The Desert of Death

If you're going to pedal 330 miles through the Taklaman Desert, known by the locals as the Desert of Death, without stopping for more than a pee and the odd snack, on a single speed, you might as well do it in a Dirt Quake T-shirt, right? Cheers Guy.

Free post on Dirt Quake shirts. Limited sizes. While stocks last. Get yours HERE.

We have a couple left in kids sizes too.

Watch the three-part Our Guy In China on 4OD (if you're in the UK).

Dust & Throttle: A film about Dirt Quake

DUST &THROTTLE from sam barker on Vimeo.

Very emotive film shot at the two days of Dirt Quake V by top photographer, Sam Barker. The action and characters are a mixture of Friday night DTRA and Saturday Dirt Quake.

Sam filmed and wrote the poem for the narrative. Lovely stuff. G

Dirt Quake Ladies Final

There's quite a bit before and after that you can skip through, but this is a good onboard taste of the 2016's Dirt Quake Davida Helmets Ladies final shot by first time racer Katrina James. If you don't skip through it, it's an example of exactly what it's like to compete in a six-lap amateur flat track race from leaving the pits to getting back in one piece.

'Hurricane' Katrina takes a brave, wide line on her Kawasaki ZXR400 (not the ideal dirt tracker, but totally proves Dirt Quake's ethos).

Up ahead is Vikki from the Bike Shed with Kiki coming up strong on El Solitario's Zaeta. Watching this makes me think, Who wouldn't want to compete in Dirt Quake? It reminds me why entries sold out in a week.

The top three in the Ladies class are being awarded special Davida DQV Classic Jet helmets. Like all Davida helmets, they're made in England and hand painted in the Birkenhead factory by the company's staff. These special editions use elements of Lennard Schuurman's Dirt Quake poster. Davida do things properly. G

El Solitario at Dirt Quake

David El Solitario rode from Spain to King's Lynn to compete in his third Dirt Quake. He rode and raced his very trick Zaeta, the bike named Pluto (more on that bike in a future Sideburn). He also loaned it to two lady racers in distress, one crashed it, one won on it, then he rode it home again.

He travelled with top photographer Gonzalo Arroya.

You can see their mahoosive report at El Solitario Dirt Quake. Thanks El Solitario! G

Foggy at Dirt Quake

When I was a draughtsman, drawing engineering components for a living, I used to watch Carl Fogarty's every WSB race on Sky TV. Now the magazine we make puts on events that he competes in on a cool Triumph Bonneville.

Dirt Quake V was special for a lot of reasons. Thanks to everyone who made it so good, especially the spectators who lap up our daft ideas.

This photo of a flying Foggy was taken by Gergo Toth. Click his name to see his gallery of DQV images. G

Dirt Quake V: Done and Dusty

Thanks to everyone who made Dirt Quake V such great fun. Guy raced a Krazy Horse Swedish chopper with 22in over Tolle forks. Carl Fogarty raced a trick Triumph Bonneville. And both of them were beaten into second place by Sideburn readers.
It was non-stop fun and ran like clockwork. Thanks again everyone.

We are offering FREE SHIPPING  on all Dirt Quake V merch while stocks last. We have two adult T-shirts designs, a handful of kids shirts and sticker packs. Go to sideburn.bigcartel.com G
Photo: Andy Spellman

 

Dirt Quake USA - CHOPPERS!

We make no secret that the choppers get top billing at Dirt Quake, whichever side of the Atlantic it's held. The heroes with long forks and fishtail pipes didn't disappoint at Sideburn x See See x Harley-Davidson promoted Castle Rock race.

Riders from the USA and Canada took part on heavily modified Harley, Yamaha, Triumphs and some spindly, automatic deathtrap ridden by Portland legend Kenny Bobcat of Moto Galore.

Check out a full class of TWELVE chops racing at Dirt Quake V, King's Lynn, 16 July. More info at dirtquake.co.uk. G

All photos: Yve Assad

Shortly after this photo was taken Kenny did a celebratory seat bounce that sent his machine into an evil wobble and threw both his feet off the pegs onto the floor. He managed to ride it out.

