You want different National Rally venues and you got them. Veteran rallygoer and scooter magazine stalwart Bill Mac rides from the West Country in the rain to bring you this SLUKin’ fine rally report.
On Friday the 21st of July the BSRA National Scooter Rally at the north-western Welsh seaside town of Llandudno kicked off amidst some of the wettest weather for years.
I hadn’t been to Llandudno for years. The last time I had been there was in the desolate mid-nineties for an NSRA rally. I had also been a few times before that for some of the end of season VFM North West Rallies organised by Kev Lowe and Johnny Bolland. One of my funniest memories was watching Johnny’s entire Stall (now Crusader Promotions) literally take off in the high winds, fly across the site and crash onto the main road… I am sorry but it was funny and I told Johnny no one ever saw his shirts move so fast (the AA stand also flew across the road and through the windscreen of a passing car). Anyway in those days Llandudno appeared a bit run down but in 2017 it appeared to have enjoyed a make-over and it seems to be on the up again.
Lland of fairytales
The town grew up in the 1860’s and was designed specifically as a tourist town to attract new money by Lord Mostyn, whose family have owned most of the lands around the area for over 600 hundred years. In fact they still do to this day. Llandudno’s other claim to fame is it was the summer home for the family of Alice Liddell, who Lewis Carroll turned into Alice in Wonderland for his books, but let’s get back up to date…
Filtered not instant
I left Exmouth about lunchtime on Friday after my wife finished work and I knew it was around 300 miles to get there and it was going to rain most of the way. The heavens opened just after I hit the M5 and it was pretty torrential. I’ve gotta admit I did consider my nice car and as I knew we were in a B&B on the outskirts of town. Nobody need ever know… but I carried on (Mad as a Hatter). Another problem was to be traffic, as this was the first day of the summer holidays and as the AA predicted the roads were chockka. I spent hours filtering and barely even got a few miles of open road and that is a drag. You’ve got to be on your game, most car drivers are ok and some will even move over and give you extra room. However, every so often you meet a wanker who will either change lane with no indications, or deliberately move across to block you. It gets tiring, especially if you’re two up and you’re both soaked. Then, distracted I missed my intended petrol stop and whilst overtaking a lorry on the M5 approaching Brum (on a ‘Managed Motorway’ stretch with the hard shoulder being used as a normal lane) I ran out of Petrol!
Shit, shit, shit but we survived and made it to the side, upsetting a few truckers along the way. Luckily I have a 2-litre plastic tank in my toolbox so we were soon off again.
150 miles to a tank
I should mention I was two up, fully loaded on my Scomadi 200 and this was about 150 miles in, not bad on a tank. There was no respite in the conditions, even when I headed up the M54 and then A5, it was just so wet and I was drenched and the traffic was still shit. It was 7.45pm when we got to our Llandudno guesthouse, soaked to the skin after 6.5 hours of riding, with most of it at filtering speed…. I badly needed a strong drink.
VFM do
We got changed into dry clothes and then hopped in a taxi into the town centre and after checking into the Venue Cymru which was on the front and was the main venue for the weekend we then found a Wetherspoons pub and grabbed some hot food and drinks. We spent the next few hours bumping into old friends and new swapping funny tales about our travels and old gossip and new. About tennish we headed back up to the VFM HQ at the Venue Cymru and there was more hugging and story swapping. I just missed the Marquis Drive Group who played upstairs but I was told they played a good set. Downstairs was the soul room and another bar and by 11pm both upstairs and down were pratty rammed and they soon ran out of vodka…sorry but I did say I needed a drink.
Down on the farm
The next day dawned and I woke up in the correct bed, in the correct guesthouse so that was a bonus and the wife was still talking to me so that was another. Getting dressed we headed back into town. Years ago I was informed the events had occurred at the Aberconwy Centre with the campsite and dealers pitch beside on a patch of grass on the seafront. In those days you couldn’t drink on Sundays in Wales (or dance in some parts) but everything has changed now. Everything had been redeveloped now, the old site and centre both gone. The campsite was now at Bodofan Farm, much further along the front but it had a bar, restaurant and toilets, in 1995 there was nothing but a patch of waste ground with an old rundown pub at the side, now also redeveloped into a fancy wine bar and flats..
