Here at Wemoto we have long been interested in the isle of Man, the TT and all things racing, including sidecar racing. We have sponsored and interviewed Dave Molyneux before about his illustrious career as a champion sidecar racer – here's our previous interview with him from 2021...

 

We spoke to him again recently for an update and to see what he's been up to and whether he is still racing today.

 

 

Firstly a short run down on his past achievements. Dave Molyneux is the most successful Sidecar competitor in the history of the Isle of Man TT, with 17 TT victories and 31 podium finishes under  his belt. His racing success puts him fourth on the all time wins list behind Michael Dunlop, Joey Dunlop and John McGuinness. 

 

His prowess was recognised in 2013, with a right hand bend on the Snaefell Mountain Course at the end of Cronk-y-Voddy Straight, being named Molyneux's, after him.

 

Beginning his TT career in 1985, by 1989 Molyneux was starting to dominate the sidecar event, with his maiden TT victory campaigning a Bregazzi Yamaha where he and his passenger Colin Hardman took first place in the 'A' and third in the 'B' race. It was then a case of building on their success and Molyneux and Hardman took overall victory in the 1989 Sidecar TT.

 

Molyneux and Hallam crashed at Rhencullen, in the Thursday afternoon practice session for the 2006 races, after a 140mph flip, and the whole outfit was destroyed and Molyneux injured, so he was unable to compete in the actual races that year. Undeterred, the following year, he was back taking a double victory bringing his win total up to 13. 

 

He was back, and winning again in 2009, and then again in 2012 and 2014, reaching his all time total of 17 wins. In his day job, Dave builds road racing sidecars under the name DMR Dave Molyneux Racing and has built sidecars for many of the other sidecar racers including Rob Fisher, Nick Crowe and Tim Reeves.
Despite having announced his retirement from the sport, as the most successful TT sidecar racer of all time with 31 podiums under his belt, Dave Molyneux still seems to be out there doing more than ever, so we decided to have a catch up with him and see what he was up to these days.

 

How's it going these days Dave?...
Dave's last official TT race was in 2024, and that was the end of his many years of racing modern bikes at the TT.  However, never one to stop doing what he is good at and passing on his wisdom born of many years sidecar racing, he currently holds the position of Sidecar Rider Liason Officer for ACU Events, and has a diverse range of things to organise. He also continues to do Classic events, aboard a 1975 750 Suzuki Sidecar outfit which he has rebuilt, and is riding in the August Classic TT Parade.

 

He is still racing Classics, including participating in events aboard his classic sidecar outfit at: Cadwell Park in April, the pre TT at Billown, and the Southern 100 Circuit. With more events to come in Southern Ireland demonstrating Sidecars, and potentially the South West Athea Road Race which is due to return to Athea, County Limerick in September 2026, things are still looking more than interesting.

 

A Score Of Sidecars
Last August Dave Molyneux was in the Classic TT Sidecar Parade and was asked to find five or six sidecar outfits, if he could, to enter the parade. With a few enquiries, and knowing the right people to ask of course, Dave actually found 20 Sidecar outfits which he got together for the parade and which absolutely delighted the organisers and spectators In only took him two months to organise these 20 bikes to take part, many of whose riders had ridden at the Isle of Man TT 30 years ago, so it really was an illustrious Parade of Champions, very much appreciated by the crowd.

 

 

The Festival of Jurby is back too, in Track Day form, after an absence of a few years, and will feature a couple of sidecar races to delight the crowds. ARA Andreas Racing Association are organising this and Dave will be assisting with the Classic Sidecars.

 

Dave also did a lot of aerodynamic technical work for the Crowe brothers, Ryan and Callum's sidecar, including a low centre of gravity and a 3-wheel configuration.They achieved good wins and a lap record in 2025 and great things are promised for them in 2026.

 

Slow Down You Move Too Fast
The organisers currently want sidecar racing to be slowed down, as this should make it safer for all entrants and thus might make it more appealing to newcomers. So the ACU has introduced and paid for new rule changes to save the competitors from having to pay themselves, in the hope that the increased safety will encourage more new racers to enter. The rule changes have ticked a lot of boxes and should help to rejuvenate sidecar racing. It's great to hear how very involved in this Dave Molyneux still is – can't beat experience!

 

Famous Names
Dave has had a long racing career, alongside many of the greats of TT racing. As a youngster he went into the pub with a friend to play pool in 1977 and there, sitting at the bar, was Joey Dunlop who he was introduced to. Following on from that in 1998 Dave was part of the Honda Works team and spent a lot of time with Joey, who he says was a quiet man but apparently very funny. Dave also met Alex George back in the day and got his autograph which he rediscovered recently and is keeping, to go in his TT museum. Alex George is famous for beating Mike Hailwood. 

Dave recently became the TT Riders Association President, which is a 1 year term, and was able to have a good long chat about it with Alex George, who had served in the same office previously and could give him the low down. Dave has clearly acquired a lot of friendly contacts amongst the TT greats over the years.

 

Museum Memories
As well as all of that, Dave is organising a charity event for TT week in June and putting together a small museum of all things TT next to his house, packed full of really interesting TT memorabilia. So, far from putting on his slippers, Dave's 45 years of racing has just morphed into various other related activities and gone down different avenues and it doesn't look as though he has any plans to get off the saddle or slow down any time soon!

We at Wemoto are proud to be sponsoring Dave for his Classic racing going forward.