Trevor Harvey has worked at Glencore’s Mangoola mine at Muswellbrook for 14 years, but in his spare time he’s just retired after 43 years motorcycle racing.
He started at the bottom, pit crewing at races in Sydney when he was a teenager, and working his way up to racing when he was 17 years old in 1978.
Trevor started his career racing enduros in the central west of NSW. He rode at Orange and Dubbo with great results despite going into the final on crutches after a big crash at Dubbo in 1981. But Trevor was determined to finish the season that year.
“At the last Orange club MX meeting I had to get someone to hold the crutches while I raced for the championship.
“My ankles were shot, and I missed by a single point,” said Trevor.
After racing enduro for five years at both club and state level, Trevor made the move to sidecar racing.
“It was just there to do! I had ridden just about every other kind of motorcycle and done every competition including a drag race meeting at Mount Panorama where I think I got third fastest time of the day. I was keen to have a go at any competition, so I thought why not.”
Looking back on his racing career, Trevor firmly believes sidecar racing was his favourite.
After a short hiatus, Trevor got back on the sidecar in 2010, teaming up with Tim Jones and together they went to their first meeting as a team the following year – the 2011 Australian senior titles in Canberra.
“Tim had ridden a couple of times with others at Gunnedah before he hopped on with me and raced his own dirt bike.
“Being a single father and an underground fitter, going sidecar racing as a team helped develop his young son’s interest in motorcycles and I believe made a stronger bond between them which stands to this day.
“I believe racing together helped us both through the tough times life sometimes throws at us.”
They had a lot of fun and while they weren’t the best, Trevor and Tim had their chance at finals when three of the top teams retired.
“A new GSXR 1000 motor and flash wheels made a difference with the last few years of racing seeing us in most of the finals, picking up a third in a National Senior Track Championship and two thirds in NSW titles plus placings in a few big Open meetings.
“To compensate for my own shortcomings, I learned to pass where there was a gap and to make my # 12 as wide as possible to stop anyone getting past.
“Tim was not only my passenger but also my mechanic/strategist/tactician/best friend and, at times, the mongrel dog who went around biting other racers’ ankles and peeing on their legs!”
You’d think a sidecar wouldn’t be as quick as any other bike, but you’re wrong.
“It depends on the track. On most of the tracks you’d be lucky to hit 90-100 km/hr but somewhere like Bathurst Showground you are pushing 130 to 140km/hr and at the track at Gunnedah you’d be pushing 150 up the straight.
“My saying is ‘anyone can go fast in a straight line’.
“We’ve both been through rough trots and we’ve both been there for each other. It was a mutual decision to give it away. We both thought we’d had a good run, and it was time.”
Trevor announced his retirement from the sport earlier this year, but leaving sidecar racing didn’t mean the end of motorbikes.
“I’ve got a BMW Adventure bike that is up in Townsville now getting a sidecar fitted to it so I can ride it on dirt roads and put the dog in it. I have a couple of other bikes that I ride around as well.”
While he takes the adventure bike around on his days off, the rest of Trevor’s time is spent at Mangoola mine as a machinery operator on graders and bulldozers. And he loves it.
