 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Dave Molyneux" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Dave Molyneux | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Molyneux and passenger Patrick Farrance atParliament Square during 2012 TT races | |||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Manx | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1963-11-21)21 November 1963 (age 61) Douglas, Isle of Man | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Dave Molyneux (born 21 November 1963 inDouglas, Isle of Man) is aManx chassis engineer who has builtSidecar motorcycles after having finished an accomplished career as a rider in the class. He is the most successful Sidecar competitor in the history of theIsle of Man TT races, achieving 17 TT victories and 30 podium finishes. His race wins place him fourth on the all-time wins list, behindsolo bike racersMichael Dunlop (29 wins),Joey Dunlop (26 wins) andJohn McGuinness (23).
Moly, as he is often known, was the sidecar lap record holder for the Snaefell mountain course set in 2015 with a time of 19 minutes 23.056 seconds, an average race speed of 116.785 mph for 1 lap.[1]
In 2013, a right-hand bend on theSnaefell Mountain Course used for TT andManx Grand Prix races at the end ofCronk-y-Voddy Straight on the mainA3 road was namedMolyneux's in recognition of his wins, together with John McGuinness who was similarly honoured.[2]
Beginning his TT career at the 1985 races,[3] Molyneux failed to record a finish until his fifth outing in the first race at the 1987 'A' race where he placed tenth, but failed to finish in his sixth event, the 'B' race(the event is raced over two legs with the overall winner performing the best in terms of aggregate).[3] Improvement continued 1988 with a sixth-place finish in the first leg of the Sidecar TT before retirement in the second race.[3]
The 1989 meeting saw Molyneux begin to dominate the event with his maiden TT victory. Campaigning a Bregazzi Yamaha and partnered by experienced passengerColin Hardman, the team took first place in the 'A' and third in the 'B' race.[3] This resulted in Molyneux and Hardman claiming overall victory for the1989 Sidecar TT.[3]
Dave Molyneux and Craig Hallam crashed during Thursday afternoon practice session for the2006 races atRhencullen after the sidecar outfit experienced a 140 mphDonald Campbell "bluebird-style flip."[4] The outfit was destroyed in the resulting fire and Molyneux was unable to compete in the actual races due to injury. He made a comeback the following year taking a double victory, bringing his tally of wins to 13 at that time.
His 14th victory came in 2009, when he also became the first winner of a TT sidecar race on a Suzuki powered machine. The lone race of 2009 saw him set a new race record on his Suzuki, (see above).[clarification needed]
Moly did not compete at the TT in 2011 (although he rode the ex-Biland / O'Dell Seymaz Yamaha in the classic parade, with former TT passenger Karl Ellison), but he returned to the TT in 2012 on a Kawasaki powered machine winning both races. The first 2012 Sidecar race also made Molyneux the first ever competitor to win TTs using all four of the major Japanese manufacturers engines (Yamaha,Honda,Suzuki &Kawasaki).
2014 saw him take his 17th TT win in the second sidecar race. He led the first race by more than 20 seconds until an engine misfire caused him to stop on the final lap.
He is also a builder of road racing sidecars under the name DMR, Dave Molyneux Racing, and has supplied sidecars to many other TT winners including 10-time winnerRob Fisher, 2006 double winnerNick Crowe and 6x FIM World ChampionTim Reeves.
In 2017, Molyneux received top billing for his role in the film3 Wheeling,[5] an observational documentary filmed during TT period of 2016. The film premiered on 7 May 2017,[6] followed by alimited theatrical release of 150 commercial screenings in cinemas in Northern Ireland,[7] Germany,[8] and the Isle of Man.[9] Molyneux has not watched the film because he considers his racing efforts during the filming period to be "an absolute disaster",[10][11] but praised the filmmakers for their hard work and ambitious promotion of Sidecar racing.[12]
In 1994, Molyneux choreographed and performed the motorcycle stuntwork forMatthew Barney's filmCremaster 4, the first film in the acclaimed Cremaster series.[13]
| Year | Race & Capacity | Motorcycle | Average Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | TT Sidecar Race 'A' | Bregazzi TZ750 Yamaha | 104.56 mph |
| 1993 | TT Sidecar Race 'A' | 600cc Yamaha | 103.33 mph |
| 1993 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc Yamaha | 103.16 mph |
| 1996 | TT Sidecar Race 'A' | DMR | 109.81 mph |
| 1996 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | DMR | 110.28 mph |
| 1998 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMRHonda | 106.52 mph |
| 1999 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMR Honda | 111.90 mph |
| 2003 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMR Honda | 105.42 mph |
| 2004 | TT Sidecar Race 'A' | 600cc DMR Honda | 111.33 mph |
| 2004 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMR Honda | 111.2 mph |
| 2005 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMR Honda | 114.901 mph |
| 2007 | TT Sidecar Race 'A' | 600cc DMR Honda | 111.668 mph |
| 2007 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMR Honda | 113.851 mph |
| 2009 | TT Sidecar Race 'A' | 600cc DMRSuzuki | 115.132 mph |
| 2012 | TT Sidecar Race 'A' | 600cc DMRKawasaki | 113.055 mph |
| 2012 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMR Kawasaki | 113.071 mph |
| 2014 | TT Sidecar Race 'B' | 600cc DMR Kawasaki | 113.756 mph |
| Finishing Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 6th | 10th | DNF |
| Number of times | 17 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 22 |
Manxman Dave Molyneux, now a 13-times TT winner, after scoring an unexpected double in the Centenary event, first entered the Sidecar Races in 1985.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
