Eric Oliver

Eric Staines Oliver (13 April 1911 – 1 March 1980) was an English motorcycle racer best remembered as four-time FIM Sidecar World Champion, riding a Norton. His passenger in 1949 was Denis Jenkinson. He is also remembered for his innovation, being the first sidecar competitor to use a dustbin fairing, rear suspension and the first to adopt a semi-kneeling riding position.

Oliver was also an accomplished solo racer and continued to ride a 350 Grand Prix bike while racing a sidecar.

Oliver made a surprising appearance in the 1958 Isle of Man Sidecar TT race on a standard Norton Dominator 88 with a Watsonian "Monaco" road sidecar with Mrs Pat Wise in the sidecar, finishing tenth ahead of many specialised race machines. Oliver's last TT appearance was in the 1960 with passenger Stan Dibben but they had a bad crash in practice with Oliver breaking his back in two places and Dibben was nearly decapitated. Both men decided to retire from racing after this. and on 1 January 1955 opened a motorcycle dealership in Staines, later selling Reliant cars.

World Championship results Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap. An empty black cell indicates that the class did not compete at that particular championship round.)

Year Class Motorcycle 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points 1949 IOM SUI NED BEL ULS NAT 500 cc Norton Ret — 0 350 cc Velocette 21 7 — 0 Sidecar (with Denis Jenkinson) Norton 1 1 5 1st 28 1950 IOM BEL NED SUI ULS NAT 350 cc Velocette 14 — 0 Sidecar (with Lorenzo Dobelli) Norton 1 1 1 1st 24 1951 ESP SUI IOM BEL NED FRA ULS NAT Sidecar (with Lorenzo Dobelli) Norton 1 5 1 1 2 1st 30 (32) 1952 SUI IOM NED BEL GER ULS NAT ESP Sidecar (with Stanley Price) Norton 1 5th 16 Sidecar (with Lorenzo Dobelli) Norton 1 1953 IOM NED BEL GER FRA ULS SUI NAT ESP Sidecar (with Stanley Dibben) Norton 1 1 1 1 1st 32 1954 FRA IOM ULS BEL NED GER SUI NAT ESP Sidecar (with Les Nutt) Norton 1 1 1 5 2nd 26 1955 ESP FRA IOM GER BEL NED ULS NAT Sidecar (with Eric Bliss) Norton 3 Ret 13 10th 4 1958 IOM NED BEL GER SWE ULS NAT Sidecar (with Pat Wise) Norton 10 — 0