A celebration of sidecar racing’s golden era took place on Wednesday evening, shortly after the conclusion of the Classic TT and solo 80s-90s rewind lap.

Instigated by 17-time TT winner Dave Molyneux, he and passenger Dan Sayle led the field of 18 outfits away on a recently constructed, Suzuki 750cc-powered outfit similar to Moly’s first sidecar in the mid-1980s.

The water-cooled, three-cylinder motor is the very one that carried John Williams to victory in the 1976 TT.

Directly behind them were brothers Ryan and Callum Crowe, winners of the last four TTs, aboard the TZ750 Yamaha-powered outfit raced by Bruce Ford-Dunn to British Sidecar Championship in the early 1980s.

Kieran Clarke and Andrew Johnson, the fastest sidecar newcomers in TT history, rode the 1,116cc Morespeed BMW that they won the Pre-TT Classic on earlier in their careers.

Ben Birchall was partnered by TT podcast host and TV presenter Chris Pritchard on a very smart 750cc Dieter Busch BMW in Klaus Enders’ famous red and white colours.

Names from the past included Kenny Howles (750 Ireson Suzuki) and Derek Brindley (BSA Gold Star), while TT regular Gary Gibson was partnered by Karl Sinnott, son of regular former Sidecar TT competitor Steve Sinnott who passed away three months ago. They were on a Langham 350cc F2 outfit.

Other machines of note included the 500cc Schmidt Yamaha campaigned by Rolf Biland and the Windle 700cc ‘Ham Yam’ that Steve Abbott and Shaun Smith rode to victory in the 1984 TT.

Molyneux was delighted with the response from not only the crews taking part, but the fans who had stayed on to watch the lap.

‘Everyone was so enthusiastic and appreciative, hopefully a Classic TT two-lap sidecar event could be something to consider in the future. I know that many crews from the UK and Europe would be keen to support it.’