The only bike the Mt St Helens MC tech inspectors had real doubts about, mainly due to the pipes. They let it through anyway. Viva Dirt Quake.

Eric had great dirt track style, even on a chopper, elbow high, hips twisted, toe out...

Hand-shifting in practice. The guy in the poncho was spotted nine hours later jumping the camp fire.

Ashley from Canada stopped off on his way back to Vancouver after a six -month road trip with his wife and baby daughter is an old van pulling an older Airstream, with an even old K-Model Harley shop on a rack on the back. He won a prize in the chopper show then raced the same bike. Class act.

Most of these photos are from practice. The final was under the floodlights. Dirt Quake USA's Chopper final came after a few very heavy crashes in other races, a couple of which needed medical attention. The Castle Rock track was perfect on Saturday night, very 'racey' and superb to race on, allowing experienced riders to push hard and really slide and spin. However, it would let the inexperienced ride up a point, lulling them into a Mert Lawwill fantasy, before catching them out if they took liberties with too much throttle, and not enough body English (read Chris Carr's  superb guide to flat track body English in Sideburn 25). 

I had a quiet word with all the chopper riders in the staging area before their final, as the paramedics gumball lights strobed the track picking up one hapless hero. I wanted to remind them that no one wanted to see them leave the track in an ambulance. I pointed out that they'd already put on a great show, and that they should enjoy themselves. After my pep talk one of the rider's wive or girlfriends appeared, semi-freaking out, telling the riders how frightened she was and, I'm paraphrasing, telling her fella not to be a dick. I think I put it better, but whatever, it was a good race and no one fell off. Result. G

Sideburn 23 Guy Martin edition

We've clawed back some copies of Sideburn 23 that we made for the Guy Martin Proper website. This is the alternative cover to the current issue. Everything inside is identical, so if you already have SB23 it's only for collector's or completists. If you don't already have SB23 it's 100 pages of motorcycle inspiration, information and life-enhancing goodness.

£6 plus post from the Sideburn webshop.

The cover was shot at Dirt Quake IV by Becky Matthews. Look closely and you can see Guy grinning as he powers to victory on the Krazy Horse Sportster. Guy writes the event report for DQIV in SB23.

Dirt Quake V tickets are on sale now. Buy a full price Saturday ticket and you have a chance to win a Mutt Motorcycles custom street tracker worth over £4500. G

Win: Guy Martin Special edition SB23

Any order from the Sideburn webshop, placed in the month of January 2016, is entered into a free draw to win one special Sideburn 23 signed by Guy Martin.

We made this special edition of the current issue for the Guy Martin Proper official website. The cover image is of Guy racing the Krazy Horse Harley Sportster at Dirt Quake IV, last summer. The photo was taken by Becky Matthews and you can even see the smile on his face as he slides the trusty Harley to victory. And Guy wrote the Dirt Quake report for Sideburn 23.

All you have to do to be in with a chance to win it, is order something or sign up for a subscription at sideburn.bigcartel.com.

We'll announce the winner on February 1. G

Commitment

First ever Dirt Quake tattoo? I think so
Ben Dickinson had such a good time spectating at Dirt Quake IV he had this Ryan Quickfall T-shirt/sticker design inked on his bicep. Ben doesn't have to buy a ticket for another Dirt Quake for as long as I'm a part of it. He made my week.

Below, for those who wondered what they missed, and those who made it along and want to relive it, is the official Sideburn video, by Drifter Visual and Ryan Quickfall. G

Dirt Quake IV - More Belgians!

These fellas came all the way from Switzerland Belgium for Dirt Quake IV and had a blast in the Inappropriate Road Bike class on their Royal Enfields and Honda Africa Twin Transalp.
I think Lenny Bubble Visor's crash is caught on Stuffed Monkey-Vision. G

Update: No idea why I thought Switzerland.

Guy Martin Ulster Crash

Dirt Quake hero, long time ally of Sideburn and total one-off, Guy Martin had an horrendous crash at the Dundrod 150 last week. This race is part of the Ulster GP race festival and held on the fastest racetrack in the world (with a faster average speed than even the Isle of Man TT, with a lap record speed of 133.997mph). Guy was leading the race, ahead of outright lap record holder Bruce Anstey, when he was viciously highsided.

