PEOPLE
Although female passengers were taking part in the sidecar class of postwar TT races (there has never been a sidecar Manx Grand Prix) it was not until 1962 that a woman rode in the solo classes, that famously being Beryl Swain in the inaugural 50cc event.
However, the resulting publicity seemed to cause the governing body of the sport, the FIM, to take fright, presumably worried about an even greater level of (adverse) publicity should any female suffer serious injury in competition, and they promptly imposed a ban on women solo riders that lasted until after the TT was no longer run as a round of the World Championships.
In 1978, the first woman to take advantage of the eventual lifting of the ban was Hilary Musson, who entered Formula 3 TT for the simple reason that she was still barred from the Manx Grand Prix, which only lifted its
