well.... just coming back from taupo where they had the NZ sidecar racing association "have a go day".
All i can say is OOOMMMGGG.
day started at about 9am and more and more sidecars were showing up, to showcase their stuff. A few shirt chairs, a worm or two, and some cream of the crop LCRs. $10 bought me three laps as a swinger. "meh.... three laps" i thought, definately not enough.
First had a go on one of the worms. these machines are longer and wider, with engine in the rear. with these they basically got you to just sit down and hold on... and you needed to hold on. very very scary having to trust the rider to hit the anchors, when the end of the back straight is coming at you at 230+ kph.i came back with the hugest smile on my face.
then i decided to have a go on one of the short chairs. these things are tiny tiny sidecars that have huge huge engines in them.the swinger told me that i would have to hang on off the side, or we werre gonna crash. i think to myself yeah ok..... seen it on tv .... looks easy. decided to let my mate have a go first, to see how he was gonna do. during his few laps the swinger for that team told me that they had just gotten that bike, and wanted to see how fast they can get it. hmmm and here i was thinking i had signed up for some family event thing. hahah it was awesome. my mate came back pale as a ghost, all shaking, but with the biggest smile on his face.
so i got a few more pointers and practiced my switching in the pits, tried to visualise switching from left to right, coming in from the hairpin to the right hander on pit straight, and thought "sweet..... lets do this"
man nothing can prepare you for the ride..... the acceleration on these things is mindblowing, hanging my whole torso off the left in the first corner is amazing, just managing to scrape my shoulder on the tarmac. second corner hanging off the side and also under braking is scary. the hairpin is slow and ok, but then switching from the left to the right on the sidecar is the scariest thing i have ever done. trying to hold on for dear life, and looking for the bar to hold on to, and trying to switch the position of my legs, and countering g-forces coming in from what seemed like every direction is INSANE. especially when you have 1 second to do it all, while the swinger's voice echoes in your head "you fuck up, you die".
the second lap i nearly fell off on the switch, and the third lap i was just gonna be sick. i just had no strength to hold on.
two hours after i got off the sidecar, and already on my way back home to palmy, i was still pumped up on adrenaline....
meh i dunno words cannot describe it. i have a new found respect for sidecar racers. it takes very very big cojones to do what they do. it is the most mentally and physically challenging thing i have ever done.
if anyone ever has the opportunity ti give it a go..... go ahead...... its definately something that you will remember for life.
now i just cant wait till next year.
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Originally Posted by MrPeanut
... oh well..... i'll take my chances.
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