Sidecar World Championship
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FIM Sidecar World Championship is the international
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''. ...
racing championship. It is the only remaining original
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 * ...
road racing championship class that started in 1949. It was formerly named Superside when the sidecars moved from being part of
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racing to being support events for the
Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...
. In 2010 the FIM took over the management of the series from the Superside promoters, and the championship was called "FIM Sidecar World Championship". However, the FIM still uses the word Superside for promotion purposes, despite the demise of the Superside promoters. The championship is raced over a number of rounds at circuits mainly in Europe, although other venues have been included in United States (
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),
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at
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and Australia's
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.


History


Formative years

When the sidecar world championships began in 1949, they were dominated by unambiguous, orthodox outfits where a
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''. ...
was attached to a conventional solo motorcycle. Rigidity and strength were poorly understood and pre-war machines have been described as "scaffolding on wheels". Development was based around cutting weight, providing a flat platform for the passenger, and reducing drag around the sidecar wheel and at the front of the sidecar platform. When developments in dolphin and dustbin fairings on solo machines proved successful at reducing drag, it was natural to adapt similar streamlined enclosures for the sidecar outfits. A pioneer in this area was Eric Oliver who worked with the Watsonian company on the development of successive experimental racing outfits including such innovations as the use of diameter wheels.


Design changes

By 1953, motorcycle frames had undergone a complete redesign to accommodate the side car. Seat heights had been reduced to the point where the driver now sat in a semi-prone position. This permitted the use of a one-piece fairing which enclosed the front of the outfit as well as the sidecar platform. The enclosure led to unfamiliar handling, and the advanced design was only used in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix and in the final Grand Prix at Monza, where it finished fourth in the hands of Jacques Drion and
Inge Stoll Ingeborg Stoll-Laforge (11 February 1930, Breinig - Stolberg (Rhineland), Germany – 24 August 1958) was a female German motorcycle racer. Early life Ingeborg Stoll-Laforge was born on 11 February 1930, in Breinig Stolberg (Rhineland), n ...
. Throughout the year, other outfits experimented with more modest refinements such as additional braking via the sidecar wheel, sometimes linked to one or both of the other two brakes. Nevertheless, racing sidecars remained intrinsically the same to road-going sidecars. A traditional racing outfit was a road-going motorcycle outfit without the boot and with the suspension lowered. The bootless sidecar frame would have a flat platform. Both the battery and the fuel tank could be placed either between the motorcycle and the sidecar, or on the sidecar platform. Over time the subframe, struts, clamps, sidecar frame, etc. would merge with the motorcycle mainframe and form a single frame. But essentially the racing outfit was still a variant of the road-going outfit in principle.


Technical innovation

Beginning in 1977 there was a seismic shift away from the traditional engineering that had underscored sidecar technology up to this point. It began when George O'Dell won the championship using a
Hub-center steering Hub-center steering (HCS) is one of several different types of front-end suspension/steering mechanisms used in motorcycles and cargo bicycles. Hub-center steering is characterized by the steering pivot points being inside the hub of the wheel, ra ...
sidecar (built by Rolf Biland) called the Seymaz. O'Dell won despite the Seymaz being rarely raced during the season in favor of using a traditional Windle frame for much of the year. The next year Rolf Biland won the 1978 championship using a BEO-Yamaha TZ500 sidecar which was basically a rear-engine, rear-drive trike. In 1979 the FIM responded to these technological innovations by splitting the sidecar championship into two competitions: * B2A - traditional sidecars * B2B - prototypes Bruno Holzer won the B2B championship with an LCR BEO-Yamaha sidecar that turned motorcycling into something more like driving a car because the machine had a driver's seat, steering wheel and using foot pedals. It also did not require much participation from the sidecar passenger who just had to lie flat on the passenger platform. In 1980, due to the revolutionary changes being made by the constructors to their designs, the FIM banned all sidecar prototypes because it was concerned that the developments were turning passengers into non-active participants, and the machines were ceasing to resemble motorcycles. However, a year later FIM reversed its decision and reached a compromise after protests from the teams. Prototypes would be permitted to race subject to the following rules: * it must be a vehicle that is driven only by a single rear wheel * it must be steered by a single front wheel * it must be steered by a motorcycle handle bar not a steering wheel * it must require the active participation from the passenger. The 1981 rules remain largely unchanged. For example, trikes or
cyclecars A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car. A key ...
are still banned. However, there have been a few amendments and easing of the rules. In the late 1990s the FIM allowed a sidecar front wheel to have automobile-style suspension (e.g. wishbone configurations. Likewise sidecars that are outside of the technical rules are permitted to compete in races but their results, points or finishes are not recorded. An example is the Markus Bösiger/Jürg Egli team who would have finished third in the 1998 championship season. However, as they were using a configuration where Bösiger sat in an upright driving position no results were entered in the official records. Under FIM regulations, "rider" applies equally to the driver and the passenger on a sidecar. The driver is positioned kneeling in front of the engine with hands near the front wheel, while the passenger moves about the platform at the rear transferring their weight from left to right according to the corner and forward or back to gain traction for the front or rear. The passenger also helps the driver when it comes to drifting, and is also usually the first person to notice any engine problems since he is next to the engine while the driver is in front of it. The two must work together to be a successful team. Nowadays it is common to call the driver the "Pilot", while the passenger has several nicknames: the "Acrobat" used in North America which is no longer in use, and the now common term "Monkey" which originated from Australia. Occasionally the words "Co-Driver" or "Co-Pilot" are also used. Traditional sidecar racing remain popular in several countries, especially the United Kingdom, where it known as Formula Two Sidecars (600cc Engines). They are generally uses in true road racing events like the Isle of Man TT races. Despite their lower top speeds, these machines retain better manoeuvring capabilities.


