Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141060
by Pe ter White Down Under in Australia, the wo rd 'speedway' h as man y meanin gs, It is n ot e xcl u s i ve ly d es criptive o f solo m o t or c y cl e racin g. In the same ca teg o ry , on tbe dirt tracks, comes also side c ar mo t o rcy cle raci ng, midget speedcar, p roduction sedan c ar and super mo d ified (ho t rod) racin g. Of all the var ious forms o f ra cin g, th e mo st spectacular and ex ci tin g are th e spe edway sidecars, These three-wheel monsters are e xcl usive to th e Southern Hemisph er e and far removed fr om an ythin g yo u might have seen on th e circ uits o f California, Spe edway sidecar ra cing Down Under is a highl y sp ecialized form of dirt track racin g, d eveloped o ver many years. It is also o ne o f the most danger ous forms o f spe edway racing. Consid er the scene : A narro w , but ver y fast third-of-a-mile sp eedway track, with six sid ecar teams lined up on , handicaps ranging from th e starting gate to 13 0 me tre s beh ind , Wi th only 10 metres be tw een each bike and j ust three laps for a back marker to clear th e o ther five in ,fron t of him, the spectator's heart is in h is m o u thall the way . So , too, is the sidecar passen ger's! I k now .. . fro m p er s on al expe rience, Before entering speedway jo u rn alism an d admi nistratio n I spent four seasons co mpeting as a sidecar passenger in my n a t i ve Sy d ney , Fo ur excit ing, thrill-packed b ut nerve-t estin g seasons r o c k e t in g aro und t h e Showgro und R oy ale with a variety of rid ers ra ngi ng fro m cu rrent Australian Cham pion , Geoff Groco tt, t o the recen rly -inj ured Colin D en ny (see crash photo) when h e was a rank novice. I was luck y, On e bad prang only... and n o serious injuries, But that one pile-up was enough to c o nvin ce me, that next time .. ,! The sensation of riding passenger on a speedway sidecar is really inexplicable, One does it purely for the thrill. At $7 to $50 a night (fo r up to fou r races), the money is minimal. It is th e passenger's job to squat on the narrow wooden board wedged between the sidecar frame and outside wheel (which is tilted at a 3 0 degree angle inwards towards the frame o f 'th e bike to enable the mach in e t o co mer m o re q uic kl y), at th e start of the ra ce, and keep the sidecar body on the tr ack . The ' ch air ' has a tendency to lift into the air. , As the bike gathers momentum and lun ges into the fi rst c o m er , often clanging w heel s with th ree or four othe r charging mon sters, th e passenger m ust release w hat has been an iro n-like grip on the re ar guard and th row his we ight over on to the righ t hand side of the machin e. S ide cars travel clock-wise: the , opposite d irection from the so los. The passenger m ust lean as far as possible out ont o the tra ck, with his helmeted-head scraping the dirt , to propel the o utfit through the co mer with maximum traction, He then hangs on with only his left fo ot tu ck ed under a bar on the sidecar. His hands are thus free to chan ge his ,.., SPEEDWAY tra ck on race night, rides, ch an ges and go es h ome ag ain . Th a t' s hi s lo t. Usually it 's th e rider wh o o wns and prepares th e bik e. For him th e financial rewards are greater , although n ot su fficien t to beco me a professional. Maintenance is heavy and most can reckon on a few nigh t 's toil every week, Machines are usuall y 1000cc HRD Vin cents . It 's th e tri ed and proven performer and' alt hough th e engi ne now see ms to be on th e d escen t due to lack o f spares, e tc, the . Vin cen t is still the o ne to beat. FOR SIDEHACKS own goggles - for someone c o ming th rough from the back can get hop elessly 'filled in ' in a matter o f seconds - an d those of h is rider who has en ou gh to con tend with just keeping the big trike un der control. T h e passenge r must le an back into th e 'c h air' m omen tar ily o n t he sraights , then swi ng low again at just t he rig ht time to throw the b ike in to a slide en te rin g ea ch c omer, O ne false or mis-timed move can spell disaster. A passenger m ust also be wary not to drop his body too lo w in fron t of