Mixed fortunes for Team ARC and new Championship leaders

(Steve-E here. Can I just say a public thank you to Mark for these reports and the race results, I don't know how he finds the time to cover everything so well)

This past weekend 28th/29th April saw the second round of the A.C.U./F.S.R.A British Formula 2 sidecar championship at Cadwell Park with Bemsee the hosting club.

A few of the registered teams took the opportunity to participate in the Friday afternoon test sessions in what could be considered Lake Cadwell. From around 10am on Friday morning it started to rain and it persisted until late in to Saturday evening.

This meeting welcomed 2014 British F2 Champion Gary Bryan with Phil Hyde as ballast and two French teams, namely the fastest all female sidecar team in TT history Estelle Leblond & Melanie Farnier and Remy Guignard & Frederic Poux.

“Team Shand Racing” set off to the 2017 Isle of Man TT races on Wednesday 24th May.

With one week on the island not a lot of laps have been done due to bad weather. Although the weather was hot and sunny for three days running up to the first full weekend on the island, no practice had been scheduled.

With this long wait, it was an opportune time to get some good preparation done to the “Shand Chassis” Honda.
Driver Gordon, managed to get a lot of engine work done in the mobile workshop in the back of the team truck, he was really happy with the progress he managed to get done to some engines. Passenger Phil started making adjustments to the fairing and some small changes to the ever important handholds he uses. Mechanic Douglas “The Professor” started checking over the chassis, making some adjustments; he also did a lot of work to the front brakes, and fabricated a new oil catchment tray. While this was all going on the team were well fed and watered by the “Boss” Sandra.

Gordon Shand and Philip Hyde had a busy weekend at Knockhill, competing for the prestigious "Jock Taylor Memorial Trophy". As well as the Trophy race, there were three other races too.

The team knew it would be a hard weekend's racing as they would be up against larger 1000cc machines. The "Shand Chassis" 600cc Honda was all prepped before the weekend, but being sidecar raceing there is always some work to be done. Mechanic, and sponsor Douglas Cameron made the trip north from Bristol, and immediately started working and checking the machine over. Long time sponsor Kevin Ashworth also made the trip over the Irish Sea from the Isle of Man to support the team.

With warm and bright conditions the first of two "Sure sidecar" races got under way.

Gordon and Phil set off down "Bray Hill" all was going well, when the race was red flagged due to an incident at "Bishopscourt"

All sidecar crews returned to pit lane. The race was rescheduled for the full three laps, and the start time was 16.00.

Once again Gordon and Phil set off down "Bray Hill". All was good with the bike, but again fuel mapping was a problem all through the three laps. Gordon just had to get on with the race, nothing was going to change the mapping now. Gordon and Phil were all on their own throughout the race, so it was all down to them where they were going to finish the race.

Once again the weather was perfect for practice on Wednesday night, although there was a strong wind all round the 37 three quarter TT course.
Gordon and Phil have been having fuel problems with their "Shand Racing" Honda powered machine over the last couple of practice sessions. The team have been working to try and rectify this problem.

With the weather perfect for practice, it was a night of mixed fortunes for "Team Shand Racing".
Gordon and Phil had a good test at Jurby. They were testing the "Shand Chassis" Honda powered machine as they had fuel problems during Monday practice. All was good with the test.
Gordon and Phil set off on their first practice lap. The lap was good. "The chassis, and brakes are spot on" said Shandie. The team set a time of 21:49.501, a speed of 103.7250 mph.

The 2016 Isle of Man TT races got off to a testing time for Gordon Shand from Kilwinning and passenger Philip Hyde from Leicester.

With a brand new “Shand Chassis” powered by Honda 600cc engines the pair set off down “Bray Hill” on their first practice session.

It is with great sadness that Team Shand have to announce the sudden passing of their dear friend and mechanic Iain Mullen.

(please click read more)

Sprint and Gold race.

With two races looming, for the "FIM 600cc World Sidecar trophy". "Team Shand Racing" set to changing their Honda 600 engine in their "Shand Chassis". Mechanic Douglas got all the relevant parts dismantled, while driver Gordon prepped the spare engine. Gordon had also recruited old friend and passenger Peter Hill to accompany the team to Germany, to help with the driving of the team truck "The Big Yellow Banana" as it is known to some. He and passenger for the weekend, Belgian Frank, sorted and cleaned all the parts.