Will the new technical regulations be the death knell for sidecar TT racing?

Following the serious accident involving Ryan and Callum Crowe during practice for this year’s Tourist Trophy, in which their sidecar overturned at high speed after a jump, the races were withdrawn from the programme for safety reasons. The organisers subsequently announced that the technical regulations for the continuation of this class would have to be fundamentally revised in order to secure the future of sidecars.

Central to the changes presented is the move away from 600cc four-cylinder engines. The new regulations stipulate engines derived from motorbikes in the Sportbike class homologated for the British Championship, including the Triumph Daytona 660, Suzuki GSX-8R, the CF Moto 675SR-R, the Yamaha R7, the Aprilia RS660 and the Kawasaki Ninja 650, as well as other engines within the specified regulations.

Furthermore, the mandatory use of standardised engine electronics – intended to give technicians at the Tourist Trophy greater scope to control and monitor performance – as well as the stipulation of specific wiring harness architectures, represents such a fundamental departure from the previous technical regulations that it seems unlikely that many teams will line up on the starting grid at next year’s Tourist Trophy.

Some teams have already ruled out taking part in the 2027 TT

The German rider Eckart Rösinger had already announced at the Sidecar Festival in Oschersleben that, under these circumstances, his son-in-law Wiggert Kranenburg would not be taking part. Now, Lee Crawford – who finished third twice at the 2025 TT – as well as Daryl Gibson and Michael Russell (“I cannot afford to meet the new technical requirements of the regulations”) have also announced that they will not be taking part in next year’s event.

The main criticism from the teams is, on the one hand, that these fundamental changes to the technical regulations have been introduced even though they were neither proposed nor recommended by the participants during the consultations, and, on the other hand, that no reasonable transition period has been provided for. Furthermore, there is currently no other series in which this set of technical regulations is in use. It therefore makes no sense for the teams to bear the enormous costs for a single event.

It remains to be seen whether enough participants will even submit their entries for the 2027 Sidecar TT. There is not much time left to find a compromise that is acceptable to all parties. However, if the organiser insists on these extensive changes, it could deal the final blow to the sidecar races at the Tourist Trophy, which are so popular with racing fans.