Obituary: Gordon Skilton ‘godfather’ of New Zealand sidecar racing

Gordon Skilton racing on Boxing Day 2005, with swinger, son-in-law Simon Windelborn.

Gordon Skilton will be remembered as the “godfather” of New Zealand sidecar racing. His death has left a record of unmatched endurance and skill, with Skilton claiming 10 New Zealand Sidecar Championship titles since 1959.

In 1955, at the age of 16 years old, Skilton started his motorcycle apprenticeship in Napier, with Bill Plummer, who got Skilton into sidecars.

In 1956, he received a prize for gaining top marks in the First or Second Qualifying Examination in Motorcycle Mechanics.

Graeme Staples (Spyda) from Whanganui, spoke at Skilton’s funeral and recalls his 60th birthday celebration, where at least five champions from past decades were present.

“Gordon had raced on 26 circuits,” said Graeme. “In 1958 he rode his sidecar from Napier to race at Whanganui’s Cemetery Circuit. This has turned out to be Gordon’s favourite racing circuit. That year he crashed in the race and had to bring his sidecar back home on a truck.

Gordon Skilton and Ray Bath concentrate during a shingle hill climb, Seafield Rd, Napier.

Two years later, Skilton crashed again in Whanganui, on the overbridge to Ridgway St.

Skilton was very meticulous in his preparation.

“I seldom had a mechanical problem,” he said. ”I went to a race meeting to race - not to work on my bike. I stuck at it long enough and just got ‘gooder’ at it.”

In 1972, Skilton and swinger Ray Larsen raced in Levin after a saloon car race that had left stones on the track.

It is claimed that the stones weren’t swept away for sidecars race. Skilton went through the hairpin onto the last corner before the main straight at 90m/h (145km/h). His sidecar hit the stones and got into a slide, with enough force to pop the spoke wheels and send the outfit across the grass under a newly installed safety wire for spectators, one foot off the ground. The pair slid underneath the wire but were badly injured.

After hanging up his leathers to focus on family and the Pahiatua motorcycling firm W. Skilton & Son, Skilton was tempted back into racing in 2002 on a borrowed sidecar at the Wanganui Jubilee Boxing Day races.

Not long after, a chance reunion with what remained of his original Norton Commando sidecar unit led to its rebuild and restoration. Skilton was once again a regular sight in starting line-ups around the country on his historic machine.

According to Skilton, the front brake was made up in 1967 with two 8-inch BSA brakes, converted to twin leading shoes, using the same set-up as the original Manx brake, which is two cams and two anchor pins per side.

“They are mounted on a BSA hub which I modified to take the two brake drums, thereby making it a four-leading shoe brake,” Skilton said. “It works. The other thing is that my leathers are the same ones I wore way back in 1972. And they still fit, though they seem to have shrunk a bit since then.

Gordon Skilton with the Triumph V4 he made in 1964 and which was taken to England.

“Also, circa 1961, I helped Bill Plummer, my old boss in Napier, build a Triumph V4.

“The bike used two sets of Triumph T100 barrels and heads - the rear one mounted backwards. The two sets of crankcases were welded together, in such a way that both cranks were used, each just missing the other’s crank and rod throw. The two cranks were linked by a chain, which then linked to the primary drive to the gearbox in the usual manner.

“The chain between the two cranks kept breaking when the throttle was opened vigorously, so I built up a set of gears and fitted them into a case, and ran oil in it.

“Arthur Harris, who was out here from England for the first Woodville International MX, saw it in Napier and took it back to England,” he said.

Three generations of the Skilton family have owned the business since it was founded by Skilton’s father Bill. Now called Motorcycle HQ, Bill’s granddaughter Carolyn owns the business with her husband, sidecar racer Simon Windelborn.