{{Short description, Method used in motorcycle speedway Speedway Wolfslake gegen Stralsund 07

Broadsiding is the method used in

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

for travelling round the bends on the speedway track. The rider skids their rear wheel by spinning it at such a speed that it sets up a

gyroscopic A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rot ...

action, and this opposes the natural tendencies of

centrifugal force Centrifugal force is a fictitious force in Newtonian mechanics (also called an "inertial" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It appears to be directed radially away from the axi ...

. Then they control the slide by

throttle A throttle is a mechanism by which fluid flow is managed by construction or obstruction. An engine's power can be increased or decreased by the restriction of inlet gases (by the use of a throttle), but usually decreased. The term ''throttle'' ha ...

control to maintain, increase or decrease the rate of which the rear wheel spins.

Motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

bikes have no brakes or suspension. The rider can reduce speed while still providing the drive to power the bike forward and around the bend.

External links

"With the Short Track Racers", ''Popular Science'', July 1934, see page 61 second paragraph
Motorsport terminology Motorcycle speedway