He suffered multiple broken bones: five vertebrae; hand; sternum and is very badly beaten up. He's had his spine pinned. It means his Triumph-supported attempt at the land speed record is now postponed until further notice.

It seems a little bit mercenary, but I'll say it anyway... Guy fans might like the Sideburn x Guy Martin T-shirt we have a few of. Every order gets a Chris Watson-designed Guy sticker too (while stocks last). G

Guy in happier times, 2014. 

Dirty Diana

Great story from our old mate Pete 'Eat The Rich' Stansfield...

In March this year I posted a photo of my little Suzuki B120 on Instagram (@eattherich) and asked if any lady would like to ride it at Dirt Quake. The first email I had was off Diana from London, she has ridden a 125, she is a girl and more importantly wrote a proper email using full words and good grammar. She also looked fairly small, essential for a bike with a manufacturers claim of 10bhp (46 years ago)

We swapped a couple of emails, a friend in London had shared my post with her and she fancied the idea although she had not heard of Dirt Quake and had never seen a speedway track. A month later she confirmed that her entry had been accepted, she would be working in Yorkshire in July so would call in if there was an opportunity.

On the Tuesday before the event she called at my workshop, we had a quick chat and she rode the bike round the yard. I liked her straight away, she was bright and confident, but still had no idea what it was all about. It was only at this point that she discovered it was a race. One slight problem, she was going to Latitude Festival so would drive up alone on Saturday morning and back again later. 

Bearing in mind I was the only person at Dirt Quake she had ever met and that was only for 5 minutes, I've got to say I was a bit sceptical as to whether it would happen. With that in mind Dave B (sometime Sideburn journalist and team's head gardener) and I got agreeably stupid after watching the racing on Friday night and fell into bed around 2.00am. Bang on 9.00am Di messaged me asking if there was anything I wanted from Tesco. Water! She soon galvanised our vagueness into some sort of action and while her team manager (me) messed about searching for the wallet I had somehow lost the night before ( it was in my sleeping bag) she went and filled in her licence forms, signed on and pushed the bike down to the pits.

While the gardener and I were quietly nervous on her behalf she was jumping up and down with excitement and after a lap of practise it was obvious she was up for the job. Sixth out of 12 in her first heat/first race/first proper ride on the bike/first time at a track was way better than i'd imagined.

As the track got harder and grippier the girls on faster bikes (all of the others) got to use their superior speed but she still held on to 8th in the final. We shared a beer, watched the prize-giving and Diana left for Latitude talking about a day at a flat track school (she is actually going to Pete Boast's school very soon). She does need a faster bike though, we're working on it !

I kept reading about girls doing their first race but they had all had a bit of practise and family/friends round them. I reckon what she did was pretty impressive and she's definitely hooked now. Real nice girl too. Pete

Yamaha Yard-Built x Dirt Quake

This is Yamaha Yard-Built's official video from Dirt Quake IV. They brought a great line-up of modified Yams from their Yard-Built program and two 'official' riders - Marco Belli (dirt track legend and man behind the Di Traverso school) and Alessandro Rossi (one of the owners of Deus Ex Machina Milano).

Marco raced the Deus modified XV950 D-Side (with sidecar and surfboard removed - see it below in its beach-bothering incarnation). Alessandro raced a 2014 SR400 modified for the Di Traverso School.

The video - which was made by the same crew that film Yamaha's MotoGP coverage and campaigns - features other Yamaha riders from the weekend: the DTRA's reigning Thunderbike champ Dave Chadburn and the wicked fast #36 TT500 he raced on Friday's night DTRA round; Hubert Bastie - the Ninja Turtle on the Clutch Paris-supported FZ750 and Serge Nuques on the 1000cc R1 he raced at the TT. Watch him win the inappropriate road bike class at 3:01 for an incredible way to cross a finish line.

