Classic Sidecar RacingEaurouge Sidecars

Jun 24th East Fortune 2024

It was time for the annual pilgrimage North. With the van loaded and fully fuelled we headed up the A1 to East Fortune.

Once we got there we had a great success in finding parking on the concrete, and even more success with putting up the awning properly now that we had the instructions and knowledge from the supplier.

Scrutineering all passed it was soon time for first practice, which went well, and we felt the extra punch having dropped the final drive ratio as the circuit is short. We had a minor issue with the clutch dragging but it was adjusted. The other thing that was strange was the behaviour out of the hairpin, but a conversation was had over getting more weight onto the front of the bike so Mark had more control.

Next up was qualifying, with an internal goal set of knocking 9 seconds off the pace from last year (10%) which we did achieve, and were still experimenting with line and methods of working the track. With the weight being brought forward out of the hairpin, there was some excellent drive towards the chicane.

It was finally time for the race, with the sidecar 2 rows in front of us stalling on the grid I have no idea how we and everyone else missed them, even the start marshal was looking very worried, I’m sure I saw his hand twitch towards the red flag.

We zoomed off into the first corner catching back up with a few due to having to take the evasive actions. Powering out of the first corner the engine went to Deuggah duggah…. we promptly pulled over to the side off the track unsure what we had broken. After finally getting recovered and having to have the push of shame back to the pits we knew something was not right, all the gears still worked, the drive shaft wasn’t broken, but the engine would not turn over. The decision was made that it was time to put everything away and open a beer, something had gone inside the engine that we do not have a spare of. It turns out that if both pistons are on the same part of the cycle it is pretty terminal. (Anyone got an R75 crankshaft?).

Thank you to all the people who offered to help and support on Saturday afternoon, and also to those who when we went nope the crankshaft is snapped understood that we were not going to strip the bike at the trackside.

All in all not a great weekend, the search is on for a crankshaft, and if we can ever find a spare engine!

So what did we learn?
The lorry will do about 400 miles before it needs an LPG fill up.
It takes a loooooong time to fill the LPG tank from empty!
We can put the awning up and down quickly and finally know how to do it.
Lighting inside the awning is really nice!
How to keep the front end of the sidecar down.
Some days are just one of those days.

May 27th Assen 2024

Finally we made our first race of the season. We unfortunately missed Hengelo, as Graeme had not finished his ear rebuild over the winter!

Talking of rebuilds we had many changes finalised on the sidecar, the oil tank finally moved out of the way, the new front end and brake changes, and a new race RV!

For once arriving early, part of the new keen way of doing things. With the goal of doing better than last year with a DNS in the end!

After finally passing scrutineering it was time for practice on Friday evening. We got ourselves 10 seconds faster than last year, with us both getting used to having more space and the tyres cleaning up from the modern rubber that had got stuck to them.

Saturday after lunch was the final practice. Sadly our time didn’t improve, and no we had not had the Frites by then (They were the post race reward!). We managed 22nd on the grid of 28.

Race 1 was our now becoming usual bad start due to having the wrong first still. Pretty soon though we did something that hadn’t occurred for us in the whole of last season, with having steering and brakes we caught the back of the field. Having caught them we had a big dice, and eventually ended up 17th of the 22 finishers 7th in class!

Much debate was had as to if we should change anything, the first time we had felt the need for more power AND wanted to change the final drive ratio but had not bought the taller gearing, so all was left as was bar changing the pads.

Sunday mornings race was soon upon us. Again we had the start issue with the too tall first gear. We made it back to Henk again (13 above) but this time got passed a lot quicker than on the Saturday. Unfortunately we chased hard to get to the next sidecar but they had made too big a gap (and we had made too many very minor mistakes). In a stroke of consistency 17th over all and 7th in class again. With the joys of the data we get at Assen our fastest lap was just 0.4 seconds off the theoretical fastest lap we could have achieved.

Yes we did celebrate with Frites! And collected our trophy very happily. A very successful weekend of experimentation and progress! The brakes worked for the whole race (just about on the 2nd race), the steering worked for the whole race, and the new RV worked too!

Oct 14th  Oschersleben 2023

Finally back racing again for the final round of the season.

During the gap a few things have occurred! The sidecar got completely stripped down, the frame re-welded on many of the joints, new shocks fitted, gearbox changed, brakes tweaked, electrics re-visited, and a whole load more!

Having arrived at Oschersleben nearly a day early due to the timings of boats a relaxed day was spent getting set up and ready for the meeting.

All too soon it was Friday, time for scrutineering which all went well and drivers briefing (which was very strange as the sidecar world championship was practicing in the background!).

Saturday rose with use being out in the morning, practice went OK there was something not right with the outfit, so for Qualifying 1 Mark swapped one of the front shocks and dropped the ride height back down. Things where still not great after a couple of laps, Mark noticed that the headstock bearing was just catching slightly so these were removed, re-packed and spacered, and the new shocks put back on. The few laps that where managed in the session all seemed OK, and it felt like we had our bike not a bucking bronco back.

