MOTORCYCLE CHARIOT RACING DAY It’s a widely-known fact that 22nd October is Motorcycle Chariot Racing Day. You may have seen a photograph which recently resurfaced and was shared almost everywhere of the first motorcycle chariot race in England. It was the idea of F Mockford of the Sydenham and District Motorcycle Gymkhana and held at the Crystal Palace, London, in 1925, although there had been a chariot race in the USA three years earlier, according to a report in Popular Mechanic magazine. Little did those people who blithely shared and reshared that picture on the interweb realise that there really is a Motorcycle Chariot Racing Day. The first races in the 1920s used a single motorcycle piloted by a rider, but as machines got more extravagant, extra bikes linked together were used, doing away with the need for a rider. Some machines used individual reins attached to each bike’s throttle while others allowed the charioteer to steer via rigid extensions from the handlebars. How did they brake? We have no idea… Motorcycle chariot racing became a sport of some note in Australia during the 1920s and ‘30s, but fell into obscurity after the war. The zany fellows from Top Gear resurrected motorcycle chariot racing in 2011 for their Top Gear Live show in 2011, using quartets of mopeds joined together, while a gentleman in America is building chariots pulled by a lowrider. We’ll bring you film of that tomorrow. For now, raise your glasses to the brave charioteers of past and present as we celebrate … Motorcycle Chariot Racing Day!
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 14:00:01 +0000
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