. Understandably there was less time for her to pursue her own riding career and due to being assistant secretary of the meeting at the TT 1966 was the last year she rode in one of her favourite trials, the Scottish Six Day. As previously mentioned, Mary finished in all of the seven Scottish’s she entered, and is justifiably proud of her achievements but is the first to acknowledge all of the help and encouragement she received along the way.
“It was fantastic to ride in the Scottish but I owe much of my success to the skill, workmanship and support from the likes of Alec Wright (Slocombe’s), Bill Brooker (Greeves) and Bert Thorn (Comerfords) in preparing my machines — they were very important people to me.”