This car is so unusual that it simply defies classification. It is no longer a motorcycle, but not a car yet. Half a century of evolution has led to the fact that from an ordinary bike with a sidecar, a racing side car has turned into a kind of Formula 1 car, made of the strongest aluminum alloys, titanium and carbon. Looking at these magnificent fast cars, you involuntarily ask yourself a question: three wheels - one extra or one missing?

Even for an inexperienced viewer, it is obvious how difficult and dangerous the work of the crew of a three-wheeled racing car is. Paul Woodhead, the "second" number of the British Formula 1 duo Webster-Woodhead, dedicated us to the intricacies of the craft. In order not to fly off a platform the size of a tea saucer, you need to be in great shape. Exceptional coordination, strength endurance, composure and instant reaction. Not to mention courage - after all, there is no insurance in the sidecar. When you hang a few centimeters above the road, the feeling of speed is completely different than from the window passenger car... Circular races last up to half an hour, and all this time the passenger does not have a second to rest. If the last lap is slower than the previous ones, the team is no good. After the race, the passenger loses several kilograms of weight, and the overalls - at least squeeze out. His hands are real pincers: the handle cannot be released even for a second, constantly intercepting it with his hands. Often, after a tense race, it is impossible to straighten your fingers and take off your gloves yourself.

Racing sidecars are very lightweight. The finished chassis, excluding wheels, weighs only 100 kg. A charged four-stroke engine with a gearbox is another 140. Choice of engine depends on customer preference, but usually teams use Suzuki's proven 16-valve liter and 6-speed transmission from the Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike. Setting up power unit sorcerers from the JEBS company brings its power up to 180-200 hp. without any turbocharging. And this is only 240 kg of mass.

Partner dance

The point of acrobatics on the platform is optimal grip of the wheels with the track surface and control of the sidecar's center of mass. In fact, driving a car is a passenger's job. The pilot, lying in the saddle, is unable to move and only sets the trajectory of movement. Without a passenger, the sidecar at speeds over 50 km / h becomes completely uncontrollable and can only drive in a straight line. The role of the passenger is to correct the laws of symmetry deliberately violated by the designers of the car with their somersaults. The slightest mistake can cause the car to roll over at speeds up to 280 km / h.

At the entrance to the turn, aviation overloads throw the passenger's body onto the track and tear the fingers off the handle. When turning to the right, the passenger has to load the drive wheel as much as possible, rolling to the right through the fairing. At the same time, the center of mass of the car moves towards the engine, and the side wheel literally hangs over the track. At this point, the passenger can only hold the handle with his left hand. In the right maneuver, the sidecar behaves like a normal superbike, although it does not "fall" into the corner. The left maneuver is the hardest job. The passenger has to hover just a couple of centimeters above the road, forcing the side wheel to press against the asphalt as closely as possible.

To accelerate out of the bend as efficiently as possible, the passenger smoothly shifts backward, loading the drive wheel. A so-called heel is sewn onto the passenger's overalls in the area of \u200b\u200bthe fifth point - a thick patch made of several layers of leather. At breakneck speeds, even the smoothest asphalt works like an emery wheel, and even fleeting contact with the track can be seriously injured. The pad is critical in a left turn.

There is no time for a passenger to rest on a long straight line either - holding on to the handle, he hangs as far as possible by the rear edge of the platform, loading the leading 14-inch super-slick sidecar, so that each of the 180 horses honestly runs out its gasoline. In this case, the movements of the passenger on the platform should be smooth. Any abrupt changes in the position of the car's center of mass negatively affect the speed, and even momentary glitches in the schedule result in the loss of finishing points. Formula 1 crews are well aware of the tracks on which they race, and usually work like clockwork. But the unpredictability of the weather, the slightest change in the coefficient of traction, and rivals make each entrance to the starting grid a deadly adventure.

