Vintage sidecar racing video - Page 3

 


Oh, yass, Neil is biting his pillow as you post.

 


I'm bad estimating it ... what was the speed in the straights and around the
curves?  I want to say about 70 MPH on the straightaways, but I could be way
off ... ???

DF

 



Given that I managed (an indicated) 60mph on the straights of Chimay
circuit, three-up on a stock Ural outfit, 'd say you are, yes :-))


--
BMW K1100LT  Ducati 750SS  Honda CB400F  Triumph Street Triple
Kawasaki GT550  Suzuki TS250ERx2 GN250  Damn, back to eight bikes!
Try Googling before asking a damn silly question.
chateau dot murray at idnet dot com

 

wrote:

You're more than a bit off.  We enter the down hill RH T1 WFO at about
80, still accelerating from the last turn.

By T2 we are up to 100.  The vids don't do the elevation changes
justice.  When you enter T2 the track drops enough to get everything
light and sliding.  When I was there in 2006 there was a pic of us
with the rear wheel off the ground!  It's things like that that
seperate the fast guys from the wannabees.  Note that is where the
driver in the vid almost runs into the back of other rigs as they slow
down while he is still on the gas.

As soon as the rig settles it's back on the gas through the turn, back
up to 100 mph.

The RH T3 can be entered at 80-90 mph.  A lot depends on how big your
balls are.  Ideally you would enter on the left.  But note that the
driver in the vid once entered on the right, passing three other rigs
on the way in, proving once again that the wrong line ridden well can
be faster than the correct line ridden poorly.

The LH T4 is another drop off under the bridge.  It can be taken WFO
at over 100 mph, staying on the gas all the way down the hill.  This
is another spot where the driver had to be careful not to run into the
back of other rigs.

There is a steep hill leading up to the double apex T5, allowing you
to brake very hard without locking the wheels, down to 50 for the
entrance.  You continue slowing to about 40 by mid turn, then get back
on the gas for the 2nd apex, the left turn beyond it, and the uphill
straight.  That is where everyone and his brother passed him.

The track levels off a bit at the RH kink called T7, allowing you to
get back over 100 mph before hitting the RH T8.  The fastest rigs are
doing 120 here while the vid rig was probably doing just over 100.
But again notice how quickly he closed on the rigs that had passed him
on the straight.

The LH T9 can be done at about 80, hard on the gas.  Again notice how
the driver in the video passed another rig on the outside and never
made any attempt to get to the left to set up for T10.  He did
everything "wrong" and passed two more rigs that were taking the
better line.

T10, onto the starting straight, was taken at about 50 mph.  I was
having fun breaking the back end lose and doing power slides through
it.  So was the guy in the red 66, till it bit him and he almost
flipped.  The alternative fast way through is to keep the tires hooked
up and carry more speed at the apex.  That line will take you right
out to that ugly cement wall.  Choose your poison.  The wannabees take
option 3 and slow down.

Later the driver of the video rig told me he would not bring a stock
650 to race against modified 750s here again.  Said it was like
bringing a knife to a gun fight.  Still, he has managed to pull that
off every race this season at our shorter, tighter home track of
Loudon.

His only real competition there is the 314 rig, an excellent chassis
that the driver built himself, with a worn out disgustingly stock 750
BMW in it.  There are two or three of us with modified 750s that can
stay with them if we are having a good day, but I'm not foolish enough
to think it's my driving that keeps me with them.

The Canadian champ is in their league but has handicapped himself out
of the game this year by running an old Triumph.  Next year he will
have a Yamaha again.

We have a driver in the classic devision, pre 1968 with smaller
engines, that raced at the world level back in the 70s and 80s.  Last
year his wife, who is his usual passenger, didn't want to race one
weekend because a friend had come to visit.  Peter borrowed the
friend's son, who had never heard of sidecars before, and came to the
track.  He taught the kid what he need to do and gave him a ride to
remember.  Driving a beat up old rig with a bone stock 450 Honda they
went out in the rain and took first over all, beating the modified
750s.

Yeah, that video about "There goes my hero" sounds kind of lame, but
these guys *are* my heros.

 


<Snip superb stuff>

Marvellous.

Mind you, this:


and this:


confirms my suspicion that sidecar racers are all decerebrate maniacs.



--
BMW K1100LT  Ducati 750SS  Honda CB400F  Triumph Street Triple
Kawasaki GT550  Suzuki TS250ERx2 GN250  Damn, back to eight bikes!
Try Googling before asking a damn silly question.
chateau dot murray at idnet dot com