Hanging On In There
Written by Team BHP on 23 September 2020
BHP Radio are very pleased to announce that John and Chrissie Clancy, a very talented and highly respected F2 Sidecar team, will be joining us on a regular basis with updates from the world of sidecar racing.
Long time friends of our very own Clive Reygers, we look forward to hearing what’s going on in both the northern and southern hemispheres with this amazing and terrifying sport.
Here’s a little background on what got them started.
“I was fascinated about sidecars when I went to the race track. I always went over to watch them, one particular race meeting a passenger fell off and they needed a passenger only for one race so the driver could win the championship.
I asked if I could go out, even though I had never done it before. I was given leathers, helmet, boots, gloves, back protector and then had a crash (pardon the pun) course on how to hang on and move. I then had to tell my husband what I was about to do. John had a few words with the driver along the lines of hurt her and you’ll have to deal with me!
And yes I got it all the moves wrong in the warm up. The start was the most scary part of the race, we took off while all the other sidecars stayed on the line until we were half way around the track. Once they caught up to us they stayed behind us for the whole entire race. I got off that bike buzzing! A year and a half later we had our very own Honda DeWith sidecar (Period 4 1970 Historic Sidecar).
Our Racing started in 2008 and we took two years to really master how to ride the sidecar. By 2010 John and I won every race we entered.
- Australian titles
- Victorian titles
- Southern Classic
- Island Classic
- Club series
At the end of 2010 we decided to buy a modern sidecar to open up our racing, there was nothing in Australia to buy so we looked overseas and bought a L.C.R F2. Our weekends became very busy with lots of racing most weekends.
In 2014 my husband couldn’t ride for medical reasons so I decided to start riding. We started an all-girl team and our partnership blossomed to the point where we came second in the Australian Championship. And won the championship in W.A (western Australia).
In 2016 and 2017 I teamed up to passenger with Mick Alton to do the Isle of Man TT, (so that stopped my driving.) That allowed John to get back behind the handle bars too.
Mick and I placed 13th and 20th in 2016 and the following year placed 10th and 12th.
In 2020, John and I packed up our sidecar and shipped it over to England to compete in the Camathias Cup. It was meant to be an adventure of a life time but we all know what happened there.
After arriving in England we had 3 weeks to look around before we were placed into lockdown. After many months in lockdown we decided to cut our losses and head back to Australia so we can come back next year to try again to race.”
John and Chrissie Clancy