Between the first and second

The official FIM definition of a racing sidecar is: "A three-wheeled vehicle with two or three tracks and a sidecar structurally integrated with the base motorcycle." Stroller concept in modern cars very conditionally and technically has nothing to do with the usual civilian three-wheeled sleds. Basically, a sports sidecar is more of a supercar with an asymmetrical wheelset than a motorcycle. In the FIM Superside series circuit races there are two classes of cars - "Formula 1" and "Formula 2".

Left turn. The passenger hangs a couple of centimeters above the road, loading the side wheel. Right turn. The passenger rolls over the fairing, loading the drive wheel.

The sidecars of the first "Formula" are equipped with a thousand-cube four-stroke gasoline engines with a silencer. Two-wheel drive (rear and side), which was used by some teams in the 1990s, is now banned, as is turbocharging. The technical regulations provide for the location of the engine between the steered and driven wheels behind the rider. Composite fuel tank with a capacity of 40 liters should be located in the inner protected area of \u200b\u200bthe monocoque chassis. The stroller, or more precisely, the passenger platform, must be stationary in relation to the base chassis, but its tilt can be individually adjusted. The side wheel is rigidly attached to the chassis without any suspension system.

The rules state that it should not be controllable, although it can be pre-configured by the angle of convergence. The steering wheel is not adjustable in height and tilt, and the front wheel is attached to a movable hub and is turned by the steering rod, like in a car.

The racing sidecar, like all sports cars, has a very rigid suspension. The minimum permissible rebound travel of the front and rear suspension must be at least 20, clearance - at least 65 mm. In practice, teams set up machines to precisely these standards. Crazy liter engines make it possible to accelerate lightweight cars to a hundred from a standstill in less than three seconds, and, of course, the cars are equipped with powerful disc brake systems on all wheels. Moreover, there should be two of them - the main and the duplicate.

Formula-2 cars are technically simpler and almost half the price. These are powerful side platform superbikes. The maximum volume of motors is limited to 600 cubes. Monocoque chassis are prohibited for use, therefore, under the spectacular carbon fiber aerodynamic body kit hides a steel or aluminum tubular frame. The engine must be located inside the wheelbase in front of the rider, and steering is a simple motorcycle swingarm.

Three-wheeled history

In 1949, the Sidecar World Championship, the sidecar world championship, was established. In the 50s, it was dominated by British cars and athletes. The first racing sidecars were conventional sidecar motorcycles. The only thing that distinguished them from civilian teams were charged motors and a rigid suspension. SWC Champion Eric Oliver and Swiss driver Hans Haldemann were the first to seriously redesign the sidecar to meet the demands of racing.
In 1950, Oliver was the first to abandon the wheel scheme, in which the axles of the rear wheel of a motorcycle and a sidecar coincided, and three years later at the Belgian Grand Prix he appeared at the start and in an unprecedented car. The sidecar frame was a single rigid welded structure, was significantly lower in height than the usual one and stood on wheels of a smaller diameter. The front fork was also unusually short, and the stroller cover was streamlined like the nose of an airplane. But the main thing is that the racer in such a car was not sitting on top as before, but practically kneeling, stretched forward. Oliver's car was the first to be built specifically for racing, and set the direction for technical thought for decades to come.
In the early seventies, Formula 1 sidecars began to wear wide racing slicks, and the engine displacement increased to 1200 cm 3. The cars turned into real superballs and the world championship was renamed Superside. The evolutionary development of technology in 1978 was replaced by a revolution. It was pioneered by Swiss racer Rolf Bieland in his BEO three-wheeled vehicle. Bieland's team engineers moved the Yamaha engine to the center of the car, directly between the rear and side wheels. And for the first time in the history of racing, his sidecar received a two-wheel drive - the side wheel was rigidly connected to the leading sprocket cardan shaft... On this car, Biland became the world champion, but four-wheel drive hasn't caught on in the Superside, nor has the central engine layout. However, Bieland's experiment pushed other riders to use the latest technologies and materials. Over the course of a couple of years, the average engine power has increased from 130 to 180 hp, while the weight of the sidecars has decreased by 30%. Early eighties technical regulations competition was streamlined, and since then only the skill of the crew and fortune have become the guarantee of victory.

