Isle of Man TT: 100 years since the start of sidecar racing

Freddie Dixon and passenger Walter Denny won the first race in 1923

Sidecars "really captured the public imagination" when introduced to the Isle of Man TT races 100 years ago, the curator of a dedicated TT galley said.

The first race on 11 June 1923 was won by Freddie Dixon and Walter Denny at speeds reaching up to 50mph (80km/h).

And history was made again when Ben and Tom Birchall recorded the class' first 120mph (193km/h) lap at the 2023 event.

Matthew Richardson said TT sidecar racing had "remained the backbone" of the class in Britain.

Mr Richardson, who is social history curator for Manx National Heritage, said: "There's no course really like the Isle of Man TT course."

"It really has to be seen to be believed what sidecar racing can offer in terms of sheer spectacle," he said.

Brothers Ben and Tom Birchall won bother sidecar races at the 2023 event

Mr Richardson said sidecars first became prominent in the early 20th Century.

"Before the First World War cars were very few and far between," he said.

"But a motorcyclist could add a lot of versatility to their machine simply by adding a sidecar to it."

Freddie Dixon and Walter Denny reached speeds of about 50mph (80km/h)

In the early days of the racing, sidecar driver Walter Dixon had been an "innovator" because he had developed his own method of allowing his passenger to pull a lever to move the machine from side to side, Mr Richardson said.

"Today we're used to seeing the passenger move about from side to side to get the maximum grip on the road, but in 1923 nobody had seen anything like this and they really created a sensation," he said.

The TT gallery features several sidecars, including one raced by 17-times winner Dave Molyneux

While the machines were well received by spectators, their involvement in the races stopped in 1925 because the manufacturers wanted to promote sidecars as a safe form of family transport.

The class was reintroduced 1954 and has remained part of the annual two-week event since.

Mr Richardson said the races attracted "quirky individuals" who had "a strong engineering bias", making them "differ from the solo competitors".

A new permanent TT gallery was opened at the Manx Museum last month.