The name behind the race: Barry Sheene

Sheene pioneered the idea of the celebrity sportsperson. On a grid full of oil-soaked men dressed head-to-toe in black leather, he wore white and his trademark Donald Duck helmet, and could often be found smoking on the starting grid, sporting a cheeky grin with a model's arm wrapped around his waist.

He was a fiercely competitive racer but a party animal in the off-season. Behind his natural charm was a great mind; he was fluent in several languages, communicating with engineers from around the world as easily as he flirted with women.

As with many champions, Sheene's love for motorcycles was in the blood. Born in London on 11^th September 1950, his father Frank was a racer and accomplished mechanic, building Barry his first motorbike at the tender age of five. 

The younger Sheene’s first taste of competitive racing didn't come on the circuit but in off-road trials. Circuit racing would come later when Sheene realised he enjoyed riding between trial events more than he enjoyed the trials themselves.

He was highly personable, with a gift of the gab inherited from his father, and Frank had used his powers to significant effect at 1959's Montjuïc 24 Hours in Barcelona. After a chance meeting with Don Paco Bultó, founder of Bultaco motorbikes, the two got on so well the Catalonian agreed he would supply Frank and his family with machinery.

Don Bultó's return on investment came in 1968. Sheene, aged 17, carried his 250cc Bultaco to third in class at Brands Hatch in only his second competitive race, seemingly unfazed after his first race – in the 125cc category – ended in disaster when his engine seized.

Even in those early years Sheene understood the value of self-promotion, and by 1969 he was wearing the #7 Donald Duck crash helmet he'd become famous for. The helmet also gained another addition, a small hole in the chin guard so that he could smoke without taking it off.

At the 1969 125cc British Championship Sheene rode his Bultaco to second place at just 18 years old, before dominating the event in 1970 with his dad by his side as mechanic, a role he would hold throughout his son's career. 

The following year would prove pivotal for Sheene's career when he acquired Stuart Graham's ex-works 125cc Suzuki RT67 for the substantial sum of £2,000 (nearly £30,000 today). Despite it being a six-year-old bike, it was Sheene's first competitive machine and would soon prove its worth at a one-off Grand Prix in Spain, where the Englishman finished second, almost beating local hero and 13-time World Champion, Ángel Nieto. 

By 1971, the Suzuki had carried Sheene to his first Grand Prix win at Spa-Francorchamps — known for separating the good from the best — and two more wins saw him leading the Championship going into the final race at Jarama in Spain. Sadly it wasn't to be, as Sheene, riding with a broken rib following an accident at Mallory Park a week earlier, lost the race and the Championship to Nieto. 

But success did come racing 50ccs. The Kreidler team hired Sheene to support Jan de Vries in his fierce battle with Nieto, and he went on to win the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix, leading the competition by more than two-and-a-half minutes. 

That year would also see Sheene make his only appearance at the Isle of Man TT, crashing out at Quarter Bridge in rain and fog. Afterwards, he courted controversy by questioning the safety of having a two-week race meet at a circuit that took three years to learn. 

By 1972, Sheene's talent had been spotted by Yamaha, winning him a seat on the team's last 250cc twin. But Sheene was never happy with the YZ635's performance, and a crash at Imola where he broke his collarbone put him out of contention for seven races.

A move to Suzuki in 1973 proved far more positive. Suzuki didn't have a bike suitable for the Grand Prix classes, but the Formula 750 series was a different matter. The TR750 was a rocket that carried Sheene to the World Championship in the F750 class, but only after he'd given the bike, nicknamed the 'flexi-flier', a new frame.

That success brought MV Agusta knocking at the door. A tempting invitation, the Italians had won 16 500cc World Championships, but Sheene wasn't interested; he knew Suzuki was developing its own RG500 "square four" two-stroke for '74. 

Sadly, that bike wasn’t everything Sheene had hoped for. Despite a promising second-place finish at the season opener, he broke his leg at the Nations Grand Prix at Imola putting him out for six races, and he’d finish the season in sixth.

Sheene later admitted early versions of the RG500 were near unrideable, their impressive 106PS (78kW) delivered over a tiny 1,000rpm powerband. Determined to fix it, he moved to Japan at the end of ‘74, promising to stay there until the bike worked as required. 

By 1975, Sheene's fame was building. Staring in a BBC documentary covering the Daytona 200, he became a household name (albeit for less-than-ideal reasons) when, cameras rolling, the rear wheel of his Suzuki locked up at 180mph, delaminating the tyre and sending him sideways.