Parts & custom
The Venue Cymru Centre, which had been built since those early days had amongst other things a large hall which was being used for the traders during the rally. Naturally we headed in there as my wife badly needed some new gloves for our return trip. It was £3 to get in and this also gave you access to the bar and music in the soul room. We enjoyed meeting up with old friends and new as we looked at all the goodies on display. Immediately outside the venue was the ridden custom show, which I took too much interest in and when I said I would need a list of the winners it was suggested I should help pick them. So I was press-ganged into judging along with Martin from Colchester, we both struggled to pick the winners as there were some cracking scooters on display, but eventually we did and the results are at the bottom.
Seaside parking
Also the guys had organised free parking for scooters on the seafront opposite the venue and as this filled up it looked very impressive indeed. A lot of cracking scooters there, a few of which could have been parked up in the custom show but their owners were not into that. There was a number of modded up Modena scooters and LN Lambrettas, as well as the usual Vespa, Lambrettas and auto GTS’, Runners, Dragsters and a growing number of Scomadis. Later we headed into town to get a bite to eat and have a few drinks before heading back to our digs to get changed and ready for the nights festivities.
Thanks
That evening upstairs in the Venue Cymru, Brassneck were playing, whilst downstairs was the soul room and we all had a blast. I have to say I really enjoyed the rally and Steve, Daz and all the guys and gals who worked the doors, did tickets manned the carpark and helped out should be congratulated. They all get a lot of grief and it is easy to forget that but for their efforts our scene would be nothing. I often forget but let me say thanks and well done I will see ya next time.
Thankfully the weather was better on the way back and I thrashed my scooter all the way home, which meant two things. Firstly, I got back in just over five hours… and I ran out of petrol again on the M5. This time heading back, two-up loaded at full tilt into the wind I ran out of fuel at just over 130 miles. Note to self, when the last bar on the gauge starts flashing at 100 miles assume 120 is your safe average limit… but hey it was fun.
Words and photos: Bill Mac, additional photos, Col
Rallery by Bill Mac
Col’s Rallery
SLUK Shop – scooter products by scooter riders, for scooterists…
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SLUK Support ‘Sprint’ | Lambretta S3/ Scomadi
Rated 5.00 out of 5 £39.00
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SLUK Support ‘Curved’ | Lambretta S1 & S2
Rated 5.00 out of 5 £39.00
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SLUK Support | VESPA GTS GTV
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SLUK Support | VESPA GTS GTV Classic Rack
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SLUK Support SIP | VESPA GTS GTV
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Custom show results
- Best of Show Beatles Vespa PX
- Best Lambretta Scum
- Best Vespa A classic vintage Vespa GT (EAW939L)
- Best Auto Sandertune based on a GP
- Best Chop/Cutdown Black Widow Lambretta GP skelly
- Best Custom Paint M&M’s Lambretta
- Best Engineering Lower Class radical Vespa flip back PX
- Best Classic/Vintage Lambretta Model D ridden by a little hairy guy
- Best Plating/engraving The Beatles
- Best Street Racer Monster Energy Vespa PX
- Best Mural Living on The Breadline
- Best Oddity Skelly with a large Piaggio engine, very odd
You want different National Rally venues and you got them. Veteran rallygoer and scooter magazine stalwart Bill Mac rides from the West Country in the rain to bring you this SLUKin’ fine rally report.
On Friday the 21st of July the BSRA National Scooter Rally at the north-western Welsh seaside town of Llandudno kicked off amidst some of the wettest weather for years.
I hadn’t been to Llandudno for years. The last time I had been there was in the desolate mid-nineties for an NSRA rally. I had also been a few times before that for some of the end of season VFM North West Rallies organised by Kev Lowe and Johnny Bolland. One of my funniest memories was watching Johnny’s entire Stall (now Crusader Promotions) literally take off in the high winds, fly across the site and crash onto the main road… I am sorry but it was funny and I told Johnny no one ever saw his shirts move so fast (the AA stand also flew across the road and through the windscreen of a passing car). Anyway in those days Llandudno appeared a bit run down but in 2017 it appeared to have enjoyed a make-over and it seems to be on the up again.
