Eric Staines Oliver (13 April 1911 – 1 March 1980) was an English

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

racer best remembered as four-time Sidecar World Champion administered by the

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

, riding a

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada * Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

. His passenger in 1949 was

Denis Jenkinson Denis Sargent Jenkinson (11 December 1920 – 29 November 1996), "Jenks" or "DSJ" as he was known in the pages of ''Motor Sport'', was a British journalist deeply involved in motorsports. As Continental Correspondent of the UK-based ''Motor Spo ...

. He is also remembered for his innovation, being the first

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

competitor to use a dustbin fairing, rear suspension and the first to adopt a semi-kneeling riding position. He was also an accomplished solo racer and continued to ride a 350 Grand Prix bike while racing a sidecar. Oliver made a surprising appearance in the 1958 Isle of Man

Sidecar TT The Sidecar TT is a motorcycle-with-sidecar road race competition held over two legs which takes place during the Isle of Man TT festival, an annual event at the end of May and beginning of June. Between 1954 and 1976 this race was part of the Gr ...

race on a standard Norton Dominator 88 with a Watsonian "Monaco" road sidecar with Mrs Pat Wise in the sidecar, finishing tenth ahead of many specialised race machines. Oliver's last TT appearance was in the 1960 with passenger Stan Dibben but they had a bad crash in practice with Oliver breaking his back in two places and Dibben was nearly decapitated. Both men decided to retire from racing after this. Oliver later switched to car racing with a

Lotus Elan Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. The first series of cars was produced between 1962 and 1975 as a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The second series was produced between 1989 and 1995 as a front-wheel ...

and on 1 January 1955 opened a motorcycle dealership in Staines, later selling

Reliant Reliant Motor Company was a British car manufacturer based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. It was founded in 1935 and ended car production in 2002, the company had been known as "Reliant Motor Company" (or RMC for short) until the 1990s w ...

cars.

World Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap. An empty black cell indicates that the class did not compete at that particular championship round.)

References

External links

TT Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Eric Isle of Man TT riders English motorcycle racers People from Crowborough 1911 births 1980 deaths Sidecar racers