The camera ran out of film just before Sheene was thrown from his bike, but fellow racer Mick Grant witnessed the whole thing, describing the accident as "horrendous". The damage done to Sheene's body was substantial: a broken left femur, broken right arm, fractured collarbone, two broken ribs, compression fractures in several vertebrae and road rash that took most of the skin off his shoulders and back.

Two days later, the documentary showed a jovial Sheene admiring his surgeon's handiwork, the X-ray showing a thigh bone now composed almost entirely of screws, as he joked with fellow racer Gene Romero. He was back racing within a few weeks.

The effort Sheene had put into fixing his bike's problems in the closed season would be rewarded at the opening race of the next, seven weeks after his accident. He took pole position and subsequent victory at the 1975 Dutch TT and ultimately finished the season in sixth, but his victory at the Swedish Grand Prix — where he passed the two Championship leaders — hinted at the form he would carry into '76. 

By then the Suzuki was a cutting-edge piece of kit, but circumstances almost conspired to throw a spanner in the works of Sheene's title hopes when Suzuki decided to follow Yamaha's lead by exiting the Championship. Suzuki's British importer intervened, though, recognising the PR value of competing, and the Heron-Suzuki team was formed with Frank Sheene and friend Don Mackay chosen as his mechanics.

But loyalties would be questioned. While Sheene won the opening three rounds of the 1976 season, his title challenge wasn't helped by his team, which made numerous mistakes including potentially fatal errors like forgetting to install brake pins and fitting one brake pad in backwards. 

Suspicion for these mistakes fell on Sheene's aging father, but no one was ever blamed publicly, and Sheene did go on to win the Championship with three races in hand. His 135-point finish mullered the second-placed Yamaha's 55 points, and in typical cocky fashion he opted to go on holiday rather than see out the remainder of the season.

Sheene's victory in the 1977 season was even more clean-cut, he took home six Grand Prix wins despite choosing to sit out some of the season's races. Typically for a champion, Sheene could be a hard man to race with. He never saw eye-to-eye with his ‘76 team-mate John Williams, and when Pat Hennen partnered him in ‘77 Sheene slated his abilities, saying: "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys". 

But there was another side to him. When Williams was knocked unconscious during qualifying for the Swedish Grand Prix, Sheene pulled up to stop his rival choking on his tongue. And when Yamaha rider Steve Baker, who finished second behind Sheene in the '77 season, was released by his team, Sheene fought to find him a bike and sponsorship from Suzuki Italy.   

Sheene's self-belief and disdain for rivals didn't always play to his advantage. American Kenny Roberts had been ambivalent about racing in Europe, but when he read that Sheene had described him as "no threat," his mind was made up — he was going to compete. 

Roberts would end up winning the 1978 Championship and the two seasons after, using the rear-led riding style he'd perfected on dirt. It would form the basis of modern bike racing today. 

Sheene would lose his Suzuki seat in 1979 and move to Yamaha for the 1980 season as a privateer, before returning to a factory bike in 1981, the year of his last Grand Prix win. 

In 1982 he was looking competitive again, with two second-placed finishes at the start of the season, but disaster struck at Silverstone when he collided with Patrick Igoas at more than 160mph, breaking both legs and an arm. It was an accident Sheene never truly recovered from, and he retired from racing in 1984. 

His warmth in front of the camera saw him start a TV career, and in 1987 he moved to Australia in the hope the warmer climate could relieve his injury-induced arthritis. There, he worked as a TV commentator and a property developer, but he kept his foot in the motorcycle game, helping up-and-coming talent like Mick Doohan, Troy Corser and Chris Vermeulen, and competing in historic motorbike racing. 

In July 2002, Sheene was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus and stomach. His last race came here at Goodwood, at the 2002 Revival. Racing a Norton, he joked about his illness, saying "I'm so light now, it's got to fly". He passed away in March 2003 aged just 52. 

Barry Sheene has been honoured at each Revival since. The Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy has run at every Revival weekend since 2003, and the two-part contest for 500cc Grand Prix motorcycles from 1948-66 is the only place to get your motorcycle fix at the event. A true highlight of the weekend, there’s no better way to celebrate the life of one of the sport's greatest riders and personalities.

Tickets for the Goodwood Revival are now limited! Saturday tickets are selling fast, so secure yours now to avoid missing out on the world's best historic motorsport event.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.