Sheene was born on 11 September 1950 off the Gray's Inn Road, Bloomsbury, London. His father, Frank Sheene, worked as the resident engineer at the Royal College of Surgeons and was an experienced motorcycle mechanic. Sheene grew up in Queen Square, Holborn, London, where he learned to ride at age five on a homemade minibike built by his father. Before racing competitively, he worked as a motorcycle courier and delivery driver. A cigarette smoker since the age of nine, he favoured Gitanes cigarettes, which he later acknowledged contributed to his death from cancer.
Frank Sheene had developed a close relationship with Don Paco Bultó, the owner of Bultaco motorcycles, after meeting him in 1959 at the Montjuïc 24 Hour endurance race in Barcelona. Bultó began supplying the Sheene family with his latest motorcycles.
Sheene's first interest was in off-road motorcycle trials, but he soon decided he was better suited to road circuits. His father entered him into his first road race in 1968 at age 17 on a Bultaco. At his first race at Brands Hatch, his 125cc engine seized in a crash; he remounted a 250cc Bultaco minutes later and finished third. He scored his first victory at Brands Hatch the following weekend. He subsequently worked as a race mechanic for British privateer Lewis Young, who raced Bultacos in European Grands Prix.
Sheene placed second in the 1969 125cc British Championship behind Chas Mortimer and dominated the 1970 125cc British Championship. In 1970, he and his father borrowed £2,000 to purchase a twin-cylinder 125cc Suzuki RT67, a former factory machine campaigned by Stuart Graham in the 1968 World Championships.
In 1971, Sheene entered the 125cc World Championship on the Suzuki RT67. At the Isle of Man TT, he crashed while lying second and publicly criticised the event as unworthy of Grand Prix status. He secured his maiden Grand Prix victory at the 125cc Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The Kreidler team hired him to support Jan de Vries in the 50cc championship; he won the 50cc Czechoslovakian Grand Prix at the Masaryk Circuit by over two and a half minutes, helping de Vries secure the 1971 50cc World Championship. Sheene also won the Swedish and Finnish 125cc Grands Prix, but a broken rib sustained at the non-championship Mallory Park Race of the Year hampered him at the Spanish finale; Ángel Nieto won the race and the championship, relegating Sheene to second overall.
For 1972, Sheene was signed by Yamaha under French importer Sonauto's sponsorship to ride a Yamaha YZ635 in the 250cc class. After a collarbone injury at Imola, he missed seven consecutive rounds. His factory-supported YZ635 was subsequently given to Jarno Saarinen, who won four races and the 250cc World Championship that year.
Sheene signed with the Suzuki factory racing team for 1973 alongside Jack Findlay and Paul Smart. He contested the British 500cc and 750cc Championships, replacing Suzuki's chassis on the 500cc machine with a frame designed by constructor Colin Seeley. He won the newly formed Formula 750 European championship that year, becoming the first and only non-Yamaha rider to do so. At the end of 1973, he was voted "Man of the Year" by readers of Motor Cycle News.
Suzuki introduced the new RG500 for 1974. Sheene secured its first podium results — second in France and third in Austria — before breaking his leg at the Nations Grand Prix at Imola. He finished the season sixth in the 500cc World Championship. He spent five weeks in Japan during the off-season helping Suzuki engineers develop the RG500.
In February 1975, during practice for the Daytona 200, the tyre on Sheene's motorcycle delaminated at approximately 180 mph. He suffered a broken left femur, right arm, collarbone, and two ribs. A BBC documentary team was present, and the coverage of his accident and recovery made him a household name in Britain. Despite these injuries, he was racing again seven weeks later. On 28 June 1975, only three months after Daytona, he returned at the Assen TT Circuit for the Dutch TT, took pole position ahead of Giacomo Agostini, and won the race with a last-corner pass. At the 1975 Swedish Grand Prix, he set the 500cc lap record and took the victory ahead of Phil Read while Agostini crashed out. He finished the season sixth in the 500cc World Championship.
For 1976, with the Suzuki factory stepping back from official involvement, Suzuki's British importer formed the Heron-Suzuki team under sponsor Heron International. Sheene's core team consisted of his father Frank and mechanic Don Mackay. He took control of the championship from the opening round, winning the first three races including a 0.1-second victory over Phil Read at the Nations Grand Prix. He clinched the 500cc World Championship by winning the Swedish Grand Prix with three rounds remaining, finishing with 136 points — 81 clear of second-placed Teuvo Länsivuori. He was the first 500cc champion from the Suzuki marque and remains the only rider to win more than one World Championship on a Suzuki.
Sheene defended his title in 1977 against a revived Yamaha factory effort supporting Agostini, Johnny Cecotto, and Steve Baker, as well as new Suzuki teammate Pat Hennen — the first American to win a 500cc Grand Prix. Sheene claimed the championship with six Grand Prix victories, finishing well clear of second-placed Baker. His 1977 Belgian Grand Prix win was recorded as the fastest Grand Prix in history at an average race speed of 135.067 mph (217.369 kph); the Spa-Francorchamps road course was subsequently replaced by a shorter circuit, meaning the record could never be broken.
Earlier that season, at the Salzburgring, a major accident in the 350cc race killed Hans Stadelmann and left Cecotto, Dieter Braun, and Patrick Fernandez with serious injuries. Sheene and most 500cc riders refused to race despite the organisers offering double the usual start money; the FIM race jury issued official warnings to the boycotting riders.
