Scootertechniques enduro racer - Take 2

[drunkmunkey6969]

Brilliant!

Looking forward to the pictures

[soullad]

So.......... i will try and tell all in storybook fashion - apologies if this isn't all about racing but nearly all of it is all about scooters and my friends abroad.

Thursday evening Jaime lets me borrow his S1 and we disappear up into the gods overlooking Barcelona



Then, next morning we drive 2 hours north to Lleida to meet Frankie,one of the other racers, and am greeted by what is known locally as Casa Lambretta - quality !! Sorry bout the photo being sideways folks..



We take the race scoot and meet the other 2 racers, Carlos and Johnnie at a nearby kart track to get some practice in.




But it soon becomes apparent that this track is no where near big enough but more worrying is that we are grounding out the upswept fresco on the right hand side. Drastic measures were needed. Back to Carlos's shop (hes a motorbike mechanic), and scoot on ramp we try to alter the exhaust angle to what you see below with a unique bracket out of 1 inch bar mounted to the top of the usual exhaust mounting studs..... after this pic was taken we also gring off the return lug on the kickstart, take it off the splines and remount it so that it pointed up more vertically, almost aiming at the base of the endcan. This turned out to be a nice move as it gave greater clearance and more leverage for kicking it over - which was a real bitch to do, trust me.



its now 9pm, so packed up, we head for Calafat, some 120 miles away, arrive midnight, sleep.
8am arrive at the track - unbelievable - this shot below is taken from the finish / start line approx half way down the home straight - track length = 3.2 km long - i knew then that this was gonna be no ordinary day.....



the competition consisted of mainly trick Vespas, with i think 3 or 4 other Lambretta teams, inc. one from Portugal.
The other teams looked like they took this enduro racing very seriously with the majority of teams representing large business concerns, shops, distributors etc - with spare engines, machines, lap counters and quick fill systems to boot.
I managed to get a good look at at some of the vespas, most were kitted, large frames with hydraulic discs etc etc...

10.30 came around all too quick and its time for the try outs. Disater struck as one of our riders, Frankie, takes a big fall at the left hand nr the chicane on the back straight. Out came the Red flag and hes off to Hospital later complaing of various ailments inc. ankle, knees, elbows etc. Thankfully it turned out hes OK bar nasty bruising.....not a good start to the day thou. He later told me that he was just being careless and having too much fun.
As for the scoot, its taken a whack, bent handlebars, fuel tank, rear frame, busted fuel tap (that we had to hold on with cable ties), broken seat, and carb dragged thru the run off gravel.......not good.



What we didn't know was whether any other damage had been done, esp re the forks - but we didn't have time to worry as it was midday and time for the le Mans style start.



nervously we waited for Carlos for appear for the first lap to see if everything was OK, and his thumbs meant all was good, and he was securing a top half position....... half hour later and rider 2 (Johnnie) takes over for his first stint.
Then its my first turn and on the back straight it dies.......but kicks back up and revs its nuts off.....its running super super lean.....whats going on.....then i notice the exhaust is practically falling off. The crash must have loosened the studs and i've no choice but to push it approx 1 km to the pits and sort it there.
One 11mm bolt (in exchange for the loan of our spare electronic stator with the portuguese team) and two exhaust nuts later, and 40 mins wasted, we are back on the track. By now we were approx 45th position.
The rest is just a blur of noise and rumble strips, absolutely fantastic fun. The scoot never missed a beat and pulled outta the corners like a train, a real joy to ride compared to my revvy reed valved imola back home. 6pm and its all over........



We had finally finished 2nd in the Lambretta class, behind a water cooled RB22 and approx 30th overall - a fantastic effort considering all that went before - in fact this was like winning to us, great fun with great friends.
The gala dinner (similar to Euro Lambrettas) was a great fitting end to the weekend and what made it even better was the Lammy RB took fastest lap, owned n run by expat Brit Squeaky who could hardly lift his 2 foot trophy!!!!



If anyone is thinking of possibly taking up racing or just needs some track time (think about it - its 6hrs racing time?) then this is unbeatable value at approx 100 euros per team member. No need for doctors notes, medicals, exams, nothing, just turn up, sign yer life away and rag it for 6 hours non stop. Its a real test of man and machine.
The Spanish guys organise a couple a year and i believe the Portuguese run an 8hr one !!!!!
Its surely one of the best weekends in scootering guaranteed.
A big thank you to all my friends abroad .....see you in Gijon 2010.

[Train Driver]

Come on Cezeta we can do this, i already have my winners speech written and can still remember how to pose with a large trophy

[byron]

cool
nice read
looks like fun

[cezeta]

Come on Cezeta we can do this, i already have my winners speech written and can still remember how to pose with a large trophy

i would but i still have a stomach ache from jamies omolet


i did say we would visit and support though......there is just never enough time......manyanas.

[Supereibar]

Come on Cezeta we can do this, i already have my winners speech written and can still remember how to pose with a large trophy

i would but i still have a stomach ache from eating all the food available from Jaime's house


i did say we would visit for lunch (and support) though......there is just never enough time......manyanas.