Motorcycle chariot racing

Motorcycle chariot racing is a motor sport that combines motorcycle racing and chariot racing.

The sport was extant in the 1920s and 1930s, having been inspired by the 1925 film Ben-Hur.[1][2][3] It went largely (although not entirely)[4] extinct after that, although exhibition rigs are still made and driven.[5]

The sport was developed in Australia in the 1920s and quickly spread to Europe and America.[6] Motorcycle chariot races were, for instance, probably held at the old Charlotte, North Carolina motor speedway (the old speedway at 35°5′52.8″N 80°52′52.51″W, not the modern Charlotte Motor Speedway).[6]

A typical early vehicle configuration was a rider on a motorcycle, pulling a chariot and charioteer who were essentially ornamental. A 1922 short piece in Popular Mechanics describes this configuration.[7] This soon developed into a configuration with two riderless motorcycles steered by a single charioteer using reins.[5] Steering was sometimes done with reins attached to the throttles (the charioteer steered by controlling the relative speed of the two motorcycles), and sometimes with rigid extensions attached to the handlebars.[8] Modern rigs may have foot pedals for speed control, the reins used for steering the front wheels.[4]