Big thanks to Yamaha Yard-Built for supporting Dirt Quake IV, all the sponsors help make the show bigger and better. G

Nerves

Superb photo of a nervous Davida team rider, Jasmine before her first motorcycle race. She was our flag girl last year and only passed her motorcycle test a few weeks before last weekend's Dirt Quake. She did great in the final too, just missing the podium.
Photo: Paul Bryant

Motorcycle Limbo at Dirt Quake IV

DTRA rider Alan Birtwistle ruling the Di Traverso School-sponsored Motorcycle Limbo at Dirt Quake IV. This blew my tiny mindholes. G

Dirt Quake IV: Thanks

We’re just recovering from Dirt Quake IV, but wanted to put this out.

This is one of the stars of a show that was packed with them. Guy Martin is admiring the special trophy that one of our fellow DTRA racers, Neil Martin (no relation) kindly made.

Guy won both the W and W Harley class and the Chopper class on the Sportster chop built by Krazy Horse, Bury St Edmunds.

Some details of our Dirt Quake events (racing, medical cover, marshalling) are meticulously planned. Other parts (prize-giving) aren’t and we neglected to tell Guy where and when it was happening. Because he was loading his van, he missed it, but came out later to talk to the spectators. It was our mix-up, not Guy trying to avoid a crowd. 

Guy Martin’s Proper brand also arranged for their friends from the Ken Fox Wall of Death to appear and put on free shows to packed houses on Friday night and throughout Saturday.

Thanks to everyone who came out to race or spectate.  Huge thanks to all the volunteers, workers, bands*, DJs and our sponsors:

Bikesure

Guy Martin Proper

Krazy Horse

Yamaha Yard-Built

W and W Cycles

Mr Porky’s 

Davida

Dirt Track Riders Association

Sideburn magazine

Please support those who support our special event.

Another big thanks to Sharon and the crew who ran the Trackside Trailer Trash camping. Without them, there would have been no camping.

* People are asking about the music. Friday night were The Vitamins (from Bury St Edmunds), Saturday night was Davros and the Deep Space Deviants (from Planet Skaro). If you want to book either bands for your event, we can put you in touch. 

DJs were Johnny Alpha, The Real Katy B and Dave Taylor. G

Photo: @Willoughby1992

DQ Racer Interviews on Facebook

We don't do a lot with our Facebook page, because of a misguided loyalty to this blog, but DQ co-organiser Dave Arnold has posted a bunch of short interviews with some former Dirt Quake racers, go check them out at Sideburn Magazine's Facebook. G

Photos: Vince Perraud, unknown, Matt Jamieson,

Coste Contemplation

Sideburn first met Dimitri when Ben, Steve Redmax and I went over to Paris to visit Ruby Helmets, not long after they'd just launched, and attend a local bike club meet (that turned out to be crap, but we became good friends with Sonic Seb through it).

Dimitri visited the offices of Ruby (his brother is the founder) and we got along so well he invited us to lunch at his house the next day. He had just bought a Triumph TR6C that wasn't running right. Steve Redmax tuned it up and made it fly and Ben shot a feature for Sideburn 5 there and then, perhaps the first on Dimitri Coste and his motorcycle passion.

Since then we've raced together, and the 'French Steve McQueen' has contributed a number of stories and attended all the UK Dirt Quakes, plus become a regular DTRA racer, and raced all over the world.

First and foremost, he's a great photographer and, for Sideburn 20, we have an eight-page portfolio on some of his favourite recent images.

If you want to see that first feature on Dimitri and his Triumph, you can read it in Sideburn 5. We have a very limited amount of this issue in our Back Issue Deal.

There is also a feature on Dimitri racing Pikes Peak in Sideburn 10 (available individually or as part of the back issue deal)

Above is a short video made at Dirt Quake III in 2014, featuring his two children. G

Dirt Quake III by Mr Porky

Check out this 18-minute long, documentary-style film about this summer's Dirt Quake III made for one of the event's sponsors, Mr Porky pork scratchings!

It features Guy Martin (a Mr Porky-sponsored athlete); Maxwell Paternoster; Vicki from the Bike Shed; Mario and Luigi; Vicky Cee from Survivor Customs and a bunch more of our friends.

Music by MFC Chicken

See some great James Sharrock portraits of ten Dirt Quake III heroes in Sideburn 19.