A request from Dane Rowe, 1972 TT

[steve-e]

Steve, hi, Dane here.
I wonder whether you could ask in the appropraite place on your forum whether anyone has the race program of the 1972 sidecar tt races (apparently there were two, one for 750s and one for 500s) who could scan me a list of the starters of the sidecar race and send it by email ? (perhaps you could send any takers my email address by pm - )
A French author needs some help identifying some images of unknown sidecar outfits from the 1972 TT
I cannot find an actual list of starters with their start numbers online - a few results with a max. of 6 start numbers but not more.
It would be great if you can help.

All the best
Dane

[Big Tim]

1972 TT, 500 Race

[Big Tim]

1972 TT, 750 Race

[steve-e]

Tim my man, you are a star! I've just had someone from Verb's TT group say he'll scan tomorrow - I'll call him off

[ianw]

That is a great list of sidecar drivers & passengers, a lot who built their own chassis & raced them.
Where have the skills gone?
I suppose it's across the board in all skills, the UK has lost it's manufacturing skills.
I would think that the likes of Isambard Kingdom Brunel is turning in his grave!
How many sidecar racers build their own chassis now a days?

[steve-e]

The UK hasn't lost its skills in designing its lost its cheap labour to produce milliions for next to nothing. Instead of importing loads of foreigners to do it as we used to we now pay them in their own country to do it for us once we have designed stuff if loads of copies are needed.

There are still loads of people in this country making loads of great new stuff but sidecar racing isn't top of their list any more. Why would it be?

[anp]

That reminds me of a long running thread in the Lotus 7 club a guy saw a low height Aluminium hydraulic jack for sale at say for £400 in a discount store some 20% cheaper than in one of the top motorsport stores eventually finding the cheapest in this country at around £350 how could it be so cheap ? a few people got together found the supplier in China ordered a container load settled on a price of £75 each shipped & distributed them by club members and gave £7 each jack they sold to charity as the exchange rate altered in their favour at the point of delivery

I know all this because I told my neighbour about them he ordered one as he owns a 1968 TVR Vixen and is very thrifty interestingly its done 375,000 miles with only one engine rebuild and still on the same gearbox ! the jack however which looked identical to an expensive one lasted less than 6 months as the seals failed when put under pressure

I recon the 50 year old car has been & still is old style traditional engineering and the other well I don't really know a good copy maybe but poor material specification one day they will get it right I am sure of that

Can someone make some drawings of a sidecar and get a quote from abroad ?

[steve-e]

That is the problem with copying. If you don't understand the design how do you know material spec?
Didn't Honda start by making piston rings, casting instead of forging. I guess he learnt. Similar with Enfield India years ago, the rockers were cast and used to snap. Import the bikes cheap and put English forged rockers in (among other bits)

Are we far enough off topic yet?

[lang]

SE HERE!!

I thought I was quoting this post and it seems I've edited it - must have pressed the wrong button!

HUGE APOLOGIES, THIS WAS TOTALLY UNINTENTIONAL AND I CAN'T FIND A WAY TO RESTORE IT

[petercaughlin]

Maybe the skills, ingenuity and competitors would return if sidecar racing (TT mainly) wasn't restricted to the boring formula that it is,any 4 cylinder jap engine etc etc,I`m sure if the original specs were reintroduced the innovaters would return

[ianw]

Peter

[lang]

Ian asks "where have all the skills gone?"
I ask where have all the competitors gone? It amazes me that the promoters of the TT in recent years claim record entries in the sidecar class, when they are only getting 50-60 entries. The 1972 programme clearly shows 88 entries, and this was the norm for many years. This is not a criticism, just an observation.
As a matter of interest, eight of the competitors from the 1972 programme are still competing today; is this dedication or just plain stupidity?!

[Richard Rollings]

Ian asks "where have all the skills gone?"
I ask where have all the competitors gone? It amazes me that the promoters of the TT in recent years claim record entries in the sidecar class, when they are only getting 50-60 entries. The 1972 programme clearly shows 88 entries, and this was the norm for many years. This is not a criticism, just an observation.
As a matter of interest, eight of the competitors from the 1972 programme are still competing today; is this dedication or just plain stupidity?!

2 classes of sidecars at the TT back then. Maybe some day they will bring a second sidecar class back in. What class would it be?

[tonybsa2008]

An interesting one.Anyone who has seen my Facebook page recently will see a video of the 75 sidecar TT,the variety of sounds and different layout of outfits is stunning compared with today.

[anp]

Ian asks "where have all the skills gone?"
I ask where have all the competitors gone? It amazes me that the promoters of the TT in recent years claim record entries in the sidecar class, when they are only getting 50-60 entries. The 1972 programme clearly shows 88 entries, and this was the norm for many years. This is not a criticism, just an observation.
As a matter of interest, eight of the competitors from the 1972 programme are still competing today; is this dedication or just plain stupidity?!

2 classes of sidecars at the TT back then. Maybe some day they will bring a second sidecar class back in. What class would it be?

Electric maybe !