a bike immediately behind! I've had th e rather questionable ' e xperience of the fr ont wheel o f another bike ridin g comp le tely over my h ead and shoulders before cannoning into the sid e o f the bike o n which I was passenger! Lu ckil y th e ma chine took the main imp ac t and it was th e rid er behind wh o far ed worst. Four speedw ay sidecars charge into the first turn at the Sydney Sho wground speedway trac k . Th e track gets much narrower w hen you are riding three wheels. Notice sidecar wheel geometry . on leading mach ine. Photos by Bill Meyer. lIis outfit ca tap ulted crazily over th e top, kn ocking him unconscious as he hit the tr ack , That on e did n 't worry me undul y though , I t all happened behind me ! It 's the ones you can see c om ing th at tend to make the fee t flap! . Lik e the time I was on a bike that co llided backwards with the so lid wo oden safety fen ce at full throttle ! The bi ke was out of co n tr o l for at least 5 0 y ards ' and all the passenger c o uld d o was wait fo r the cru nc h! Passen gers are very mu ch an in tegral p art of speedway sid ecar racing and most are speci alists who h ave be en a t i t for so me years. Frankly, it 's th e easies t form of spe ed way . No sp ecifi c skills are. required (ap ar t fro m perh ap s a big hear.t and sma ll brain !) and o ne learns the b asics . fairly quic kly. Only o u tlay in volved is fo r a set o f racin g leath ers. A pas senger simply arrives at th e P ar ad ox i c all y , t he Au str alian Ch am p ion shi p is cu rr en tly h eld by a 75 0cc Kaw asa ki, ridden b y Geo ff Gro co tt. This ye ar th e ti tle co uld go to . an o ld 8 /8 0 J AP , rec ondition ed and ridden superb ly by Graham Young, arguably Australia 's to p rider at present. Young recently pic ked up th e NSW Championship with little effort, An other engine used is th e T rium p h but o nly on e rider, D ou g T yerm an fro m Sydne y, has every reall y made a name for hi ms e lf on it. Genera lly novices st art on a Trium ph, then graduate to a Vincent as the ir skills in cre ase. Frames are specially b uil t aro und th e b i kes. T here's no th ing particularly in tricate about the sideca r chassis , save p erhaps th e slant on the sidecar wheel, whic h ' m u st be fairly spot-on in accordance with the ability of riders an d passenger. H an d ling is vital in th is game where inches an d seconds play su ch an im portant p ar t, Si decars, h oweve r, don't c rash as often as solos. Maybe an average on one spill in ten me etings. But often the con sequences are mo re: serious. A sidec ar rider or passenger can really count himself lucky if he walks away with just a shaking, With two men and a mon strosit y of a moto rbike s om ething whi ch , of c ourse, is that's im possib le to 'lay down' o bvio us . Mo st of the crowd spe ctacle an d appeal lies in th e an tic s o f the p assengers, To see them scra ping their heads along th e tra ck at full speed is enough to make th e sternest skeptic turn a hair. Unfortunately, becau se of lack of int ern ational competi tio n , sidecars remain th e stifl ed sec tio n o f Au stralian - speedway . Once a rider wins t he Australian Ch ampionship, that's as far as he can go . In th e six t ies several Sydney stars w ere co n tr act ed to race in New Zealan d but the stan d ard was well bel ow A ussie - which sh owe d in the resu lt s. Last sum me r the fir st -e ver overse as in te rnatio nal raced in Au stralia, a grass tracker from Denmark named Bob J en sen . But he co uld n' t , cope . The sp ecialist skill s required stagge re d him. J ensen adapted to a cert ain e xt en t but it w as o bvio us the gap b e twe en Euro pe an grass tr ack sidecar racin g and Australian spee dway sideca r racin g is great. Which is indeed a shame becau se if Australian spe edway sidecar racing is to pr o gr ess at all, thi s avenue of in ternaticnal competitio n mu st be exploited. M " '" rf. M ,.., Cl . > ::E '" ;: w Z w -' U ~ U A sidecar crash is generally a great deal harder than a solo crash. Here two mach ines and four men hurtle through the air following a high speed crash at the Syd ney Showground t rack. Two riders wer e injured .