Festival of Sidecars 2003

Team WER manager Ken Smith brought along a group of new faces to the 2003 Festival of Sidecars for their first experience of Sidecar Racing.

Owner of Woodseats Engineering, Ken is involved with the Sheffield based F1 Summer Club. This club gives children from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to come together and share their passion for F1 Motor Racing and in small groups they undertook a project to build a scale F1 Racing Car.

Ken introduced the club to Sidecar Racing and the reaction was extremely positive. The suggestion of a day trip to the Festival of Sidecars as guests of Team WER to see these machines up close and visit areas not normally available to the public at F1 Motor Racing was greeted with much enthusiasm and all of the group signed up for the trip.

The excitement of the children as they entered the paddock area was plain to see and whilst not to the same glamour level as their F1 Motor Car counterparts the group thoroughly enjoyed their Paddock experience and couldn’t wait for the racing to start.

They cheered and shouted for their new heroes each lap, with Steve Abbott and Steve Webster the group’s favorites, but the more energetic waves and shouts of encouragement were reserved for novice racers of Team WER.

On the journey home talk ensued regarding next year’s project with many wanting to build a F1 Sidecar instead of an F1 Motor Car!

We had such a fantastic day and Team WER are looking forward to hosting the group once again at the 2004 Festival.

Team WER would like to thank the Retford and District MCC for their assistance with additional tickets for the group that ensured all of the group were able to experience Sidecar Racing at its best.