When Rod Anshaw decided that The Big Chill, held at Carnell Raceway in Stanthorpe Qld, would be a good first event for his return to racing he could have never expected the saga that it would become.
In 2019, after the 1962 Norton Atlas was shelved for 20 years, The Big Chill was Rod’s return to the track, and his daughter Jem jumped on for her first race meeting as his passenger.
That weekend things started relatively well, until a few laps into the first practice / qualifying when Jem broke the first rule of being a sidecar passenger and let go, rolling off the circuit and coming to a stop on the grass. Thankfully physically she was ok, and after getting checked out by medics it was off to buy a new helmet and get back out there. They pair missed the second practice / qualifying run but had put down a decent enough time to have them starting second on the grid for the first of two races on the Saturday afternoon that were finished without further incident.
Come Sunday morning all was looking promising for the second day of racing. Race three was going well until Rod decided to make what some considered to be an unconventional move on the inside at the dogleg / small left hander. The outfit they were set to pass didn’t notice and, on that lap, edged infield, putting the Norton onto the grass. With speed not dropping fast enough, Rod had seconds to decide what to do and straight ahead it was – to the left would have been back into the path of other outfits and straight at spectators, to the right would have flipped the outfit. In rather spectacular fashion their weekend came to an end in a fence. Again, thankfully both rider and passenger were physically ok but the bike was beyond trackside repair.
In 2021 they had another go at running The Big Chill but mechanical issues prevented them from even getting a full lap in. Getting the outfit into gear and then shifting between them resulted in the bike being put to bed on Saturday night.
Jem took some time off in 2022 to have a second child but the focus was on getting back to The Big Chill in 2023 to break the mojo attached to the event.
Nerves fluttered as they made their way out for practice – the front end of the outfit violently shook which brought back memories of another issue plagued race meeting, but thankfully that eased as they got to the first corner. They completed six laps in practice, then in qualifying their best time was a 43.6 which put them third, two seconds off Matthew Klein in second.
There were two races on Saturday and the pair struggled to find traction all day, especially off the start, which lead to some rather spectacular moments. In race 1 a determined Rod put the sidecar wheel on the grass to make a pass on fellow father / daughter pairing Rodney and Jess Torr. At the end of day one Rod pulled the side wheel out to see if changing the geometry on it would help, which it did in a small way for Sunday.
On Sunday the call was made to combine the P3 sidecars with the P4,5 and 6’s for their three races as both classes had seen numbers drop and it seemed a more logical (and interesting for spectators) way to do things.
Race three was going well for Rod and Jem, until a knuckle guard on Jem’s gloves got stuck under a handle which stopped her from getting across to the back of the bike for a right hander. They took a nice little excursion onto the grass, but unlike on their previous visits there Rod was able to keep control while Jem got unstuck and recovered. The lap and race were unsalvageable, but they stayed out and finished regardless.
Thank you to Mick’s Fix Leather Repairs for sorting Jem’s gloves over the weekend.
Races four and five were much of the same, some sliding, passing and from the sidelines some great racing to watch.
At the end of the fifth race there was a lot of excitement (mostly from Jem) at the pair finally having finished the race meeting – Norton 162 tamed The Big Chill.
The Big Chill is a historic road racing event hosted by the Queensland Early Motorcycle Sports Club. Spectators and competitors alike are encouraged to mingle, giving it a similar feel to weekends spent at Amaroo Park back in the 90’s. Carnell Raceway is just 900 meters long but it has some tight turns that make it a fun challenge, especially for outfits.
Check out the onboard footage from all five races.
ALMCC 