Between our Australian Championship round at Tailem Bend and a ride day at Mac Park, work on the sidecar has continued both in the shed and in the pits.

Gav made up some plates for the front end so we could vary the trail on the front forks and experiment.

The sidecar came with a spare set of wheels but we hoped to buy an additional set so we could have spare slicks as well as wets ready to go. Unfortunately, these couldn’t be supplied so we made up our own.

Whitehorse Industries spun the rims and Brian made up the hubs. Brian wasn’t too happy having to drill about 300 holes but the promise of a cup of tea and a biscuit saw the job completed.

Locky had the number one job of installing solar panels and a solar battery on the trailer so we can have a working fridge out at the track.

The test day at Mac Park was conducted in constantly varying weather which resulted in a phenomenon which may be useful to other sidecar teams when they’re at the track with us. If they see us putting on wets, the track will dry. If they see us putting on slicks, it will rain.

However, it was a good chance to try out the new Hoosier tyres and we were impressed.

We made a lot of progress over the day. More progress than the drive back to Adelaide when a CV drive shaft on the tow vehicle disintegrated in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Installing a fridge in the trailer paid off.

With plenty of time to chat while we contemplated who to eat first if the RAA didn’t show up soon, Royce had this to say,

“It was our first time at Mac Park on the Rowe Racing outfit. Although being wet for all our sessions, we still managed to gain a lot each time we went out.

“First time using wet tyres as well as first time using the Hoosiers both seemed to go well.

“Leonard kept the outfit nice and steady in the wet. Mac Park being a bit more physical than Tailem Bend was testing our fitness with plenty of track time available.

“Having the track to ourselves and being just practice was nice to be able to concentrate on suspension changes and alterations to the bike.

“Having Gav Porteous there lending his expertise was invaluable with lots of improvements found with the suspension settings. Also, thanks to Dad, Locky, Deb for taking photos and to Brian who seems to be enjoying his plight of understanding the dynamics of making three wheels go really fast.

“Mac Park put on a well-run ride day as usual, resulting in a great day albeit being next to Mark Boags’ noisy Moto-Guzzis.

“I’m now off to work on my power to weight ratio by getting rid of some hardware, hopefully I get to keep the nails and screws as I’m getting close to being able to build a full metal replica of myself.”

Still sitting by the side of the road and glad the ice for his bruised arm could be repurposed for scotch on the rocks, Leonard said of his day,

“Although rainy, the track conditions gave us a good chance to practice for wet racing. Which isn’t super exciting as passenger, but still good to just help steady the bike and see a few laps of the track at a slower pace to begin with as it had been a few years since my last Mac Park ride.

“I managed to score a great find on Gumtree, spotting Royce’s exact leathers for sale from a racer in QLD, so it’s nice to somewhat look the part now! Not sure I’ll go as far as growing a mullet or librarian glasses.

“The sessions, of which there were many and I definitely felt it for the week after, that were starting to dry out were great, we really found a good rhythm and could see how changes to the setup and my positioning were affecting Royce through corners.

“It was great having a full pit garage with people wanting to help and watch, thanks again to everyone for the advice and assistance.”

The team now have a hiatus of a couple of months while Royce has a rod removed from his leg (a leftover from the Manx GP in 2019), so we will miss the next two rounds of the SA Championships. See you trackside!