Asymmetric recipe

The Formula 1 Superside races feature motorcycles from three major manufacturers - the German company Windle, the Swiss Louis Christen Racing and ART Racing, and the Lars Lindbergh studio. Lindbergh entered the motorcycle racing world in 1991 as a mechanic for the famous Swedish racer Göran Johansson. Two years later, he himself raced as a passenger on a superbike with a sidecar, and two years later he began to make sidecars and participate in competitions. Lindbergh chased what he built with his own hands. This, according to Lars himself, allowed him to become one of the most reputable manufacturers of super-powerful championship cars in the world. Lars told us how a Formula 1 motorcycle car works.

The backbone of a modern side car is a monocoque chassis made of 1.2 mm thick aluminum sheet. The cut out parts are first processed on a punching press, and then bent along the markings on a folding machine. Next, the chassis is assembled using high-strength steel rivets and epoxy resin. Inside the chassis are three chrome-molybdenum steel subframes for the rear suspension, engine and side wheel. They are also riveted to the chassis.

The front wheel is mounted on a hub that pivots with a dual tie rod. There is no steering gear here - the steering angle corresponds to the wheel steering angle. Heavy-duty steel A-shaped horizontal arms of the front suspension are bolted to the chassis and inner subframe. The rear drive wheel is on a complex multi-link suspension.

The shock absorbers are located inside the monocoque. The third "leg" of the sidecar - the side wheel - has no suspension and steering mechanism. Suspension stiffness, steering, inclination and toe angle of the side wheel can be adjusted to suit every taste and "live" weight of the crew. This is being done by Lars' colleagues at Ohlins.

The passenger area is made of lightweight and durable aluminum honeycomb sandwich and carbon fiber. Its inclination in relation to the base of the chassis is changed by shims. Inner part the platform is equipped with a vertical handle and side foot stops. A 40L gas tank is located on a stretcher inside the chassis body and is protected from breakdown by a Kevlar casing. Additional protection of the gas tank is dictated by the FIA \u200b\u200bsafety requirements. Brake calipers and the master cylinders of the front and rear separate hydraulic brakes are supplied by AP-Racing. Wheels - BBS.

Everything else - which is 300 different elements - is designed and made by hand by Lindbergh himself. The 3kg aerodynamic shroud is molded from carbon, Kevlar and epoxy. Usually Lars prepares three or four body kit options for each car. Blowing in a wind tunnel is not cheap and is being replaced by a virtual simulation using Computational Fluid Dynamics software. Based on it, base model body kit, which is subsequently pasted over with several layers of material.

What is such a car capable of? According to Lindbergh, the dynamics of the car depends on two factors - the skill of the crew and the amount of money invested. For example, a maximum speed of 270 km / h and a little over two seconds of acceleration from zero to a hundred is a common thing for Formula 1 sidecars. Such a device costs about € 60,000.

Over the Track of Death

Today more than 20 duos take part in the first "Formula Superside" every year. The stages of the championship are held on the best tracks in Europe - in Le Mans, Sachsenring, Hockenheim, Albacete, Rijeka. In addition, national championships are regularly held in 12 countries. The popularity of sidecar racing has long crossed the boundaries of the Old World. There are fans of this sport in America, where the Superside America Cup is played, in Australia, New Zealand and even in Japan. Formula 2 racing is incredibly popular in Britain, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries. In Britain alone, there are over a hundred professional and amateur teams.

The famous Sidecar TT series on the Isle of Man death track deserves special mention. Her sharp turns too dangerous for powerful machines "Formula 1", and therefore on the Snaefell Mountain Course since 1987, only three-wheeled crews of the "Formula 2" drive.

