Stan Dibben - No Ordinary Passenger

The New York Times posted this interesting video with Stan Dibben, of 1950's Norton side car fame. In 1953 Stan was the "monkey" in the chair, as he and rider Eric Oliver rode the Manx to the World Sidecar Championship. This was no small feat, while the standard Manx racing motorcycle was in it's prime, BMW was dominating side car racing.

The video is full of great vintage racing footage, as well as some narrative from Stan himself. Hearing him talk about certainly takes one back in time. Stan obviously still has his racing helmet, and if only it could talk...
You can watch the video here:

No Ordinary Passenger

Strangely, there's no mention of rider Eric Oliver, which is a shame as he's steeped in Norton racing lore, having set several landspeed records for the Bracebridge Street powerhouse, and is by far one of the sidecar racing legends of the day.

And while it's got nothing to do with the racing outfit mentioned in the video, if you've got a whole bunch of money, you could be the proud owner Eric Oliver's 1957 Manx Norton sidecar. Have a look at the photos one the British Only - Austria website here:

Eric Oliver's 1957 Manx Norton sidecar