Pippa Laverty: The Powerhouse Behind Women in Motorcycle Racing

When Pippa Laverty first entered the world of motorcycle racing, she wasn’t dreaming of championships or commissions. At sixteen, unsure of what came next after school, she found her footing in promotional work. It all began when she took a contract with Motorcycle News that placed her on the grid at circuits around the UK. “It was completely new to me,” she recalled, “but I think doing that sort of work gave me a lot of confidence and life skills that really help you in the industry.” At a time when she felt “super lost,” that early exposure to racing set in motion a journey that would become anything but ordinary.

Today, Laverty is one of the most active and trusted figures working behind the scenes in motorcycle racing. From her seat on the FIM Women in Motorcycling Commission to her role as the first Ambassador for Women in UK Motorcycle Racing, she’s shaped programs, influenced policy, and helped redefine what participation in the sport looks like — especially for women. While her journey began under the spotlight of the starting grid, it’s what happened behind the scenes that defined her.

From the Grid to Something Greater

When Pippa first took that job at the track, she had no background in motorsport. “I had zero interest or knowledge about the industry,” she admitted, but things changed fast. “I just happened to have fallen in love with a super handsome Irish superbike racer at the time,” she laughed. That rider was Eugene Laverty. The two met at the NEC bike show when Pippa was 17, and soon, motorcycles weren’t just work for Pippa — they were personal.

While Eugene chased a career in World Championship racing, Pippa began building one of her own. She’d work at events — “I think I was working for Devitt Insurance at the time, on their stand, promoting, while Eugene was racing” — and shift her focus depending on what was needed, including helping Eugene. “He always managed himself, but I would help align meetings, do PR and communications, assist with logistics,” she explained. What began informally soon turned into real experience. Over time, her support role gave her a practical education in how racing operates — from team dynamics to sponsor relations, media duties to paddock politics.

One moment in particular would crystallise her path forward: a major crash, a chaotic emergency response, and the realisation that even at the highest levels of the sport, the systems meant to protect riders could fail.

When Everything Changed

“The pivotal point was actually when he had quite a big accident,” she recalled. “We call it a perfect storm, where you put a lot of things in place, but all of them tend to fail and a catastrophic event happens — which is what happened to Eugene.”

She’d dealt with race injuries before, but this time felt different. “You just presume all these things are taken care of,” she said, “but it’s not until you look deeper into everybody’s role that you realise, actually, there are a lot of gaps.” In the middle of a medical emergency, she found herself scrambling to activate insurance and contact different organisations — alone, overwhelmed, and navigating a system she assumed would already be in place. “I’d been in hospital multiple times with Eugene, especially in MotoGP, and everything was always taken care of, but in World Superbikes, it was a totally different protocol. For a traumatised wife at the time, it was quite a challenging thing to do.”

The experience left her shaken — but determined. “I investigated it more, in terms of how it can be improved, and how can what happened to us not happen to anyone else again?” That question led her straight into safety advocacy. She began working with the FIM Medical Commission, using her own experience to highlight serious issues in communication, insurance, and emergency processes. “Some people in some roles are doing ten people’s jobs,” she said. “So is there any way we can help them with that? Or make riders more aware that they need to be aware of their insurance, for example?”

Thanks in part to her input, the FIM introduced a new insurance model. “It’s all covered, it’s on the licence,” she explained, making it easier and clearer for riders and teams to understand what’s in place and how to activate it. Riders and their next of kin are now briefed on what to expect in case of an incident at the start of each season. “It was things like that, I felt were just not properly communicated in the sport.”

Finding a New Focus

Through that work, another door opened. At the time, Nita Korhonen, Director of the FIM Women’s Commission, was the first to ask her: “Have you ever heard of the Women’s Commission?” She hadn’t — but one conversation led to another, and soon she found herself at her first meeting. “I was blown away by all of the work that they’d been doing in the background for women in motorcycling — from trying to build championships to supporting women in all sorts of roles,” she recalled. Nita went on to become a major mentor to Laverty, encouraging her to take a more active role in the Commission’s work and inspiring her to help drive change within the sport.

Though her background was in circuit racing, Pippa’s work with the FIM Women’s Commission introduced her to disciplines she’d never touched before. “There’s experts in our commission that already cover [road racing],” she said. “So now I focus a lot, especially in Speedway.”

That shift came naturally. “I was then exposed to things like motocross and trials where I had absolutely no experience,” she explained. “And honestly, now I probably lean more towards the off-road disciplines… because it’s something new and exciting to me.”