Desperate guys manage to reach an average speed of more than 170 km / h on Maine's highway teeming with blind corners! The most titled Sidecar TT driver remains Dave Molino, who has snatched gold from competitors 13 times. Nick Crowe won five times on the death track, paired with Darren Hope and Mark Cox. In 2007, Crowe and Dan Sayle managed to become the fastest crew in the history of the Superside TT, showing an average speed of 187.72 km / h on a loop! In the first race of 2009, Crowe and Cox crashed on the 17th mile of the track, and British doctors are still fighting for their lives. The cause of the terrible incident was an ordinary hare that ran out onto the road. At the time of the accident, the speed of Crowe's and Cox's sidecar was 165 km / h.

Familiar and close to every person born in the USSR. Numerous "IZHs", "Urals", "Kasiki", "Java" and "Dnepr" at one time served as the main means of transport for the majority of the rural population and residents of small towns in the world's largest country.

Such motorcycles could carry not only three riders, but also a considerable load, which in those days was an extremely important feature. Away from cities and traffic police inspectors, a motorcycle with a sidecar could often be seen slightly overloaded - six people on board the three-wheeled Ural was not considered the limit. Was in soviet history The "golden" motorcycle period, when there were more motorcycles in the country than cars, and their classification at that time was extremely simple: with a sidecar and without a sidecar.

The device that turns an ordinary motorcycle into a motorcycle with a sidecar is officially called a "side trailer" in Russia. This trailer is also popularly called the "cradle".

Gespanne

The trendsetters for sidecar motorcycles (Germans) call them "gespanne" (geshpanne) or "beiwagen" (baivagen). There is a version according to which the British are considered the authors of this type of vehicle. Their modern descendants call sidecar motorcycles "sidecar", although initially the name sounded more strictly - "side carriage" (side carridge). There is also some confusion in the use of the word "sidecar" - this is the name of both a motorcycle with a sidecar and the sidecar itself. The outdated name "rig" (team), which combines a bike with a sidecar, is practically not used today. The only ones who traditionally try to simplify their life as much as possible are Americans: from the initial simple name sidehack, they managed to isolate to the limit the simple word of their three letters “hack”, which they use with success.

The market for strollers and sidecars in Russia has shrunk to almost zero, while Europe and America show an ever-growing demand for such vehicles... The original way to have fun has transformed into a large market: today sidecars are bought not only for daily use, but also for travel and to participate in sports.

Strollers and motorcycles with sidecars are produced in many countries of the world, and often such vehicles become important exhibits at specialized motorcycle exhibitions. Germany remains the leader in the number of such workshops and their products. France, Great Britain and the USA are traditionally among the leaders. In some well-known workshops, the order can be completed for six months.

The hallmark of modern sidecar driving is the adaptation of the sidecar to all types of motorcycle. In the States, for example, the bassinet can be found in harness with a heavy Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, a touring Honda Gold Wing, a hyper-agile Suzuki Hayabusa, and a light Kawasaki KLR. Side trailers can be designed in a typical cargo, passenger or combination version. Often there are passenger carriages not with one, but with two seats, in which fellow travelers are located side by side or one after another. High-quality cradles with a well-known name are rarely priced below $ 5,000, and the upper cost bar may well creep up to $ 20,000 or more.

"Strollers" in sports

The first official wheelchair motorcycle races took place in 1949. Today, sidecar motorcycle circuit racing cannot be called a mass sport, but they exist, and racing devices are being improved. Outwardly, these bikes do not look like Moto GP bikes, but maximum speed, with which they are able to move, is very close to the mark of 300 km / h. In addition to the circuit, there are sidecar cross-country competitions and a sidecar motorcycle trial. A specific feature of such races is the composition of the team: a pilot and a wheelchair. The latter, while driving, moves all the time on the motorcycle, moving the center of gravity of the projectile and, accordingly, ensuring the stability of the bike in turns.

