In recent months it has been wonderful to celebrate having homegrown sporting world champions in our midst, but did you know one of the most famous names in motorcycling history was from Crowborough?
And Eric Oliver was not only world sidecar champion once, but a remarkable four times. But it was not only his title wins that made his name.
Born in 1911, Eric came from Crowborough and began grass track motorcycle racing in 1929-30. An apprenticed motor engineer, his passion for motorsport was interrupted by the second world war in which he flew as a flight engineer in Lancaster bombers, completing more than 40 raids.
The war over and his love for motorcycling rekindled, Eric would go on to compete in various versions of the sport. But it was in sidecar racing that he truly excelled and his 18 grand prix victories gained him four world championships between 1949 and 1954.
According to Classicbikehub.uk despite those 18 grand prix victories, Eric was rarely satisfied. And this is what drove him to success. When he lost a race or made a mistake, he wanted to know why he had gone wrong. He did not make excuses or blame others. He simply corrected the problem.
Keeping fit for racing was not quite as scientifically controlled as it is now among elite motorsport athletes. Apparently, Eric’s formula to maintain his racing weight of 11 stone was simply to give up eating until the excess poundage disappeared. “I stopped eating for a few days whenever my leathers felt tight,” he is reported as saying.
As well as dominating sidecar racing, Eric was also determined to take the world’s one-hour sidecar record over 100mph for the first time. In his attempt in Paris he averaged 101mph for 47 minutes before, agonisingly, the rear tyre of his 596 Norton gave out.
The replacement tyre lasted a little longer, 50 minutes. With a third tyre fitted, Eric was forced to slow down and stay just ahead of the existing 92mph record. The tyre held and Eric took the record at 95mph, later raising it to 97mph in 1950.
In 1952 Eric’s progress was interrupted by a crash at a minor meeting in Bordeaux where both he and his sidecar partner, Dobelli, each broke a leg. But, in true uncompromising style, he was determined to defend his world title. Eric reappeared in the Belgian GP in early July with his leg still encased in plaster. Amazingly he convinced officials that he was still capable of racing. Oliver led from the start eventually took a split-second victory.
By 1954, Eric Oliver realised the glory days were over for Norton whose bikes he loved, and he retired from GP racing to open a motorcycle shop in Staines. But he never lost interest or enthusiasm. For a while he raced a Lotus sports car, but motorcycles were his first love and he returned to the Isle of Man TT in 1958 with a woman sidecar passenger, Pat Wise. They finished 10th at 59.95 mph.
Oliver’s last TT appearance was in 1960 with passenger Stan Dibben but they had a bad crash in practice with Oliver breaking his back in two places and Dibben was nearly decapitated. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both men decided to retire from racing after this.
Sadly, Eric Oliver, a champion still remembered fondly, suffered a stroke from which he died in 1980 and a unique motorcycling chapter was closed. He was then aged 68.
Reference: https://www.iomtt.com/
https://www.classicbikehub.uk/features/article/eric-oliver-profile/