The 2026 Bridgestone Festival of Speed was a weekend of racing that truly did have it all.

20 sidecar teams from across Australia entered the event hosted by the Post Classic Racing Association at Sydney Motorsport Park. Some of the teams took the opportunity to take part in practice on Friday, but most of the action kicked off with qualifying on Saturday February 7.

The session was positive for some who were strong out of the gates, but other teams were still ironing out some gremlins. Unfortunately during this session the period five outfit of Jack Petith and Scooby Poucher had a radiator hose explode off, blasting boiling water over the rider and led to him making a trip to hospital for further treatment.

Despite the session being red flagged, the usual suspects of Patty Clancy and Stephen Bonny, Mick Alton and Dave Rumble and Chrissie Clancy and Amanda Williams rose to the top.

A special mention in qualifying needs to be made of the outfits that rounded out the top five. New pairing of Rob Nolan and Izzy Smith qualified fourth, Rob is making a return to racing and it was the first race meeting his passenger, and only her second time out on a sidecar since taking part in the Annandale Leichhardt Motorcycle Club come and try day in October last year. In fifth was one of the teams that made their way over from Western Australia, Morgan Marshall and Josh Mathers, it was great to see them making good time in their first hit out at the iconic Eastern Creek circuit.

Race one for the sidecars was the inaugural Bayliss Memorial Cup, a nod to Stan, Barney and Grizz who had legendary careers in sidecar racing. Patty and Steve pulled away a considerable lead from the start, but the battle for the remaining steps on the podium was an exciting one, with the F2 machines of Mick and Chrissie switching back and forth countless times. In the end it was Mick and Dave to cross the line in second, and Chrissie and Amanda third.

By Saturday afternoon the heat and humidity begun to hurt man and machine alike. Patty and Steve got the jump off the front row in the second race, but Chrissie was not going to let Mick get away too easily, the two having a little rub as they made their way to turn one.  Unfortunately a broken throttle cable saw the Morgan Marshall and Joshua Mathers entry withdraw on the second lap, outside of that the race ran smoothly and a number of competitors had fun battles throughout.

The temperature was a hot topic on Saturday, but maybe a few too many people wished it away as Sunday flipped the script completely and brought rain delays and greasy conditions.

From lights out of Sunday mornings first sidecar race it was clear there was action aplenty in store, with rain proving to be a natural equaliser especially with some teams not having wet weather tyres but taking to the track regardless. The front row was a Clancy lockout, with Patty and Steve on pole, next to Chrissie and Amanda. However, it was Mick Alton who got the best start from third, splitting the mother and son down the middle and gliding away into the first and second corners. As the time ticked down the conditions did not improve and inspired some fancy moves. Steve McQueen and Max Perrin performed a neat pirouette when the rider got a bit throttle happy exiting turn two on slicks, but it was Chrissie and Amanda flipping around the back of the circuit that brought out the red flag. Thankfully they were ok and able to contest the next race.

Rain and recovery delays dragged on, but race four for the weekend rolled out after lunch. Mick got the jump in a very busy start to the race. Simon Reynolds and Kayla Dodds were on a charge early in the race, so too were Rob Nolan and Izzy Smith. The save of the race for this event went to Drew Szombath and Warren Grubb who managed to keep it wheel down when they took a 360 degree look at turn one. Mick/ Dave, Patty/ Steve and Simon/ Kayla rounded out the podium as the red flag came out due to stranded outfits in precarious positions.

A significant incident on track caused extensive delays to ensure there was medical coverage, but one final sidecar race was able to run to round out the weekend.  The track had dried up by the time they got back out, and this brought about a close start for the Patty/ Steve and Mick/ Dave outfits, with the battle lasting almost a lap before the higher powered F1 machine took the lead. After a poor start to the weekend Howard Ford and Isaac Byrne were battling up the front, in a pack with Rob/ Izzy, Simon/ Kayla, and powering back after their earlier incident, Chrissie and Amanda. Patty and Steve crossed the finish line an impressive 29.2 seconds ahead of Mick and Dave.

Photos Gerry Murphy’s Racing Photos and Darin Fitzgerald