These machines attract special attention - they are simply doomed to this. Imagine: a clear Sunday day, filled with the roar of motors at the circuit, one of the stages of the world championship in road-ring motorcycle racing. 125cc motorcycles, 250cc motorcycles and five hundred motorcycles have already skated their program. But then another race was started - and, obeying the signal of the traffic light, cars that were completely different from narrow, on high wheels, inconceivably lonely motorcycles lurching on bends, rushed from their place. If you don't know that there are motorcycles with sidecars on the track, they can be mistaken for some not quite ordinary racing cars - prohibitively low even by automotive criteria, obviously car wheels and somehow asymmetrical.

Perhaps, if we are to approach strictly, technically these cars really stand closer to cars than to motorcycles. It's not just the wheels and tires borrowed from racing cars formula 3, but also the design of the suspension, and the steering features, and the entire layout. But traditionally, these competitions are still classified as motorcycle races. Another unusual feature in modern motorsport is that sidecar racing is still a battle for amateurs. Neither motorcycle firms nor influential sponsors have paid attention to them for a long time. It can be seen even when looking at the racers - frayed suits, scratched helmets, not at all similar to the splendor of the kings of the "five hundred". In fact, sidecar motorcycle races exist thanks to the perseverance of several dozen enthusiasts who cannot imagine their life without these restive horses. The same enthusiasts make engines and motorcycles themselves. They are even united in a special organization led by Rolf Bieland, a four-time world champion and the man who actually created the modern sidecar motorcycle.

But at one time sidecar motorcycles, even racing ones, were really motorcycles. In fact, the idea of \u200b\u200battaching a lightweight body with a third wheel to the side of a motorcycle arose at the beginning of the century not at all for sporting reasons. It was just necessary to place a passenger somewhere - the engine power was already enough for this, but it was almost impossible to put the poor fellow behind the driver on a motorcycle that did not have a soft rear suspension - it turned out to be a real bone shaker. And since there is a special breed of people for whom any object, up to a lawn mower, seems to be a sports equipment, motorcycles with a sidecar soon appeared on the racetrack.

Anyone who has ridden a motorcycle with a side trailer knows that due to its asymmetry, it is capable of unpleasant surprises. When accelerating, it is pulled towards the sidecar; throwing off the throttle, you will find that the sidecar seeks to overtake the motorcycle. But the main difficulty is that such a structure, rather narrow and high, tends to tip over, especially when turning towards the sidecar. In addition, the asymmetrical design not only complicates control, but also creates additional - and very substantial - loads on the motorcycle frame. Combating all these shortcomings, the modern sidecar racing motorcycle was born.

If it is not possible to make the car's track wider, then the only way to insure against rollover is to lower the center of gravity as low as possible. It is no coincidence that back in the 50s in this category of racing cars, the BMW engine with a horizontal arrangement of cylinders received exceptional distribution. And in the early 60s a new, "kneeling" riding position appeared, in which the legs were parallel to the ground. The motorcycle has become noticeably lower than its two-wheeled brothers. Then someone came up with another heretical idea: to put wheels of small diameter - from a racing car. Someone figured out to make the frame of a motorcycle and a sidecar one-piece, someone moved a gas tank to the sidecar ...

By the end of the 60s, forcing capabilities old bmw were exhausted, and those who could not afford the special engine of Helmut Fath turned their attention to the racing boat engines "König" and "Crescent". These two-stroke four-cylinder engines had horizontal cylinders, and there was a place for the radiator of the cooling system in the sidecar. True, the "peak" power curve of these engines created problems of maintaining traction, but they were surprisingly simple to solve: just fit tires from race cars with a width of 8-10 inches - a simplicity that "lonely" cannot. So, little by little, a small technical revolution was being prepared in this class.

It was up to the Swiss Rolf Bieland to take the "last and decisive" step. In 1978, he competed at the World Championships with his car called "VEO", which was practically a three-wheeled racing car. The two rear wheels were located on the same axle and received drive from the engine, which moved to the place that was previously considered a sidecar. The front wheel is almost on the axis of symmetry - yes, now there is also an axis of symmetry. The suspension of all wheels was also purely automobile type, on A-shaped parallel levers.

