Sidecar speedway

Sidecar Speedway is a motorcycle sport involving 4 crews of a rider and a passenger competing over 4 laps on an oval shale surface. Rules are governed by the national speedway federation and are not dissimilar to conventional speedway rules.

Sidecar speedway is most popular in Australia although in Great Britain it also has a strong following. Sidecar speedway events are also held in New Zealand, South Africa and United States of America. Because of the nature of the sports hotbeds being spread so wide across the globe, organising an official World Championship has been an arduous task, though in 2006 the first successful World Track Racing Sidecar Championships (Sidecar Gold Cup) were held at Isle of Wight Speedway stadium. Queenslanders Scott Christopher aka Carson, whom most recognise as the leading host of 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy' and Trent Koppe collectively aka the honda boys were crowned the first ever official World Sidecar Champions. The event was screened live on Sky Sports.

Racing sidecars on speedway involves a rider and a passenger mounted on a 1000cc purpose built, three-wheeled sidecar outfit. The passenger of the machine is as much involved in the race performance as the rider. The two members of the sidecar crew work in unison to ride the outfit as best they can. Speedway circuits are a loose shale surface and therefore traction is all important. The passenger plays a major part in controlling the amount of traction being created on the rear wheel. He does so by moving his weight forwards, backwards and sideways (either into or out of the machine). The outfit only ever turns right so the passenger only finds himself on the right hand side of the outfit.

Sidecar speedway is much less popular than conventional speedway, though by no means less spectacular (in a survey of speedway fans taken during the 1970s, Sidecars were actually voted as the most popular class – which included car racing – in Australian speedway). Like conventional speedway, the machines are equipped with no brakes or traction control systems. However, they are powered by huge 1000cc engines, taken from roadrace superbikes. Therefore, power output can be anything up to 180 bhp and top speeds can reach up to 80 mph. Sidecar speedway is also very similar to sidecar Grasstrack and many crews race both disciplines. For example, the 2007 British Sidecar Speedway Champions Gary Jackson and Carl Blyth are also regular competitors in Grasstrack racing, Jackson being a former British Grasstrack champion himself.

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