In Speedway, that focus became a mission. “They had zero women globally competing on a world championship level,” she said. That stark realisation became the starting point for the Women’s Speedway Academy — a development program designed to identify and train female riders, provide access to machinery, and build long-term opportunity. Within just three years, the initiative grew from a concept to an international competition. “We’ve already got it to a Women’s World Cup,” she said. The goal is to eventually create a full world championship as participation continues to grow.

“Leaving legacies like that behind… working with the FIM Women’s Commission is something that really motivates me to volunteer with them.”

Driving Progress at Home

Her work with the FIM soon caught the attention of people closer to home. In 2022, Pippa was approached by the Auto-Cycle Union, the governing body of motorcycle sport in the UK, to become their first-ever Ambassador for Women in Motorcycle Racing. The role was created specifically for her. “They said they need someone to spearhead all the women’s initiatives. So we worked together and they created this role for me, which is a huge honour.”

What she’s built since is nothing short of remarkable. Working closely with ACU leadership, Pippa began by taking stock — not just of who was involved in the sport, but where and how. “The first thing that we did was an overall report on the gender equality within the ACU and the different roles fulfilled by different people,” she explained. “And for example, there’s a lot of males in leadership roles and a lot of females in administration roles.” It was a clear snapshot of what needed to change.

What makes it even more impressive? The majority of this work — across both the FIM and ACU — is entirely voluntary. “It is just myself, and help from other people within the specific discipline,” she said. While she also runs her own consultancy, managing broader projects like the ACU’s social media, her work focused specifically on women’s empowerment is done purely out of passion — not obligation. No salary. No title expectations. Just belief.

She’s a project manager, an ambassador, a volunteer, a strategist, and a communicator — sometimes all in the same week.

Leading with Quiet Strength

That doesn’t mean the road has always been smooth. Her role has often meant sitting at tables where she’s the only woman, offering perspectives that challenge the status quo. And at times, she’s been met with dismissal. She recalled one meeting where she was advocating for safety improvements and was told, bluntly, that she was “just a wife” and should “know her place.” It stung. A harsh but common reality that women in the sport have historically faced, and something Laverty is working tirelessly to change.

Laverty doesn’t like being told she can’t do something — a personality trait that has often led to further opportunities, for example her podcast. “Do you know what?” she said. “I’m gonna start a podcast to prove that everybody in a role that’s not at the forefront… they do a lot.”

And with that, ChamPain was born.

The idea behind the podcast was simple: to highlight the voices that often go unheard — the people who live the highs and lows of racing but don’t always get the platform to talk about it. “There’s a lot of pain that has to happen to be able to get the champagne,” she explained. “There’s no bubbles without first some troubles.”

Though the show is currently on pause, the purpose behind it is still something she carries. “I do really enjoy it,” Pippa said. “And I hope that the messages behind each podcast show that... it can be quite inspiring to get into the industry.”

Advice to the Next Generation

If there’s one message Pippa hopes to leave with women in motorsport, it’s this: show up — even if you don’t feel ready. “Women generally, as a whole, tend to go for safe options,” she said. “We very rarely put ourselves forward for roles unless we feel we are 110% qualified.” She’s seen it time and again — brilliant, capable women who hesitate, while others with far less experience say yes without blinking. “Men could be one percent qualified, but they'll still put their name in the hat.”

Her advice? Do it anyway.

“Always try and put yourself forward for it,” she said. “Because otherwise you’re not going to get the opportunity or the experience.” Her own story proves the point. She didn’t come into motorsport with a five-year plan — she learned by doing, by observing, by showing up when something needed doing, not waiting to be asked.

That’s the same advice she gives to young people now. “In this world, if you sit back, the phone doesn’t call,” she said. “You have to ring them, get on to them… you will not get anything if you sit at home expecting the phone to call, because it won’t.”

And when it comes to figuring out where you belong, she keeps it simple: volunteer. Try everything. “Volunteering in the industry is the best way. Not only does it give you experience, but it also helps you learn what your strengths and weaknesses are before committing fully to one path.”

For Pippa, saying yes to small things led to much bigger things. Not because she had it all figured out — but because she was willing to try. That mindset has carried her through every part of her career. She pushes initiatives forward, listens to people, and helps things run smoothly — even when it feels like no one’s watching. And she does it all with heart. Quietly. Strategically. Persistently.

Because for Pippa, it always comes back to the same idea: leave things better than you found them. Create space. Build something that lasts. And prove — in every meeting, every post, every program — that the sport is stronger when women are part of the story.