Naturally, Bieland became the world champion. And it is just as natural that the FIM immediately banned the use of such machines. But it turned out that all the leading teams had already prepared similar cars for the next season, and in 1979 two championships had to be held at once: the B2B group for "traditional" sidecar motorcycles and the B2A group for the newly invented ones. And for the future, FIM has prepared a package of restrictions designed to keep motorcycles with a sidecar within a "motorcycle" framework: the engine must be located along the axis of the "motorcycle" and have a drive to only one wheel, the front wheel cannot be displaced relative to the rear by more than 75 mm, and the axles of the sidecar wheel and the rear wheel of the motorcycle must be at least 160 mm apart, and so on.

Almost all of the chassis used by the riders are of the LCR brand - "Louis Kristen Racing". This small Swiss company produces about two dozen chassis a year, providing both the world's elite and more modest racers. Of course, no one bothers athletes with design ambitions and broad financial capabilities to "cut" the chassis to their liking - for example, the Englishman Terry Windl orders undercarriage from composite materials to the Arrows Formula 1 team. But the quality of Louis Kristen's products is consistently confirmed at every race, and the best riders see no reason to change the LCR brand yet.

The chassis is based on a longitudinal monocoque structure made of aluminum sheets with a console for attaching the stroller wheel. All three wheels are suspended from A-shaped parallel arms - similar to the suspension of a racing car, with all the shock absorbers hidden inside the monocoque. To obtain the most advantageous mass distribution during acceleration, the base of the motorcycle is stretched as much as possible, and the engine is displaced close to the rear wheel, so that the rider sits (or rather lies) in front of the engine. Disc brakes on all wheels are pedal operated, although in order to comply with FIM regulations, an additional small brake caliper front wheel driven by a lever on the steering wheel. The steering wheel itself, according to the FIM regulations, is a motorcycle type, very narrow, so you can imagine what it would be like to turn a wheel with a wide front tire at low speed with it. The radiator and the gas tank are in the wheelchair. The chassis is covered with a one-piece quick-release fairing made of fiberglass or composite material. For the fairing, the FIM rules are less stringent than for single motorcycles, so that all three wheels of the motorcycle are completely covered. The fairing contains both the rider's saddle and the platform for the wheelchair.

Until recently, wheelchair enthusiasts used the famous Yamaha-TZ500 racing engines as a power unit. Rather, these engines served as the basis for the power unit, since the alterations were significant - cylinders from modern Yamaha or Honda racing motorcycles were placed on the old crankcase, a damper was built into the clutch, which softens jerks during a sharp set of revolutions - after all wide tire Provides such good grip that often, with a sharp twist on the throttle, the rider would go off the track due to a broken chain or a broken gearbox. And the adherence to the old "Yamaha" was explained simply - it is not V-shaped, as on modern racing engines, and in-line arrangement of four cylinders. Engine width doesn't matter on a sidecar, but height is vital.

The end of the era of "home-made" was put three years ago by the German specialist in fine-tuning the engines of racing motorcycles Michael Krauser. He designed and began producing in tiny batches an engine specifically designed for use in a sidecar motorcycle. Its design takes into account all the "tricks" required for this auto hybrid. And one more unusual so far for motorcycle engines feature - instead of carburetors, a fuel injection system is installed. "Krausers", like best engines on the basis of "Yamaha", develop a capacity of about 170 liters. with., as engines "five hundred-single".

What are the results of this "little revolution"? If in the 60s the speed of passing the circle by "sidecars" was only slightly higher than that shown by 50cc motorcycles, nowadays they are not inferior to "five hundred"! And on some tracks they show and best time - after all, no "loner" can compare with them in the speed of passing corners. True, for this, the wheelchair user has to work hard - it just takes your breath away when you see how he slides his elbow, knee or hip over the concrete on bends. So this rare species sports have every chance of saving themselves from extinction.