Brothers gearing up for TT challenge

Their father, Kevin, was a passenger for driver Bill Currie, from Ellesmere Port, when their sidecar crashed on the island.

Kevin died, aged 59, following the accident at Ballacrye during a qualifying session on May 31, 2011.

His sons, Kevin and Steve, from Ruyton-XI-Towns, near Shrewsbury, first made the brave decision to start racing in any format six years ago.

But now they are preparing to take on a huge personal challenge after signing up to race the Isle of Man TT for the first time in 2019.

“It will be main focus of our year,” said Kevin, who drives the sidecar while his brother races as passenger, like his father.

“We will be racing there for the first time but we’ve already been over a few times, getting some much-needed laps in.

Challenge

“We first started racing in 2013 so it’s taken us five or six years to get to the point where we thought we could take on the TT.

“I think it takes that long to be honest, if you’re a sidecar rider, because you really need to get a feel for racing before you take on a challenge like that.

“From a solo racer’s perspective, things seem to move a long a lot quicker but we cannot just go out and tackle that circuit on a sidecar.

“It was never our main goal really, but after running well in the British championships it just felt like the right step to take.”

The brothers may be newcomers to the TT but racing has always been a part of their lives. And now they are preparing to follow in the footsteps of their successful father, who won a TT in 1984 before continuing to race in Europe.

“I think we are quite fortunate in a way. Because we’ve been going to the island for so many years, without realising it we already knew quite a few sections of the track pretty well,” said Kevin.

“I’m pretty comfortable from the Grandstand to Ballacraine, and I’m okay over the mountain section because we’ve sat there as spectators on so many occasions.

“Ballacraine to Ramsey is tricky, but I’m getting there. We’re planning to head over again a few times on our own.”

Kevin admitted there was still one major hurdle both he and his brother had to overcome – and that was completing a lap together.

“I have already gone round with Karl Bennett while Steve has gone round with Lee Cain, who is usually a passenger for John Holden. They’ve both had a lot of success on the island.

“We have to have an ACU designated passenger and rider completing laps with us. And as I’m the driver and Steve is the passenger, we go out with different, more experienced, racers. We started in January but we had been over lots of times on our own, getting in as many laps as possible.

“Steve will be able to relay some information back to me, and vice-versa, so we know exactly where each of us will be on the circuit.

“Because Steve has been round with Lee, it’s already been interesting to hear what he thinks, like a particular stone sticking out from the Grandstand to Quarterbridge – there’s been two or three things I probably wouldn’t have known about from a passenger’s point of view.”

The brothers are also entering the British F2 Sidecar Championship this year, although the early rounds will dictate how they approach the latter stages of the series.

“There is one round at Donington just before the TT we might sit out,” said Kevin.

“We have seen so many times when people have had accidents and it has ruined their TT chances.

Compete

“Our opening race is at Snetterton. We’ll see how we get on there first before deciding exactly what we’re going to do.

“If we’re challenging for the title we’ll keep going and might even risk Donington, but we’ll have to see.

“We had one win and three podiums in total last year but we were only able to compete in a few selected rounds.

“We thought about giving it a proper go this year, but we’ll just have to see how we go.

“We’ve also still got a few issues with the bike that need sorting out before we race the TT.

“We’ve got some really good people looking at it but it means, in the short term, we’ll be racing with a different bike in its place. It even has a pre-injection engine in it.

“We’re going to Anglesey to get some testing done and to get some of the signatures we need to compete at the TT.

“We might even have to do the first round at Snetterton with the older bike but if we go well, it will hold us is good stead when our proper bike comes back.

“We’d like to thank Simon at WH Gittins & Sons, who has been a massive help this year, and Dan Tolmay at Kasen Cranes Ltd who has come on board for 2019.”

This year’s Isle of Man TT fortnight runs May 25 to June 7. Round one of the British F2 Sidecar Championships takes place at Snetterton, April 12-14.