Ten time New Zealand Sidecar Champions - Gordon Skilton and Ray Larson

Gordon  Skilton and Ray Larson lead Graeme De Malmanche and Gary Binyon
Photo .Evening Post 1969

Sidecar racing is often overlooked in the history of the sport of motorcycle racing in New Zealand. The realm of a few dedicated racers and their passengers , they none the less play an important part in the history of the sport.

Gordon Skilton was born in the small Wairarapa town of Pahiatua in 1938 . Born in to the motorcycle trade his father Bill ran a local motorcycle shop. Gordon served his time as a motorcycle mechanic apprenticeship with Plummer Motorcycles in Napier. There he watched brothers Biil and Len Plummer race sidecars , it was there he decided thats what he wanted to do.

In 1958 he purchased a Triumph Tiger 110 , and set about making a sidecar having purchased a sidecar chassis which bolted on to the side of the Triumph . In those early days sidecars were simply a motorcycle with a sidecar attachment bolted to it. This way Gordon could ride the bike on the street , then bolt on the third wheel to go racing. It was not that uncommon to have riders race the sidecar and solo races at race race meetings. 

Gordon's first race was at Wanganui in 1958. Dave Plunket was to be his passenger. The outfit was ridden from Napier to Wanganui with the outfit been made road legal. On arrival the pair stripped the machine  for racing , but crashed leaving them no way to get back to Napier until space was found on a truck.

In 1959 Ray Larson became Gordon's passenger. This would be a very successful partnership with the two of them winning ten New Zealand Championships . Their first title came at Wanganui where they road a new outfit which had a Manx Norton motor in an AJS frame.

The following year 1960 again at Wanganui saw the pair crash on the overhead bridge and the outfit some what bent on the concrete on the rail lines some twenty foot below.

Gordon and Ray at Porirua GP

In 1965 Gordon  sold the Manx and purchased an outfit from John Anderson in Rotorua. It was a Triumph Bonneville in a Manx Norton frame. This was modified to make it a lot more powerful. In 1971 a Norton Commando motor replaced the Triumph. 

Ray retired in 1971 and was replaced by Robin Haines . This partnership ended after a major crash at Levin in December 1971 . Robin retired from racing , Gordon recovered and ventured out in 1972 again with Ray Larson as passenger. They headed to Australia in 1973 , but were let down by machinery problems and failed to finish the Bathurst race. 

Returning to his family business which he had joined in 1963 , Gordon started to build a more modern machine , but the pressure of running the business left him very little spare time and he retired from racing.

He would go on for many more years running the family business in Pahiatua.

Gordons granddaughter Maxine kept the family name flying in sidecars in more recent years.

Written for MNZ inc by Ian Dawson. 

Thanks to Maureen Ball