1 0
Read Time:4 Minute, 47 Second

The editor (me) and Mark The Chef (author of the Honda Collection feature in Issue 187) went to Anglesey Circuit in North Wales for what was ostensibly a two-day club meeting organised by the Wirral Hundred MC, but which also featured round four of the British F2 Sidecar Championship.

Sidecars!

The ‘chairs’ get far too little in the way of press coverage in this country, even among the specialist press who should know better; yet as a category of motorcycle racing they are more exciting to watch than many of the solos, and for the competitor they are not quite subject to the same kind of budgetary ‘arms race’ as, for example, the 600cc solo class in which the size of your wallet is slightly more important than the size of your cojones.

Sidecars are therefore a subculture within motorcycle racing that is accessible, friendly, not even remotely arsey or prone to diva tendencies, yet very highly specialised and still intensely competitive.

Here then, is a bit of a pictorial from the Saturday’s practice, qualifying and 20-lap race, run in perfect sunburn-inducing conditions. Special mentions go out to TT-winner John Holden, and chassis builder Tony Baker and his daughter/passenger Fiona for their impromptu sidecar masterclass in their garage at 10:30 pm the previous night; and Meon Valley Racing’s Thomas Quaye and Tom Quaye for putting up with our incessant questions just 20 minutes before their headlining race. See what I mean about accessibility?

Also a special mention to the incredible Anglesey Circuit itself which is perched on a cliff on the west coast of the island of Anglesey off north-west Wales. I’d never been to it before this meeting, but I now know that it deserves every word of its reputation as not just a superb rider’s circuit, but also of having as good a scenic backdrop as any circuit in the world. It really is the Northern Hemisphere’s equivalent of Phillip Island. It’s cafe also does a fantastic Full English Breakfast.

 

Morning

Wakey wakey rise and shine! It’s 0700 and Mark is still tent-bound after we walked the track at 01:00 the previous night with the assistance of a Maglite (and beer):

P1080615

P1080617

07:30 and the cafe’s open:

P1080622

Never mind the nutritionist, here’s the burger van:

P1080627

Below – Charlie Morphet & Paul Halliburton’s #37 LCR outfit. Sidecars represent precision engineering within a very extreme interpretation of what a ‘motorcycle’ is supposed to be. F2 outfits run 600cc supersport engines, car tyres at three different widths (Avon are preferred), 2cm of suspension travel at the most and none-at-all on the chair, which is merely a carbon fibre shelf with a bunch of strategically-placed grab handles. Paul Halliburton: “Until you get that trust between the rider and passenger, you can guarantee that the rider will turn his head to check that you’re still there and are where you’re supposed to be before he turns into a corner. The most difficult part for the passenger is probably dealing with the braking forces.”

Some teams are running £9,000-worth of Motec ECU on the engine too, but as Tom Quaye of Meon Valley Racing said: “Just ‘cos they’ve got Motec, doesn’t mean they know how to use it. You can start with something like a Suzuki K6 engine like we did that cost £400 from a scrappy. With that we’ve run in the top ten in British Championship rounds, and we finished 17th in the TT at our first attempt.”

P1080638

P1080646

 

Afternoon – practice and qualifying, the circuit, the paddock and the race.

P1080667

P1080654

TT-winner John Holden and World Champion Ashley Hawes on an LCR Honda:

P1080722

#6 – chassis guru Tony Baker and his daughter Fiona Baker as passenger:

P1080711

P1080706

TT-winner Conrad Harrison (Dean’s dad) and Lee Patterson:

P1080704

Roy Hanks/Kevin Perry on a Dave Molyneux chassis:

P1080723

P1080811

P1080772

The different styles of the passengers is telling – those with the willingness to hang the furthest out there will be the quickest –

P1080814

– so since Ashley Hawes is one of the world’s best passengers and the 2012 World Sidecar Champion (with Tim Reeves), just do what he does:

P1080809

Tony Baker and Fiona Baker on the eponymous Baker chassis with a Suzuki engine:

P1080802

Steve Ramsden/Matt Ramsden and the ‘Lorenzo 99’:

P1080760

P1080824

 

Father/son combo Tom Quaye and Thomas Quaye:

P1080860

– and their MRE Suzuki outfit with its Gixxer 600 engine:

P1080852

P1080851

P1080853

 

“Give me Goodwood Anglesey on a summer’s day, and you can keep the rest” (from a famous quote by racing driver Roy Salvadori):

P1080815

P1080843

You can’t beat a bit o’ sausage and egg butty action at a circuit on a summer’s day either:

P1080842

 

The beam frame configuration of the LCR (Swiss builders Louis Christen Racing) is favoured by the front runners, but that quality comes with a premium price tag:

P1080841

P1080839

P1080840

TT-winner Conrad Harrison’s Shelbourne chassis:

P1080834

P1080833

P1080827

 

Saturday’s race – lap one:

P1080855

P1080856

Race winners Alan Founds and Tom Peters (LCR Suzuki):

P1080696

Back in the garage. John Holden’s LCR outfit still bears the scars from the previous month’s Isle of Man TT:

P1080854

This meeting at Anglesey was the fourth round of 2015’s six-round championship. At the time of writing, the two remaining rounds are at Cadwell Park and Croft, both in September.

Check out further details on the national championship and its upcoming fixtures at the Formula Sidecar Racing Association’s website.

Social media was basically made for sidecar racing with its inherently ‘social’ nature. Here are just a few of many pages:

Meon Valley Racing, Team Founds Racing, Steve English’s community page and Facebook page.

Also take a look at Anglesey Circuit and the organising Wirral Hundred MC that was commemorating its 100th meeting at Anglesey .

See you at Cadwell for Round Five…

Stuart Jewkes

About Post Author

Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %

Average Rating

5 Star
0%
4 Star
0%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *