Superside
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Superside FIM Sidecar World Championship is the international sidecar racing championship. It is one of the three remaining original FIM road racing championships that started in 1949. The other two being the 125cc and the 250cc world championship. The Superside name was coined when the sidecars moved from being part of Grand Prix Motorcycles racing to being support events for the Superbike World Championship. The championship is raced over a number of rounds (7 in 2007) at race circuits, mainly in Europe, although in other years they have been held in USA (Laguna Seca), South Africa (Kyalami) and Australia (Phillip Island). Two of the 2007 rounds are support events for MotoGP. The 2007 World Champions are Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance (LCR-Suzuki GSX-R 1000).
[edit] Transition PeriodPrior to 1977, the racing sidecars were similar 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 gas tank would be placed either between the motorcycle and the sidecar, or on the sidecar platform. Overtime 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. In 1977 George O'Dell won the championship using a Hub-center_steering sidecar called the Seymaz. Then in 1978 Rolf Biland won the championship using a sidecar called BEO which was a rear-engine rear-drive trike. To keep up with technological innovations, in 1979 the FIM split the championship in two: One for traditional sidecars (B2A), another for prototypes (B2B). The B2B championship was won by Bruno Holzer using an LCR that turned the act of riding into the act of driving (just like a car), including sitting on a driver's seat and using foot pedals and a steering wheel. Neither the BEO nor the LCR required any participations from the passenger. The former only required Kenneth Williams to sit on his seat, while the latter only required Charlie Maierhans to lay flat down on the passenger platform. Due to the high cost of technological development, the non-active participation of the riding passengers, and the fear that sidecars would eventually become something that has nothing to do with motorcycles, in 1980 the FIM banned all prototypes. But in 1981 the FIM reversed its decision due to protests from competitors, and allowed prototypes again. However the FIM and the competitors reached a compromise involving the rules: A sidecar must be a vehicle that is driven only by a single rear wheel and steered by a single front wheel, the rider must use a motorcycle handle bar as opposed to a steering wheel for steering, and there must be active participations from the passenger. The only ban that still exists today is the ban of using trikes or cyclecars. The 1981 rules remain largely unchanged to this day, with the exception that during the late 90s the FIM finally allowed the use of car type suspension for the front wheel, such as the wishbone suspension. Sidecars that are outside of the technical rules can still compete in racing events, but would not be able to score or record their positions officially. An example would be the team Markus Bösiger/Jürg Egli, who achieved several high placings in the 1998 season using a sidecar in which Bösiger sat driving instead of riding. Even though they were allowed to race, their results were not classified in the official records. They would have finished third in the championship. [edit] TodayToday the Sidecars raced in Superside are modern high tech machines related to motorcycles only by the engines that are used. The chassis are purpose built and owe more to open wheel race car technology and the tyres are wide and have a flat profile. They are sometimes known as "worms". The basic design remains unchanged since 1981. The rider 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 rider 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 rider is in front of it. The two must work together to be a successful team. Nowadays it is common to call the rider the "Driver" or 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. The most successful sidecar racer in Superside has been Steve Webster MBE, who has won ten world championships between 1987 and 2004. The most successful manufacturer is LCR, the Swiss sidecar maker, whose founder Louis Christen has won 24 championships between 1979 and 2007, with a variety of engines, originally Yamaha and Krauser two-strokes, more lately Suzuki four-strokes. [edit] Match, Sprint, GoldSince 2005 the organizers have created a new format in which there are now three types of races. A 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.
[edit] FIM Sidecar World Champions[edit] Grand Prix
[edit] Sidecar World Cup
[edit] Superside
[edit] NotesKlaus Enders's last championship (1974) was won on the same outfit that was used by one of the original 1954 BMW team (Noll/Cron, Schneider/Strauß, Hillebrand/Grunwald, Faust/Remmert). 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). George O'Dell was the only World Champion rider who had never won a race. Ironically in his championship year (1977) he won the Isle of Man TT, the very first year the TT was dropped from the World Championship. Jock Taylor and Benga Johansson was the last team to use a traditional sidecar to win the championship (1980) and a race (1981 Austrian GP). [edit] External links
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