Fay Taylour facts for kids

Fay Taylour (born 5 April 1904 – died 2 August 1983) was an amazing Irish motorcyclist and a champion speedway rider. People often called her Flying Fay because of her speed! In 1931, she switched to racing cars.

During the Second World War, she was held in a special camp because of her political beliefs. After the war, Fay continued to race in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, and Australia. She even tried midget car racing in America before she retired in the late 1950s.

Growing Up in Ireland

Helen Frances Taylour, known as Fay, was born in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland. Her father, Herbert Fetherstonhaugh Taylour, was a former colonel in the British army and worked for the RIC, which was a police force. Her family was quite well-off.

Fay went to boarding school in Dublin and later to Alexandra College. She left school in 1922. Her family then moved to England because the Irish Free State was formed, which ended her father's job. Fay learned to drive a car when she was just 12 years old! She also learned to ride a motorcycle at her new home. After her mother passed away in 1925, Fay used £50 she had won in school to buy her first motorcycles.

Racing on Two Wheels

After moving to England, Fay began racing motorcycles. In the 1920s, she competed in motorcycle trials (where riders test their skills over obstacles) and grasstrack racing (racing on grass fields). She became a very popular rider.

Later, she moved into speedway racing, which was even more exciting and offered better prize money. Fay traveled the world, becoming a well-known speedway competitor in England and Australia. She often raced against another talented rider named Eva Askquith.

In 1928, Fay spent her own money to travel to Australia and New Zealand to race. She was the first rider from Europe to compete there. In her first race in Australia, she matched the track record and beat the local champion. In Melbourne, she won against another local champion. Fay was very popular with race organizers because she could attract huge crowds, sometimes over 30,000 people! Her fame led to her appearing on cigarette cards, wearing her red racing leathers with an Irish flag, and being on radio shows. Sadly, her motorcycle racing career ended when women were banned from competing in speedway in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Switching to Car Racing

Because of the ban, Fay switched to racing cars in 1931. She competed in a women's race at Brooklands in England, driving a Talbot car at speeds of over 107 miles per hour. The next year, she came second in a similar race, reaching nearly 114 mph. After that race, she was so excited that she kept doing very fast laps and was fined and disqualified for not stopping!

In 1931, Fay went to India and won her first big car race, setting a new record for the Calcutta to Ranchi event.

In 1934, she returned to Ireland and won the Leinster Trophy road race in an Adler Trumpf car. She was the only woman in that race, just as she had been when she drove an Aston Martin in the famous Italian Mille Miglia race. She also took part in the Craigantlet hill climb in County Down. Fay often wore a simple jumper and tweed skirt for her races. She once said that she would only stop racing if she met a man who was harder to handle than a racing car! She never married.

Fay raced in many countries, including Ireland, England, Italy, Sweden, and the United States. Her last major race before the Second World War was in 1938 in the South African Grand Prix. She was cheered for her brave driving, even though she didn't place in the top spots.

Wartime Internment

In the late 1930s, Fay became involved with Oswald Mosley, a British political leader. Because of her political beliefs, she was held in Britain from 1940 to 1943 during the Second World War. This was under a rule called Defence Regulation 18B, which allowed the government to hold people considered a danger to the country without a trial.

She was first held in Holloway gaol, where her aunt had also been imprisoned years before for fighting for women's right to vote. Later, in 1942, Fay was moved to a camp on the Isle of Man. She was released in 1943, but only if she agreed to live in neutral Ireland. Even there, British security services kept an eye on her.

After the War and Later Life

Fay Taylour was one of the few leading women drivers from before the war who started racing again afterwards. She raced on tracks around the world, though her appearances became less frequent. Often, she was still the only woman competing. Details about her wartime political beliefs were usually left out of her racing publicity after the war.

In 1949, she moved to Hollywood, where she sold British cars. In the US, she discovered midget car racing, a popular sport on dirt tracks. In the 1950s, she was still racing a 500 cc Cooper car at big British tracks like Brands Hatch and Silverstone. By this time, she was racing against a new generation of young drivers, including famous names like Stirling Moss.

Fay retired from racing in the late 1950s and went to live in Blandford in Dorset, England. The British security services finally closed her file in 1976.

Fay Taylour passed away from a stroke on 2 August 1983. She left her body for medical research.