The 1978 season brought the arrival of American champion Kenny Roberts on a Yamaha. Sheene had publicly dismissed Roberts in a Motor Cycle News column, which Roberts later credited as his motivation to compete in Europe. Although Sheene won the opening round in Venezuela, Roberts won three consecutive races mid-season. During practice for the Finnish Grand Prix, Sheene detected what he believed was a failing crankshaft bearing; his mechanics refused his request to replace it and the part failed during the race. Sheene publicly criticised the team. The British Grand Prix ended in controversy with both Roberts and Sheene stopping for tyre changes in torrential rain; an FIM Jury eventually awarded victory to Roberts. Roberts clinched the 500cc title at the German finale, dropping Sheene to second for the season. Teammate Hennen had suffered career-ending injuries at the 1978 Isle of Man TT; Dutch rider Wil Hartog replaced him and won the Belgian Grand Prix with the correct tyre choice for deteriorating conditions.
The 1979 season was Sheene's final year with Heron-Suzuki. His battle with Roberts at the 1979 British Grand Prix at Silverstone is cited as one of the greatest motorcycle Grand Prix races of the 1970s. The two riders traded the lead throughout the 28-lap race, broadcast live by the BBC; Roberts ultimately prevailed by three-tenths of a second after lapped traffic briefly broke Sheene's momentum on the final lap. Sheene recovered to win the season finale at the French Grand Prix but finished third in the championship, two points behind Virginio Ferrari.
Believing he was receiving inferior equipment, Sheene switched to a privateer Yamaha YZR500 for 1980. Yamaha withheld their best machinery for Roberts, who took his third consecutive 500cc title. By 1981, with the help of mechanic Erv Kanemoto, Sheene scored two podium results before winning the final round at Anderstorp Raceway in Sweden, taking fourth overall. That 1981 Swedish Grand Prix victory was the last Grand Prix win by a British competitor for 35 years, until Cal Crutchlow won the 2016 Czech Republic Grand Prix.
Sheene received the Yamaha OW60 TZ500 for 1982 and finished 0.670 seconds behind Roberts at the Argentine Grand Prix. He was contending for the championship when, during unofficial practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, he crested a blind rise and collided with Patrick Igoa's motorcycle at over 160 mph, shattering both legs and breaking an arm. His legs were saved by orthopaedic surgeon Nigel John Cobb at Northampton General Hospital. He returned to racing in 1983 on a privateer Suzuki RG500 but never regained his former form and retired in 1984. Having scored the RG500's first podium in 1974, he also secured its final podium with third place at the 1984 South African motorcycle Grand Prix. His final major victory came at the 1984 Scarborough Gold Cup at the Oliver's Mount circuit, beating Mick Grant for the fourth time at that event. He remains the only rider to win Grand Prix races in both the 50cc and 500cc categories.
Sheene was a prominent advocate for track safety and among the first to oppose racing at the Isle of Man TT, which he regarded as too dangerous for World Championship status. The boycott of the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix — where the circuit had been repaved just days before the race, causing diesel fuel to seep to the surface — brought tensions to a head. At the end of 1979, Sheene joined Roberts and British motorsports journalist Barry Coleman in announcing the World Series, a planned breakaway racing series. Although insufficient venues prevented it from materialising, the revolt forced the FIM to increase prize money and impose stricter safety regulations in subsequent years.
Sheene was the first motorcycle racer to attract commercial endorsements from outside the sport, including television advertisements for Brut cologne and a Faberge contract to promote Brut aftershave alongside boxer Henry Cooper. He drove a Rolls-Royce, owned a helicopter, and was personally acquainted with James Hunt, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. In 1975, while on crutches from the Daytona crash, he met fashion model Stephanie McLean; they married in 1984 and had two children, Sidonie and Freddie. He purchased homes in Putney, Wisbech, and in 1977 a 700-year-old manor house in Charlwood, Surrey previously owned by actress Gladys Cooper. He wore a Donald Duck helmet design throughout his career alongside his racing number 7.
Sheene worked as a television presenter on the ITV series Just Amazing!, interviewing people who had survived feats of daring. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1978 when Eamonn Andrews surprised him at a motor racing exhibition in London. He and his wife also starred in the low-budget film Space Riders.
The Sheene family moved to Australia in the late 1980s, settling near the Gold Coast. He worked as a motorsport commentator, starting on SBS TV, moving to the Nine Network, and then Network Ten, where he co-hosted the weekly motorsport show RPM from 1997 to 2002 with Bill Woods and Greg Rust. He appeared in television advertisements for Shell alongside Australian motorsport figure Dick Johnson. He assisted the careers of young Australian racers including five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan, two-time Superbike World Champion Troy Corser, and MotoGP winner Chris Vermeulen. In later years he returned to England for historic motorcycle events at Donington Park and competed in his final British race at the Goodwood Revival in 2002.
In July 2002, Sheene was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus and stomach. He refused conventional chemotherapy and followed a holistic diet devised by Austrian healer Rudolf Breuss. He died at a hospital on Queensland's Gold Coast in March 2003, aged 52.
Sheene was appointed MBE in 1978. He was a two-time Segrave Trophy recipient, in 1977 and 1984. The FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2001 and inducted him into the MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2011. Following his death, a section of the Brands Hatch circuit was renamed Sheene's Corner. From the 2003 season, V8 Supercars introduced the Barry Sheene Medal for the best and fairest driver of the season.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 3 related images
