Sidecar star Tim Reeves joins TT legend Nick Crowe's team for 2012
Friday 04 November 2011
TT
Three-times Sidecar World Champion Tim Reeves believes he will have his best chance of winning at the Isle of Man TT in 2012 after signing for the ream run by TT legend Nick Crowe.
The current Formula 1 British Champion has signed for the leading British Formula 2 Sidecar team Nick Crowe Racing/Team Dave Hudspeth Carpets/Q8 Oils for the 2012 season. Reeves will be partnered by regular team passenger Dipash Chauhan, who is now back to full fitness after a badly broken leg sustained earlier in the season.
The new line up was announced at last weekend’s Festival of Sidecars at Mallory Park, where they competed in, and won, all three Formula 2 races in near lap record time, despite the damp track conditions.
This was the first time Reeves had driven the machine, which was set up by 5-times TT winner Crowe, and they also won the Tony Chilcott Memorial race, which was held under the handicap format where they were given a 15 second deficit at the start of the two-leg race.
To fully maximise track time, the pairing also competed in the two Open class races from the rear of the grid, finishing 3rd and 4th behind the larger-engine Formula 1 sidecars.
Reeves and Chauhan are no strangers to racing with each other, having won at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough, in 2009, while they also took a strong 3rd place in the opening race of the 2010 TT.
For 2012, Reeves has completed a deal with team principals Crowe and Hudspeth to contest the TT, British Formula 2 Championship, the Sunflower Trophy and Festival of Sidecars. In addition, the new partnership will participate in all three meetings at Oliver’s Mount, and they will also make their debut at the Southern 100 in July.
Crowe, the outright sidecar TT lap record holder, will again spearhead the set-up, bringing his vast amount of knowledge to the team as they strive to take the top spot at the TT and better Reeves’s and Chauhan’s 3rd place of 2010.
In what promises to be a packed schedule, Reeves will continue to run his own team in the World and British F1 Championships, but, in a change from the last two seasons, Gregory Cluze has been replaced by Ashley Hawes, the Frenchman moving onto new pastures in 2012.
Reeves and Hawes took 1st and 3rd first time out at the recent Sunflower Trophy meeting in Northern Ireland.
Reeves said:
“I’m over the moon to have signed for Nick and Dave’s team and it will allow me to firmly concentrate on the driving at all of the meetings.”
“I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’d dearly love to win a TT and I’m not going to have a better chance of doing in than what I will in 2012.”
“My first experience of the bike was superb and it’s without doubt the fastest F2 bike I’ve ever driven, so with Nick’s experience, and Dips in the chair, we should be well placed to challenge for the race wins at each and every meeting.”
He added:
“I’m delighted to be continuing my association with Honda and LCR, whilst I’m equally delighted that many of my personal sponsors are continuing to support me, especially the Haith family and Gunter Reuschling who have been behind me for a number of years now.”
“It’s a fantastic opportunity and one I’m aiming to grab with both hands. I’m also pleased to welcome Ashley on board and it was great to have a win first time out at the Sunflower meeting so 2012 is shaping up to be a great season.”
The team also expressed their condolences to all the family and friends of Dave Wells, after the vastly experienced passenger and very popular member of the paddock sadly lost his life at Mallory Park on Saturday.