Modern racing

Between 1981 and 2016 Superside machines were known as Formula One sidecars using a basic unchanged design. These modern high tech machines are only related to motorcycles by the classification of the engines they use. All
chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
are purpose built and owe more to
open wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...
race car technology and the tires are wide and have a flat profile. They are sometimes known as "worms". The most successful sidecar racer in Superside has been Steve Webster, who has won four world championships and six world cup between 1987 and 2004. The most successful chassis is LCR, the
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sidecar maker, whose founder Louis Christen has won 35 championships between 1979 and 2016, with a variety of engines, originally
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and Krauser two-strokes, more lately
Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...
four-strokes. The BMW Rennsport RS54 Engine powered to 19 straight constructors titles from 1955 to 1973, the most by any engines. In 2014, for the first time a Kawasaki-powered machine won the title with Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze ending an 11-year consecutive
Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...
run. In 2016 Kirsi Kainulainen became the first woman motorcycle world champion, as passenger to
Pekka Päivärinta Pekka Johannes Päivärinta (born 4 May 1949 in Aura) is a Finnish former long-distance runner. He won men's senior race in the first World Championships of cross-country running in 1973. He competed in 1972 Olympics at 3000-meter steeplechas ...
.Historic world championship title for BMW sidecar Duo Pekka Päivärinta/Kirsi Kainulainen
''BMW Group'', 19 September 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017
However, in 2017 the engine capacity of F1 sidecars was reduced from 1000cc to 600cc. This was a conscious effort by FIM to attract more participation from racers who still preferred the traditional F2 chassis. By reducing the engine size, it was hoped that this would mean competition on more equal terms. Nevertheless, the 2017 championship was still dominated by competitors using the F1 chassis. The highest placed F2 chassis team was 12th by Eckart Rösinger and Steffen Werner on their Baker-Suzuki GSX-R600.


Formats

Since 2005 there are now three types of race classes. Any given championship round can have all three type of races but sometimes there is only one type of race (the Gold Race) in one round, usually when the round is a supporting event of a major meeting such as
MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...
. * Match Race. Teams are divided into groups and race in very short heat races. Winners and the better placing teams in these heats would advance to the next round (semi-finals), until only the best six teams left for the final heat race. A typical heat race distance is three laps. * Sprint Race. All teams participate in a short race. A typical race distance is twelve laps. * Gold Race. All teams participate in a long race, usually twice the distance of the sprint race.


FIM Sidecar World Champions


Grand Prix


Notes


Trivia

* Werner Schwärzel and Karl Heinz Kleis was the first team to win a race (1974 German GP) using a 2-stroke engine (König), Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs was the last team to win a race (1999 World Superbike Championship round 8 Brands Hatch) using a 2-stroke engine (Honda). * Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes won the first race of the season in France (Le Mans) using a German-made Adolf RS-Yamaha sidecar, thus ended LCR's winning every single race for the last 15 seasons dating back to 2003, the longest winning streak in the history of the championship by a single constructor.


References


External links


FIM Sidecar World Championship
FIM Sidecar World Championship Website {{Main world championships Sidecar racing World motorcycle racing series Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme Motorcycle racing by type