Harris left school at 15 having been informed by the headmaster that he would ‘amount to nothing’, and he began working in the family garage and taxi business, which gave him access to engines of all types.

With plenty of time to practice on bikes both with and without engines, it became apparent that due to a problem with one of his legs, Pip could not control a solo machine so his father purchased a wicker sidecar from the milkman and attached it to a pre war Grindlay Peerless.

1955 saw a change to Matchless and finally in 1958, partly due to lack of works support from Norton, Pip moved to long stroke BMW engines.

At the time these machines were extremely expensive and he bought his first one as a half–share with Jack Beeton, another well-known and successful British sidecar racer.

[5] Harris, with others, assisted in the development of Reynolds tube leading link forks for sidecar racing, a design still used to this day.