With the news that this year’s Sidecar TT class was cancelled after two massive crashes, Mick Payne takes a look at when Great Britain ruled on three wheels. Mick Payne reports
When I introduced the concept of an A to Z of sidecars I admitted it wasn’t likely to be a set-in-stone monthly feature, and I will continue covering other aspects of the sidecar world as they happen. This year’s Sidecar TT has already had cause to interrupt the new series with the very sad news of two serious crashes in qualifying which has caused the suspension of the class for this year’s event. One of these incidents has resulted in very serious and life changing injuries to popular racer Maria Costello, the other involved the Crowe brothers.
The whys and wherefores will have to be debated by the powers that run the sport and by the teams themselves. One consideration is likely to focus on the aerodynamics of modern outfits and the possibility that they are getting just too fast for a course like the TT. Remember, similar concerns caused major changes to World Championship car rallying in 1986 when the FIA banned the Group B cars for being too fast. It was something that was berated at the time but rallying survived.
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Getting back into racing this year, Watsonian was sponsoring a sidecar at the TT, local team Real Racing (www.realracingf2.com) being the recipient. Of course, Watsonian Sidecars is no stranger to competition and for many years built both road racing and trials sidecars. Indeed, with Eric Oliver at the helm, it won four World Championships (1949, 1950, 1951 and 1953), and Eric also significantly altered the design of the road racing outfit. He was responsible for the kneeler style as well as the significant aerodynamic advantage of streamlining.
Eric had a variety of passengers and one of them, Stan Dibben, was adamant that he was effectively a co-driver. This isn’t really an unfavourable or over-inflated remark as even modern outfits need a massive input by the ‘passenger’, but it was with Stan that he won the 1953 Championship. By 1954, Eric Oliver realised the glory days were over for Norton and he retired from GP racing to open a motorcycle shop in Staines. He raced a Lotus Elan for a while but eventually returned to the Isle of Man TT in 1958 with a woman sidecar passenger, Pat Wise. They finished 10th at 59.95 mph. Compare that to 120.645mph now and so you can see the question; “Have they got too fast?”
Eric Oliver and Stan Dibben did resume their partnership, but they were lucky to escape with their lives after a serious accident in practice for the 1960 TT. A failure of the front fork saw them collide with a wire fence; it was the end of their racing careers.
I dare say we all have different ideas on what might be done to maintain a sidecar class at the TT. I personally would like to see the outfits return to twin-cylinder engines, though whether that would really slow them significantly would need to be seen. I’d hate to see them disappear – in fact, this is the first TT I’ve not followed; after the sidecar class was cancelled I rather lost interest.
There is a fundraiser currently active to help with the not insubstantial costs that will be necessary for Maria’s recovery. If you wish to help it can be found on www.gofundme.com. Just look up Maria Costello. I’m sure that we all wish her well.
