BSSO Rookie’s report – Round 3: East Fortune

Leaving home at 14:30 with ‘John the Greek’ Ioannis on board it was a steady 5-hour journey north, arriving at the circuit just in time to help set up the team gazebo.

Once camp was set up we were off on the customary track walk. It might seem a strange thing to do but, as I’ve learnt, it gives your brain time to absorb the information about the track at walking speed. This is a great help as you can see how wide the track is and discuss what gear you’ll be in and where to brake. As a newbie, it’s best not to ask Ioannis though as he will just say ‘flat out’, although, as we approached the hairpin he did say “Hmm maybe here you brake, a little!” All in all the track seemed good, plenty of room and a good surface all the way around.

Saturday morning came and it was time to get up and get the scoot and riding gear signed off at scrutineering. All went well and it’s always a pleasure to see Phil York’s smiling face and the words of encouragement he sends you away with.

The programme for the day was practice sessions in Stock Scooters followed by Super Scooters then two races in each class. I was entered into both classes on the Vespa PK Malossi 132 as it can run as Grp 5 in the Super Scooter Class as well as Production Class in the Stock Races. More track time to get used to it and of course more fun.

Practice sessions went without incident, I was slow in places but I knew where I was too slow and what I needed to do to get faster.
My first laps in practice being around the 1:40’s those being 10 seconds off where I needed to be.

As we got the call for the 1st Production Race I tried to bump the scooter only to find it was a no goer. Still plagued with fuelling issues due to a tank full of crap where the painter had filled it full of dust, unbeknown to anyone until it showed itself on the carb filter. I had already fitted an in line filter at Mallory but this was now like one of the glass bottles you get in the IOW from Alum bay full of coloured sand.

Super Scooters

Everything stripped cleaned and put together, it was all systems go for race 1 on the Super Scooters grid. All went well apart from rolling off going into the Esses with the voice in my head saying ‘No, it’s flat out! Dave the boss told me he could see me doing it and that even though it sounds wrong the scooter will turn tighter under full throttle, so I decided that was the next target. Lap times were in the 1:37’s.

Second races in both grids all went well and I got the hang of the Esses, tipping in and hanging off and enjoyed them both. Massive improvement in lap times, down into the 1:33’s. So the target was set for 1:30 for Sunday’s races.

Northern hospitality

Saturday night was spent with all gathered around the DSC Racing team hospitality suite with enough BBQed meat to sink a battleship. They know how to put on an evening in the paddock and it was the usual mix of stories from the day and the days gone by.

There was also the pleasant surprise of a trophy from the weekend sponsors of the scooter racing – the Lambretta Club of Scotland for best prepared Vespa.

I did manage a 1:32, which was an overall 8-second improvement on where I started and my confidence improved no end.

At the end of Sunday all I could think was ‘I can’t wait for Anglesey, why is it 4 weeks away…?’ So it must have been a good weekend.