Website of CB Racing, a Formula 2 sidecar road racing team from Halifax, West Yorkshire that was active from 1991 until 2007 when a accident at the Isle of Man TT Races caused retirement from the sport.
Clark Racing is formed consisting of father and son team of Dan Clark driving with Scott Clark as passenger. The first outfit is a Derbyshire chassied F2 running a Yamaha TZ 350cc engine, as many of the days outfits did. The first race is at Elivington near York and we get a mention in the Motor Cycle News report due to the fact that the starter that day is Les Clark, father of Dan, meaning that three generations of one family are on the start line!
The ex-Greg Lambert machine proves to be very unreliable for the whole of the first season. Engine strip downs are common at most meetings we attend and only a couple of meetings pass with the bike packed up at the end of the day still running.
This year the team moved to different circuits to fulfill the required quota of races/venues to get rid of the orange novice jackets they had to wear. The bike proved to be a bit more reliable, but still broke on a fairly regular basis.
Scott managed to fall off at a couple of Elvington meetings but was unhurt as they were only fairly low speed corners where he simply missed his grips moving quickly from one side to the other.
April and the first meeting of the season at Aintree is one which is not forgotten in a hurry. On the first lap of the second race of the day something went inexplicably wrong at the hairpin which resulted in the outfit heading backwards down a slip road without driver or passenger still on it. Although Dan was fine as he had a least managed to stay on until it had slowed down to a reasonable speed, Scott had been thrown off at around 100 mph and had proceeded to tumble down the track like a rag doll. The result of all this was a broken wrist and a broken ankle and two months in plaster.
As Scott was going to be out of action for a while, one of his colleagues from work - Patrick Bowland - was persuaded to have a go at a practice day and thoroughly enjoyed it. Patrick stepped in for the rest of the season which culminated in coming third overall in the Auto 66 Club championship - albeit with two different passengers.
Scott decided not to return to racing this year and so Patrick continued on the platform. The only problem was that this year was somewhat cut short as well. In April - the same weekend as the previous year - at Cadwell Park, one of the other outfits managed to somehow run into the side of the outfit as the pack left the start line. The result of this was a bad break to Dan's ankle. Although this was the first race of the day, he bravely/stupidly battled on to complete the day before being carted of to Louth hospital. Dan was admitted to hospital and his ankle was operated on to pin back the bit of bone which had snapped off. Eventually they raced again for the last couple of months of the season.
During the winter the decision had been made to change over from the 350cc 2 stroke to the more popular, and more reliable, 600cc 4 stroke engines also allowed in the class. A Honda CBR 600 engine was purchased from a salvage yard and the outfit was returned to John Derbyshire to make the alterations for the new engine. John informs us that the outfit was actually made for his own rider, strengthened specifically to compete in the TT Races.
Also during the winter, Patrick leaves the team to complete more regular racing with a new driver, competing nearly every weekend. At this point Scott returns to the platform duties and completes another season without adventure or mishap. The season is pretty much a learning exercise for Dan as he tries to pick up on the different technique required to ride the 600cc outfit. The last meeting of the season is at Elvington - a Super Cracker where there are only three events and so six races each. Scott has never been the fittest person in the world and so he shares the passenger duties with Patrick, who was no longer racing sidecars after being put off by an 'interesting' ride at Oliver's Mount.
At the first meeting of the season Scott decides he really hates Elvington - refusing to race there again after nearly falling off at every lap of the three practice sessions. A solo rider is persuaded to take the rides there and the rest of the year the team visit Aintree and Darley Moor, where the highlight is a race in torrential rain on slick tyres. By the hairpin on the first lap we had actually managed to drive past everybody into around third place. Then disaster strikes as Scott knocks the engine cut off switch with has leg and the outfit comes to a halt. By the time we realise what has happened and get started again the pack is half a lap in front off us. The switch was moved out of the way after that meeting.
CB Racing is formed this year as Scott decides to retire from racing and Dan is teamed up with another new passenger - Stewart Berry. Stewart has driven his own outfit in the past but actually prefers to passenger, admitting that he is maybe a tad hot-headed to drive an outfit. Stewart also brings with him to the team the skills of being a top class engineer - altogether more useful than the computer programming skills of Scott.
Two new engines this year and a few more race meetings entered than in previous years all contribute to a good year where some decent progress is made on the track. Dan really seems to have got the technique and the aggression right for competitive racing now. A trophy is at last won for a position in a race at Aintree. The last meeting of the season is the Festival of Sidecars event at Mallory Park. The bike is going very very well during practice and we are in a good eighth position (out of 23) after the first lap of race one when disaster strikes. The bike is run into at the hairpin which breaks the fairing loose. When exiting Gerards the fairing gets caught under the front wheel meaning all traction is lost. The bike spins across the track and both Stewart and Dan are thrown from the machine as it nearly flips all the way over. There are no broken bones but it does mean that Stewart's day and season ends on something of a low as neither he nor his helmet are in any state to carry on. Dan borrows a passenger for the second race of the day and after patching up the somewhat battered fibreglass. The makeshift duo end with a very creditable ninth place, but as they only completed one race cannot qualify for the final. All connected with the team regard this year as being reasonably successful in terms of progress.
The racing season stated with yet another line up change. Stewart decided to take a break from racing and so was replaced by Dave Clark, a solo racer who has seen the light! Everyone connected with the team is very pleased with the performance this year. Meeting after meeting we set new team lap records. Really now we don't feel we can get much faster with the current chassis and Dan is on the lookout for a possible replacement for next year. Dave has taken to passengering very well, and his smaller build than previous passengers may go someway to explaining the improved lap times. He also had his first unscheduled get off of his passenger career at New Brighton - but amazingly manage to keep hold while being dragged along the road and pulled himself back on!
This year was tinged with sadness as Les passed away midway though the season. He is missed by all the members of the team and I am sure a few other crews up and down the paddock miss the ex-sidecar racer wandering up to them for a chat and to offer his advice on how it was done in his day. Also, we never got to go to the island for the TT Races as originally planned - next season should see a visit though. Due to work commitments Dave was unable to passenger for Dan this season except for the first visit to Oliver's Mount Scarborough the week after Les passed away. Stepping into Dave's boots for this year were the novices Nigel Mayers (who Scott found through the message boards at work) and Andrea Brearley (a mate of Tommy's). It was Nigel who did nearly all of the passengering at race meetings although Andrea did get a go in anger as well. This new partnership of Dan and Nigel worked extremely well as the very first wins ever in the 10th season of racing came about at Elvington (the first place we ever raced at). Not just a fluke either as the wins were repeated a few weeks later when the team returned to the airfield circuit. It is always nice to have some trophies for first place on the shelf, and it helps to justify the hours Dan spends in the workshop fettling the machine to Sue his wife.
Loads happened including competing at the TT every year, but quite frankly we have been too lazy to update the site!
While practicing for the TT Dan and Nigel were involved in a
high speed accident that put Dan in hospital for several weeks and
nearly cost him his leg, but could so easily have cost them both
much more.
Look at the crash photos at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cbracing/sets/72157601007053361/
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