Racing star, Maria Costello, discusses how a road accident led to her working with Reese Witherspoon
As a championship rider and the former Guinness World Record holder for being the fastest woman to lap the Isle of Man TT course, Spratton local Maria Costello MBE has spent her career overcoming the odds and making waves in the motorcycling world. Now she’s able to reflect on how she got to where she is.
In her three decades of racing, Maria has broken records, and she’s also broken 24 bones, but getting into her beloved sport as a woman took a lot of solo work.
As the special guest on a recent episode of the Full Chat podcast, she explained, “I got sponsors in my first year of racing because, without sponsors, I couldn’t go racing; I didn’t have the funds.”
“I guess I realised that’s how you went about racing, but I got support without having turned a wheel.”
“So, I got in touch with my local newspaper and they backed me and, obviously, the fact I was female helped with that media attention.”
Maria remains humble about her impact on the sport, but she’s also aware of how difficult racing can be for women to get into.
“Yes, it’s a male-dominated sport; it’s still a male-dominated sport. Obviously, there’s more women in it than when I started, thankfully, but there were only two women who were competing on solos at the TT this year, so that kind of puts it in perspective,” she said.
Even her male friends made her feel unwelcome on the track.
“Initially, ‘Oh yeah, this is great, a girl in the paddock,’ but you start beating them and they stop talking to you. Then you’re competition.”
Maria’s parents were very traditional and originally not on board with her love of motorbikes either.
When she was a veterinary nurse, she would use a motorbike to get to work, but she would get into a nasty accident, which led to her receiving a bit of compensation. She would use that to buy a racing bike.
“My mum thought that accident was the end of two wheels,” she remembered.
“It was all to my mum’s horror, she was petrified of the things (the bikes).”
“They (her parents) were against it, really. They were a barrier that I also had to overcome to go into racing.”
She added, “Perseverance is my middle name.”
“I just really wanted to race motorbikes, and I still do.”
When it comes to her career progression and reaching her goals, she added, “I love my sport still, and I love that I’m still competitive.”
Despite being known for her speed on the track, Maria has taken her skills to the screen, stunt-doubling for some famous stars.
“I was the rider double for Reese Witherspoon,” she revealed.
“I think I met her for a few milliseconds.”
“Then there was another actress who pillioned with me and, I won’t lie, I think I was more nervous about doing this than riding down Bray Hill.”
“The first scene I had to do, I had to sit there and she was going to get on the back of the scooter, and I just had to ride off round the corner.”
She continued, “Well, of course, I set off before she got on.”
“I didn’t make any more mistakes, and I remember riding out of shot, and there was just wall-to-wall paparazzi trying to get photos of - Christina Ricci, it was.”
Working with Hollywood stars isn’t her only career highlight, as she received her MBE in 2009.
“Getting the MBE for services to motorcycling was huge because it really helped my family,” she recalled.
“My family suddenly went ‘Oh, hang on, if royalty thinks our daughter’s doing okay’.”
“My dad was really old-fashioned and so, wouldn’t show his proudness to me directly.”
“After we got over the barriers that they tried to put in place to stop me racing, my dad would come and watch.”
“When I got the MBE, he couldn’t be prouder.”
She now treasures those memories with both her parents even more.
“They become my biggest cheerleaders and obviously, they’re not with us now, and I miss it so much,” she admitted.
“I feel like I battled and battled against them, but then they were…yeah.”
On her parents bragging about being proud of her, she said, “My dad was probably doing it hidden, but my mum would tell the postman.”
“She didn’t hide how proud she was.”
“When I got the letter for the MBE - I sat with my dad, I thought it was a complete joke.”
“I was like ‘Dad, look at that, does that look real?’ and he went, ‘get that signed, get that back in the post and accept it!’”
“It says you have to keep it secret, and he said, ‘We better not tell your mum because she’ll tell everyone’.”