KEEPING THE PROPERTY DREAM ON TRACK

Sidecar racing isn’t for the faint-hearted. Hurtling around tracks at breakneck speeds, it features a motorbike rider and a “swinger” who lies flat in the sidecar, leaning out around corners to keep the bike balanced. The swingers don’t have seatbelts or roll cages and, as they lean out, the road races underneath them.

In the mid-1980s, Kiwi Cliff Tolley was involved in this extreme sport. The motocross champion had moved from Napier to the United States to further his career, and took up sidecar racing when he arrived. And it was here, on the sidecar circuit, that he met wife-to-be, Juli Anne (Juli).

“She chased me down because I was a star,” Cliff laughs over the phone from Tauranga.

Juli adds: “He really good. We had mutual friends and I knew people involved in the sport. We’ve now been married for 30 years and have been investors for most of that time.”