On The Edge Racing

Watching a sidecar race a little over 2 years ago, I could never of dreamt of racing myself, but here I am at the end of the first season.
I’ve made it. This is one of my dreams growing up and I'm finally living it. We started at Pembrey, I was so scared, and I hadn’t been able to practice due to work commitments. Practice was an eye opener. I can remember thinking, don't let go, don't let go. By the time we came back in, I was hooked. I made a lot of new friends that weekend, and a lot more since. We even came away with a first place cup. Plus a few muscles I never knew I had. Next stop Darley moor. What a wet weekend. I had plenty of practice bump starting the sidecar. It packed up on Sunday due to all the rain, but we got another cup, so not a complete waste of time. I had to give Andy some advice about racing a sidecar. MUST GO QUICKER.

Sadly I had to miss Donington due to work. That and having a wisdom tooth out. I'm now officially stupid. Dad and Andy kept telling me how great it was racing there. No cups this time. Shame. I was gutted. Still, there will always be next year.

Brands Hatch. WOW. This was one meeting I was really looking forward to. I had been there so many times as a spectator, but to get a
chance to race there was a dream come true. The track seemed so big. Maybe I’m just small. The first race was stopped then delayed due to a bad accident. Whilst sat on the starting grid all I could think was, I'm racing a sidecar at Brands Hatch. I had the biggest smile on my face all weekend. What a rush. Oh and we got another cup. I could get used to this.

In between Brands and Snetterton, we had a meeting at Lydden with the Vintage Motorcycle club. What a lovely bunch of people. They too made us feel very welcome. Many thanks to them for a great time. The sidecar didn’t want to work on the Saturday but we had fun on the Sunday. Again another track I had been to so many times growing up. Every Easter the whole family would go. Brought back
some great memories. Boy if my Grandad could see me now. I think he would have enjoyed it.

I missed Snetterton due to stalking James Toseland. Now there’s a sexy man. He can ride pillion with me any day. Now where was I. Oh yeah, Snetterton? Dad and Andy had problems with the sidecar again. They were knocked onto the rumble strip and the brake pedal came off. I'm always telling Andy to keep his foot off the brake. Go faster. It seems other people were thinking the same thing. Shortly after that the sidecar didn't want to know. Bent push rods don't help.

Cadwell and the last race of the season. It's gone so quick. We still had problems with the sidecar, so didn't get a practice or a first race. We managed to get out for the second race on Saturday. That was fun. On the first lap I kissed the track with my bum, left more than black skidmarks on my leathers. Note to self. Must put slider on my bum next season. Preferably one with a happy face. We managed to finish the first race, only just. The carburetor fell off. Why is it we only breakdown at the bottom off steep hills? We worked on it up until about half 9 that night. When I say WE worked on it, I mean dad, Bruce and Andy worked. I held the torch and passed the tools. I now know what a spanner looks like. I'm learning. Slowly. Thanks to Bruce for all his help. Clever man. We had a mini celebration for Reg and Kerry, [Championship winners] on the Sunday. Congratulations. True winners. We entered both races on Sunday, but didn't finish either. Never mind. Crap happens.

And there we have it. The end of a great season. If we didn't brake down we came last in practically every race, but we had
the most fun I’ve had in a long time. It's not the winning it's the taking part.

I'd like to thank Nick, Shelli, Andy and Howard for making us feel so welcome right from the word go. To Andy my second dad and partner for going through a mid life crisis at 60 and asking me to be his passenger, and making my dreams come true. Many thanks also to everybody I’ve met over the past few months for all your support, advice and friendship. But most of all I would like to thank my Dad. Chris, our mechanic, for all his hard work, support, money and love. Without him we could never
of come this far. The man's a genius. Love you loads.

So see you all next season.  

Loraine Bown #27