Championship sidecar rig up for auction.

A racing motorcycle and sidecar outfit that became the hero of a motorcycle-racing Cinderella-story in the 1960s will go on the auction block this fall.

The privately built motorcycle and sidecar was ridden to a Sidecar World Championship in 1968 by Helmut Fath and then by Horst Owesle in 1971. It will be auction by Bonhams at the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show in Britain on Oct. 17.

Fath won the world title in 1960 on a privately-owned BMW, but was injured and stayed out of racing for the next few years. When he attempted to get back into the sport, BMW turned him away.

Fath developed his own four-cylinder race engine, named it URS for the village of Ursenbach in Germany where he worked on the engine, and then with sidecar rider Wolfgang Kalauch stormed over the BMW team to win the championship.

Fath was later injured again and retired from racing, but rider Horst Owesle and passenger Peter Rutterford eventually won a second title for the URS rig.

The motorcycle and sidecar are expected to bring about £80,000 ($130,000 Cdn) and will be auctioned beside some other important motorcycles, including a 1977 MV Agusta that was considered the world's fastest production motorcycle when it ran 147 mph for a magazine review.