Aussie Sidecar Stories

Terry Brooks built his first sidecar from a wrecked solo inthe 1970’s and hasn’t looked back. There may only be two tracks in Tasmania but back in the 70’sand 80’s there was a booming sidecar competition. Sadly as happens, entries dwindled for a few decades, but in recent years there has been a rumbling amongst the orchards as sidecar grids begin to grow once more – and Terry is out there helping...

Darryl ‘Dags’ Rayner stated racing F2 sidecars in the late 90’swhich kicked off an obsession that has seen him do a lot of travelling around Australia, New Zealand and over to the Isle of Man TT. He has done six years over at one of the most recognised motorsport events and was the first Aussie sidecar to break 100 miles per hour in a race at the TT. Dags shares some insight into what it was like...

Kate and Josh started racing speedway separately, before they knew each other, but when they met there was a third wheel – in the form of sidecars. Over the last couple of years, they have cut laps around tracks in their home state of Victoria,  visited South Australia and made the occasional trek further afield racing a variety of eras of speedway sidecar, and Kate jumping on her dirt track sidec...

Gavin Porteous started racing sidecars in the 70’s and has ticked off a number of sidecar racers bucket list items since then. He has competed from one coast to the other of Australia, including the Laverton TT in 1976, chalked up some laps around Mount Panorama, and did a couple of years at the Isle of Man in the early 90’s. It was an honour to chat with Gav, about his time racing andbuilding sid...

In this episode of Aussie Sidecar Stories we try somethingdifferent. While helping out at the Annandale-Leichhardt MotorcycleClub Come and Try Day we caught up with a few of the attendees about their experience on the day. Come and Try Days are an opportunity to welcome anyonewishing to have a go as a sidecar passenger on a road race sidecar. It is a big day for anyone involved, especially the rid...

Royce and Leonard are the 2025 Sidecar Masters of Mac Park,a prestigious title they earned in September after success at a race meeting they have grown up attending. The South Australian bothers have only been racing sidecarsfor a few years, but they have a long history on two wheels, and are actually third generation sidecar racers. We have a great chat about the Masters of Mac Park, howdramas at...

Juniors are the future of racing, and Aerian and Storm havejumped on a speedway sidecar to forge their way in the sport. The brothers from Queensland have only done a couple of club days on an outfit, but they share with us a bit about their experience so far.

Margaret Halliday is a name very well known in road racesidecar circles, and for very good reason. From the late 70’s to the late 80’s she was Doug Chiva’s passenger as they raced in Australia, New Zealand, America and the UK, winning a number of races, championships and setting records along the way. In 1984 the pair won the Australian Grand Prix at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, and Margaret’s name w...

Jim Jobling is a dirt track sidecar racer based in New SouthWales who has had quite an eventful eight years of racing. The Quirindi Long Track race meeting has been run and wonfor 2025, but the sidecar racing at the event will be remembered for the number of crashes that happened – and unfortunately Jim found himself not far from the action whenever it happened. We chat about injuries, recovery, a...

Ian’s Aussie Sidecar Story Ian Milton is a name very well known in historic road racing in Queensland. He was racing solos, but the lure of sidecars drew him in and after 40 years he is still as passionate about them today. We caught up with Ian at the 2025 Queensland Historic Titles, where three outfits he owns were helping make up the period 3 grid. Ian loves his historic machines, but recognise...

Clarissa Mitchell only ever wanted to race speedway sidecarswith her dad, and when she turned 16 he got her a race licence to do just that. As he moved towards retiring he wanted to keep the familyracing journey going and got his son Stephen in the riders seat – much to Clarissa’s initial disgust. But the pairing worked and Wild Child Racing was born. After many great years racing together a crash...

Tom Northey first got on a dirt track sidecar when he wasabout 18 years old, having grown up around them with his dad and uncles racing. He would jump on with anyone who needed a passenger, he hastried both speedway and road, but is most comfortable on dirt. When he pairedup with Matt Davies 18 months ago they discovered it was a perfect match andhave been racking up the wins and titles since. Tom...

Peter Searle started racing sidecars in 1978 and hasn’tlooked back, even returning to the sport after almost two decades withoutstrapping his helmet on. He currently races period 3 and period 6 road race outfits,and is the president of Queensland Early Motorcycle Sports Club. Peter shares with us some highlights of his time in theriders seat, as well as giving an insight into what goes on behind t...

In this episode of Aussie Sidecar Stories we catch up withKayla Dodds, a road race sidecar passenger from the Hunter region of New South Wales. She shares how she got started racing sidecars, some of theadventures she has had on track, how she juggles racing with her son and family, and some of the goals she hopes to one day achieve.