New Book - Maria Costello – Queen of Bikers

Maria Costello, MBE, is the most prominent female rider in British motorbike racing – a traditionally male-dominated sport. Having established herself as a champion over the course of the last 15 years, the petite blonde is still fighting a battle against gender prejudice. Yet she has picked up as many medals as the slickest and fastest men, and has the scars to show for it.

When Maria became a Member of the British Empire on 17 November 2009, it was in return for services to her sport. Royal recognition for the 36-year-old served as vindication after years of feeling she was gate-crashing a strictly male club. In Queen of Bikers, Maria (with co-author Steve Pitts) details the dogged obsession that led one fast and furious female to the top of her game.

The early opposition by her family to her dangerous sport; the broken bones and narrow misses; the rehab recovery from injury and depression; the ambivalent attitudes towards the girl on a motorcycle; the difficulties in maintaining a relationship; the tragic death of a bike-racing legend and great friend, man-mountain Dave Jefferies; the groupie scene around the paddock, the stereotyping of mild-mannered Maria as a wild ‘biker chick’ in leather and the hard-won gain of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race record – all are recounted here in the subject’s own words.

Maria Costello is legendary in her high-octane/high-risk sport. The fastest woman around the Isle of Man TT for five years, a big-screen stunt double, regional Sports Personality of the Year in her native Midlands, even an animated character in a Playstation Superbikes game – in Queen of Bikers, the real woman behind the leather-clad image talks candidly and entertainingly about her life.