Sidecar racing has to be the most bonkers form of motorsport on the planet. Essentially aeroplane wings on three wheels, the sight of a driver pushing to their limits while relying implicitly on their passenger – kept attached to the outfit by nothing more than arm strength and bravery – to make all of the right movements to get the thing round a corner.
Take that concept and put it on the 37.75-mile Isle of Man TT course… well, bonkers doesn’t even cut it.
As someone who supports what the TT is all about and defends its existence, even I find watching Sidecar races a very nervous experience. But, like any great television drama, it’s impossible to turn away. Not least when Mansfield-born Ben Birchall, 46, and brother Tom, 37, are on the course.
Over the last few years at the TT, the Birchalls have become the pinnacle of the Sidecar class. In 2023, they added two more victories to their total to take their tally to 14. That's second in the all-time class stakes, behind only TT legend Dave Molyneux’s 17. Exceptionally, the Birchalls made history when they posted the first ever 120mph Sidecar lap at the TT in race one, clocking a 120.357mph, before overhauling their own lap record in the event’s second race at 120.645mph.
“You just come here doing your best, and you build up for a year, TT 24 starts now really,” Ben Birchall tells Autosport as we stand looking over their history making Steadplan/Hager LCR Honda outfight. “So, you build up each other physically, mentally, the machine, the preparation that goes into it to try and get results. But to get what we got this year has been incredible; two wins, the 120 lap, 100 years of Sidecars at the same time. That puts our tally to 14 and 11 in a row. We’ve been unbeaten for 11 races in a row. So, it’s good.”
“It just seems like a completely unachievable thing,” Tom adds when speaking about nearing Molyneux’s win record of 17 for the class. “To be honest, we’re not aiming to get to Dave, because what Dave did was just legendary. We’re just chipping away year on year really. There isn’t actually a ‘yes, this is what we’re aiming for’. But it keeps coming closer. To knock that 120mph lap on the head the other day, that’s an achievement that I thought we could do but when we did it, it was just mind-bending really.”
The Birchalls have been at the game a long time. Ben started racing in 1999 as a passenger before becoming a driver, while Tom started competing as a passenger in 2003. Multiple world champions in the discipline, the Birchalls made their TT debut in 2009 and scored a brace of podiums for the first time in 2012 racing for TT winner Klaus Klaffenbock despite smashing up themselves and their outfit in a practice crash.
Source: Autosport