Ignore the silly ideas posted on here. This one is at least vaguely sensible.
In real chariot racing, the horses are attached to the yoke of the chariot through straps and attachments so that they are actually quite well attached. The reins run back, sometimes through guide-loops, to where the driver stands, giving her or him a lot of control over the horses and vehicle.
So in Sensible motorcycle chariot racing, the two motorcycles are fitted to a specially shaped yoke which rests on the two padded leather saddles of the motorcycles. There are straps and buckles which attach the yoke firmly but flexibly to the saddles, allowing just enough freedom of movement for banking and steering.
Trying to control a motorcycle using reins would be a bit silly. So My suggestion here is that the driver is given a set of handlebars. Perhaps instead of being fixed they could be mounted on a free-pivoting arm attached to the chariot pole. But at least there would be the ability to mount the usual throttle and brakes controls on these handlebars.
The driver would also have a foot plate mounted on the chariot floor which he could use for gear change etc. This could be in the form of a bar running the width of the chariot. The idea is that he can shift from one side to the other to balance the chariot as usual, whilst still having a sensible amount of ergonomic control of the motorcycles.
I suggest that for maximum effectiveness, the motorcycle controls are manipulated by electrical actuators, which are controlled through a kind of fly-by-wire system from the chariot handlebars and foot controls. There would also be an emergency handbrake mounted in the chariot just in case of control failure.
I see no reason why such a rig should not be street-legal and used for the weekly shopping trip. Perhaps the chariot should have hardpoint mounts for strapping your shopping bags on to, to save you spilling tins of beans out the back on tight corners.-- pocmloc, Aug 21 2020 https://www.nms.ac....iot-reconstruction/ [pocmloc, Aug 21 2020] motorcycle chariot racing https://www.youtube...watch?v=ddQVuhd7xLI [Voice, Aug 27 2020] 4 motorcycle chariot https://d2r8r0qhs4b...ktop-1412871065.jpg [Voice, Aug 27 2020] Malcolm (1986) https://www.imdb.co...viewer/rm3826317824A very halfbaker-ish movie... [neutrinos_shadow, Aug 27 2020] OK an alternative to this idea is to have the yoke attached to the pillions of the two motorcycles, and have the two motorcycles themselves ridden by human riders. However, the overall rig would be controlled by the charioteer who would hold onto reins attached to the helmets of the motorcycle riders, and a long whip.
You could consider this as two classes of race, the "unridden" class and the "ridden" class. You could even have mixed races. The unridden class would likely have faster acceleration, higher top speed, and better cornering, due to lower weight; however the ridden class would have much faster and more responsive control.-- pocmloc, Aug 21 2020 //sensible// <old-timer> "Sensible?! This here is the halfbakery. We don't got no "sensible" here... an' we don't need it, neither!" </old-timer>-- neutrinos_shadow, Aug 23 2020 Preventing the incorporation of this idea are the lack of finding a sensible motorcycle, and a shortage of sensible motorcyclists.-- RayfordSteele, Aug 27 2020 //Ignore the silly ideas posted on here.//
Well now, that would leave a hell of a gap...-- blissmiss, Aug 27 2020 I'm sure there's a silent film chase sequence in which a car splits in half lengthways with each half going either side of an obstacle before recombining. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Anyway, with a vehicle made up of two motorbikes, this would be fairly easy to replicate.-- hippo, Aug 27 2020 You see, this idea was so sensible, it has appeared on Pathé Newsreels. I think that is a sure mark of sensibleness.-- pocmloc, Aug 27 2020 Tangentially related to this idea, I would guess at some point someone will make a fully autonomous racing motorcycle and enter it in the Isle of Man TT. The rider would merely have to hold on. However, I suspect that such a motorcycle would remain slower than the best human drivers because of the added stability from an actively balancing driver.-- sninctown, Aug 27 2020 Re: car splitting in half; there's also a very weird movie called "Malcolm" that uses a splitting car. Handle-bars in the glovebox for the "other" driver...-- neutrinos_shadow, Aug 27 2020 Herbie The Love Bug is another one.-- RayfordSteele, Aug 27 2020 random, halfbakery