For Race 1 it was clear something wasn’t right again after a few laps suddenly the steering went heavy, times slowed and the sidecar misbehaved again. After the prize giving all seemed better again, so the assumption was made that the spacing on the headstock needed checking and changing again for race 2.

This worked very well, with the sidecar behaving wonderfully for 5 laps. Sadly it was an 8 lap race, with the final 3 laps being a fight between a misbehaving sidecar and crew. We thrashed out a 7th place finish in our class somehow.

For the season we got 8th in class overall.

Now just to work out the winter works… First thing will be to replace the headstock bearing with taper bearings (which was on the to do list) and look at changing the ratio on 1st gear so that we can pull away from the line.

Jul 17th Chimay 2023

Words don’t often struggle to come to paper, but sometime things are hard. Whilst not people we knew Eddy Atisy and Eric Delrez both sadly lost there lives (in separate incidents) in solo races at Chimay. I have to say a huge thank you as always to the marshals and support staff who ensure that we can have fun out on track.

Trying to create some kind of upbeat report is always hard after a weekend like that, but I shall attempt to.

Friday started with the surprise of a huge grid 25 sidecars by our count. This gave us a problem as we could not be our usual last place, and had a great timed session with one of the other BMW sidecars, with us both dragging us along faster and faster! We had some interesting discoveries, that our power was not as down as we felt and that our gearing was about right. We spent a lot of time learning what on paper looked to be a very simple road circuit.

On Saturday for practice 2, something wasn’t quite right, and with a determined effort we managed to push ourselves beyond our abilities, resulting in having to lift the sidecar out of the gravel. The 17th on the grid secured from Fridays time.

The clean up operation did not take too long, and no lasting damage appeared to be done.

With the crazy early 9:20 start time (Having had an evening and lunchtime practice) with the sounds of the band from the previous night ringing in our ears we went out for race 1. Still no certain if we had damaged anything in the excursion the previous day. The start went awful (new lower first gear is still being machined to give us a chance) with us dropping back a few places, but then making them back again during the race. Sadly the slow start meant that we did not get to the back of the same group, and it was clear something was still upset on the bike with a lack of pull and quite a bit of ‘grumpy engine’….. Still we finished 16th.

The sidecar was checked again, and the decision made to change the brake pads and clean up the brake caliper as it seemed to have a slight stick. With some discussion of some different start tactics to actually use less grip on the rear wheel intended to be tried. Unfortunately the incidents mentioned already meant that we did not get to try these, and it was a quite reflective drive back home.

Mar 26th Pre-season Testing Val De Vienne

Being as crazy as we are we have finally managed to go testing at Val De Vienne. A mere 1000kms from here!

Things went well with arriving early for the boat to Dieppe.

Some 8 hours after disembarkment we had finally arrived!

Having decided to go testing half way down France to get the good weather, we of course woke up to some serious rain!

But just before our first session it was nearly dry. We went out for a brief explore of the circuit and sidecar having not ridden it in anger. We can both confess to it feeling completely different from the F1 and F2 of the past!

By about the third session we roughly had the hang of it and worked out that Mark as driver had to lean a lot more, and Graeme was getting his head round leaning out the front! We must have been getting the idea better as we came in with steaming brakes! A brief investigation was held and they were found to be just bedding in. The fourth and fifth sessions saw some dramatic improvement in time as we both got more used to how to ride the beast! We both were very shocked by the punch out of the corners as long as the little 1971 BMW 750 was kept buzzing!

Numerous small improvements for comfort and accessibility of the controls where made, with the gear linkage and brake linkage being adjusted to suit Marks boots, then adjusted again when he changed boots!

At the end of Day 1 we were happy with the knowledge gained, learnt a lot about the sidecar, found a few faults and bits that need adjusting so a success.

Day 2 woke to more rain. The first session went very strange with the bike developing a misfire. Much head scratching, changing of plugs, coils etc followed. The issue was found to be a partially clogged jet, with one carb rebuilt before the second and the other before the thirds sessions of the day.

For the fourth session the sun just about broke through, and we pushed hard to get our fastest time of the test. The fifth session was interesting with intermittent showers resulting in a great deal of exploration of the stability in a slide of the sidecar, Graeme making the discovery that wet gloves and wet bars make for a near front exit of the outfit! Mark also discovering that the handle bar grip glue was water soluable!

Over all a great fun test with a lot learnt.

Items for the next test:

• Graeme to buy some new boots after his 15 year old pair cried enough
• Mark to buy some new boots after his 15 year old pair cried enough
• A minor weld to the frame due to a bit cracking
• Wash out the fuel tank, and replace the fuel lines to try to reduce the chance of more dirt in the carb
• Finish working out how to ride it!