The Art of Sidecar Driving
(Semi Controlled Recklessness)
Position is the first
thing. Unlike other bikes, on a mini sidecar the driver kneels on the bike
headfirst and in my case, my feet hang over the rear of the bike. The passenger
then gets on the sidecar and attempts to find a comfortable position from which
they can operate. Suzanne prefers to have her rear foot flat and her left foot
in the kneeling position-kind of a semi squat. It should be noted here that all
passengers have there own style when it comes to positioning. The bottom line
here is experiment and find out what works best for you.
Driving in a straight line. When we first got our sidecar, this was a challenge
in itself. Every time Suzanne leaned close to me the sidecar would turn to the
right. And with such a small wheelbase the effect was immediate. It took us a
while but we found out that if Suzanne leaned forward and slightly out to the
left we could go straight. I know this sounds simple but wait till you try it.
I am sure you will have as many exciting stories as I do about the sidecar
making a sudden right turn when you intended to go straight.
Turning right to us is more difficult than turning left. To make a right turn
the passenger has to climb on the drivers back and be as far forward as
possible. Of course all this is going on while the driver is also leaning
forward and to the right. During all this the sidecar goes into a 3-wheeled
drift (sliding). Now the trick here, from the drivers point of view is this,
maintaining control of the sidecar through the corner while your passenger puts
their entire weight on your shoulders. Sounds simple enough? Well, before you
answer yes, let me throw in one more small detail. Its called a helmet. Leaning
forward and having your passenger on top of you at the same time limits your
vision. In my case, going in to the corner I have a clear vision, but through
the apex and the exiting I cannot tilt my head back far enough to see because my
partner is on top of me. For a lack of a better term I call tight right hand
turns point and pray. Long sweeping right turns do not have this problem.
Right hand turn position
Click Picture to Enlarge
Turning left. This is where you hear the crowd cheering and thinking that your
passenger is nothing short of nuts! Making a left turn requires the passenger
to lean all the way out of the sidecar to the point of almost coming in contact
with the pavement. (The crowd loves it). During this the driver is also
leaning forward and to the left allowing the sidecar to go into a 3-wheeled
drift (sliding) or on long sweeping corners flying the chair. The term Flying
the chair means that the sidecar wheel is off the ground so you only have 2
wheels on the pavement. Remember the farther your passenger leans out (pushing
the passenger out further than they care to be is not condusive to a happy
racing team) the faster you can go around the corner.
Sliding through the corner
Flying the chair
As you can see, sidecar racing is very exciting, exacting and tiring (for the
driver). By the way, it's the passenger that gets all the notoriety and fame
(waaaaaaaaa, blubber blubber). The driver? Well, he gets a good workout.