Camathias Cup
Dick Hawes
The Camathias Cup was the brainchild of Dick Hawes who had raced with Florian Camathias and had pushed him off for the start of his last ever race at Brands Hatch in which he was sadly killed in 1965.
By a way of honouring his name, Madam Camathias was approached (in her nursing home in Italy) before our series was instigated and was so touched that her late husband was so well regarded and remembered. Sadly Madam Camathias passed away in 2016. Dick Hawes sadly passed away in 2019, and without his vision for a European Classic Sidecar Championship and passion for sidecar racing generally we would not be where we are today.
So, along with some other like-minded sidecar racers from Europe, the Camathias Cup was started in 2013. It has now grown in popularity with both racers and spectators alike and draws grids of 25 teams regularly.
The Next Chapter
We have raced at some of the world famous circuits around Europe including Assen and Zandvoort in the Netherlands, Oschersleban and Schleiz in Germany, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Cadwell Park in England, the ever popular classic event Bob Mac at the East Fortune circuit in Scotland and the Classic Road Racing circuits in Belgium at Chimay and all the riders favourite event at Gedinne. In 2020 before the Corona Virus came along we were to bring a new exciting chapter to the Camathias Cup history, by planning to visit the first ever Classic Sidecar Race at Spa Francorchamps in conjunction with The Bikers Classic event. Along with Spa the Camathias Cup championship would for the first time visit Denmark for their first ever Classic TT event. In 2023 we celebrated our 10th anniversary season with races in Great Britain, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
The ongoing success of the Camathias Cup Championship is mainly down to the hard work of the committee members but more importantly the ever growing numbers of members, who all share the passion for classic sidecars and who also add fun to our Camathias Family. One of our unique qualities is that the committee is constantly looking for opportunities to race across a variety of circuits across Europe.
We all look forward to seeing you at a circuit soon.
Dick Hawes & John Mann (Seeley) 1969 Sidecar 500 TT
Dick Hawes & Paul Bumphrey, Pre TT, 2011