NEWTOWNARDS man Colin Smyth has just about come back down to earth after the experience of a lifetime at the Isle of Man TT Races earlier this month.
The 35 year-old was making a return to the iconic 37.730-mile course as a sidecar passenger for the first time in 12 years, but few could have scripted his route to a top-10 finish around the world renowned time trial event.
Originally a passenger for the trailblazing rider Maria Costello, Smyth’s plans were plunged into doubt after Costello had a crash on her solo machine and was instructed to sit the races out.
It looked to be the latest kick in the teeth for Smyth, who had overcome a host of insurance hurdles to even get to the TT. However, things would quickly change when he found a berth with a leading English driver and one of the best in the sidecar business, Alan Founds, whose original passenger failed a routine drugs test.
And so a brand new partnership was formed, albeit with almost zero opportunity for the pair to get to know one another before hitting the tarmac at speeds in excess of 150 miles per hour.
“I understand people probably think that’s nuts, but this lad is world championship material, he’s not an idiot,” said Smyth.
“The Founds family are kind of sidecar racing royalty, especially at the TT. I had to sort of pinch myself that he had asked me, just a Joe soap from Ards that runs around Kirkistown and Bishopscourt, to jump on with him.
“The first words I said to Alan were, ‘I would love to, but you’ll not be standing on the rostrum’. He said all he wanted was two finishes, so we signed the paperwork and Maria was more than happy to let me go out.
“What we’re doing, if it goes wrong, you don’t get away with a bruised nail or a paper cut,” he added, “But you don’t think about that, all I was thinking about was getting this guy two finishes, and that’s what we did.”
SPILL
Smyth, a loading shovel driver who funds his motorsport exploits entirely on his own, raced quite competitively in his earlier years before taking a step back in 2012. He reignited the spark several years later after meetings with Irish driver Sam Wright and Rob Hancock from Gloucestershire.
“It made me think, ‘maybe I missed that’. In 2011 at my last TT, I did 105 miles per hour lap average, and Maria was doing 102s and 103s, so we reckoned it would be a sensible option. We did the British Championships at the start of the year at Croft, then off we went to the Isle of Man.
“The clutch basket packed up seven miles out on the first day of practice, then Maria unfortunately had an off with her solo which kind of put the brakes on,” he explained.
“I was bypassing a crowd of people that included ex-world champion Tim Reeves, Alan Founds and a couple others when Alan stopped me. He’d been told Maria was out and heard through the clerk of the course that I might be available.
“Any driver that’s ever taken a shot on me, I respect them for it. Because they’re taking as much of a gamble as I am. The guy who first started me in this sport, George Kennedy, and I do a lot of short circuit racing back home. We both know what the other is thinking before anything actually happens because we’ve been together for such a long time.
“But from meeting Alan for the first time to literally going down Bray Hill (notoriously steep downhill section) together, we had, what, three hours?”
“I think it was Lee Johnston that said the TT is like doing London to Manchester on an A road in an hour and a half.
“It would be very flippant to say none of it is scary, it’s a scary place. You have 37 and three-quarter miles of closed public road with lamp posts and walls, there’s no run-off and you have to be on your money.
“I suppose in a sick and twisted way, that adds to the buzz,” Smyth continued. “Certainly there are elements of the course that are very technical and there’s millimetres between you and the wall sometimes. There’s no verbal communication between passenger and pilot, a lot of it will be taps and squeezes. But different people have different signals, there’s no generic rulebook.”
Since arriving home 10 days ago, reality is finally beginning to set in for Smyth, who made history as the fastest ever Northern Irishman to complete the TT course in a sidecar. He now hopes to see out the rest of the domestic season with his usual partner George Kennedy, keeping next year’s TT plans in mind at the same time.
“What’s happened in the last few weeks feels like winning the lottery.
“Even now, Iife’s slow,” he said. I was driving up the M6 on my way back thinking ‘drive on, come on’ at the car in front. I looked down and was doing 85 miles an hour.
“It’s a switch you have to be able to flick on and off, they call it the TT blues. You come home from being on such a high, to walking the dog and taking the kids to school.
“I was on the same boat as a lot of these guys going over and no one knew who I was. Two weeks later, everyone knows you and you’ve almost gone from zero to hero.
“The aspiration for the rest of this year is out on the domestic scene with George, as and what we can do. We’re self-funded, we don’t have the big sponsorship deals the same way as the Alastair Seeleys and Glenn Irwins, so we scrape together.
“I want to issue a massive thank you to George Kennedy, without him I’d have never raced a sidecar. Also to Hugh Murphy for all the coverage he has given me, to Maria Costello for the opportunity to live this dream, and to Alan Founds and his team for taking me on and allowing me to push my boundaries.
“Thanks as well to the Irish sidecar club for the help with all the hardships I encountered; to my partner Sarah and my kids Sierra and Sapphire who sacrificed family time so I could prepare; my sister Heather, my father George, his friend Rick, my old science teacher George Kennedy and anyone anyone who has taken the time to wish me well and follow my story.”
Smyth is making it his mission to increase the profile of the sidecar class, which he has described as the “second class citizens” of the sport.
“I want to try and promote the class and the sport now with every opportunity that I have, and get as many people involved in the sport as I can. Even if that’s by joining the sidecar supporters club, every little helps.
“I’ve gone from doing no racing to being a top-10 TT finisher, imagine what the class could achieve if the powers that be gave us the same chance as the solo competitors.
“The sidecar paddock is all one big family. I’ve seen it in cases where someone has blown all their engines up and someone has come and offered them a spare one because it’s another bike on the grid. There’s not enough of us to fall out with each other,” he joked.
“Within motorcycle racing, the sidecars are the second class citizens. If there’s going to be a race that loses laps, it’s going to be us.
“When you mention the word sidecar, everyone thinks of Wallace and Gromit. But these things are purpose-built racing machines and have the same engineering as a Formula One car, minus one wheel.
“It’s man and woman and machine in harmony,” he continued. “The only way you can describe it is like doing gymnastics at 140 mph.
“I’m not here for the sunglasses and champagne. I’m here because I love racing. It’s a sense of accomplishment just to finish a TT and I was just happy to see that chequered flag.
“The experience I’ve had in the Isle of Man is like going to watch your favourite football team in the FA Cup and being told to put your boots on. I went from being a spectator to these lads to being in the middle of it.”