Lland of fairytales
The town grew up in the 1860’s and was designed specifically as a tourist town to attract new money by Lord Mostyn, whose family have owned most of the lands around the area for over 600 hundred years. In fact they still do to this day. Llandudno’s other claim to fame is it was the summer home for the family of Alice Liddell, who Lewis Carroll turned into Alice in Wonderland for his books, but let’s get back up to date…
Filtered not instant
I left Exmouth about lunchtime on Friday after my wife finished work and I knew it was around 300 miles to get there and it was going to rain most of the way. The heavens opened just after I hit the M5 and it was pretty torrential. I’ve gotta admit I did consider my nice car and as I knew we were in a B&B on the outskirts of town. Nobody need ever know… but I carried on (Mad as a Hatter). Another problem was to be traffic, as this was the first day of the summer holidays and as the AA predicted the roads were chockka. I spent hours filtering and barely even got a few miles of open road and that is a drag. You’ve got to be on your game, most car drivers are ok and some will even move over and give you extra room. However, every so often you meet a wanker who will either change lane with no indications, or deliberately move across to block you. It gets tiring, especially if you’re two up and you’re both soaked. Then, distracted I missed my intended petrol stop and whilst overtaking a lorry on the M5 approaching Brum (on a ‘Managed Motorway’ stretch with the hard shoulder being used as a normal lane) I ran out of Petrol!
Shit, shit, shit but we survived and made it to the side, upsetting a few truckers along the way. Luckily I have a 2-litre plastic tank in my toolbox so we were soon off again.
150 miles to a tank
I should mention I was two up, fully loaded on my Scomadi 200 and this was about 150 miles in, not bad on a tank. There was no respite in the conditions, even when I headed up the M54 and then A5, it was just so wet and I was drenched and the traffic was still shit. It was 7.45pm when we got to our Llandudno guesthouse, soaked to the skin after 6.5 hours of riding, with most of it at filtering speed…. I badly needed a strong drink.
VFM do
We got changed into dry clothes and then hopped in a taxi into the town centre and after checking into the Venue Cymru which was on the front and was the main venue for the weekend we then found a Wetherspoons pub and grabbed some hot food and drinks. We spent the next few hours bumping into old friends and new swapping funny tales about our travels and old gossip and new. About tennish we headed back up to the VFM HQ at the Venue Cymru and there was more hugging and story swapping. I just missed the Marquis Drive Group who played upstairs but I was told they played a good set. Downstairs was the soul room and another bar and by 11pm both upstairs and down were pratty rammed and they soon ran out of vodka…sorry but I did say I needed a drink.
Down on the farm
The next day dawned and I woke up in the correct bed, in the correct guesthouse so that was a bonus and the wife was still talking to me so that was another. Getting dressed we headed back into town. Years ago I was informed the events had occurred at the Aberconwy Centre with the campsite and dealers pitch beside on a patch of grass on the seafront. In those days you couldn’t drink on Sundays in Wales (or dance in some parts) but everything has changed now. Everything had been redeveloped now, the old site and centre both gone. The campsite was now at Bodofan Farm, much further along the front but it had a bar, restaurant and toilets, in 1995 there was nothing but a patch of waste ground with an old rundown pub at the side, now also redeveloped into a fancy wine bar and flats..
Parts & custom
The Venue Cymru Centre, which had been built since those early days had amongst other things a large hall which was being used for the traders during the rally. Naturally we headed in there as my wife badly needed some new gloves for our return trip. It was £3 to get in and this also gave you access to the bar and music in the soul room. We enjoyed meeting up with old friends and new as we looked at all the goodies on display. Immediately outside the venue was the ridden custom show, which I took too much interest in and when I said I would need a list of the winners it was suggested I should help pick them. So I was press-ganged into judging along with Martin from Colchester, we both struggled to pick the winners as there were some cracking scooters on display, but eventually we did and the results are at the bottom.
Seaside parking
Also the guys had organised free parking for scooters on the seafront opposite the venue and as this filled up it looked very impressive indeed. A lot of cracking scooters there, a few of which could have been parked up in the custom show but their owners were not into that. There was a number of modded up Modena scooters and LN Lambrettas, as well as the usual Vespa, Lambrettas and auto GTS’, Runners, Dragsters and a growing number of Scomadis. Later we headed into town to get a bite to eat and have a few drinks before heading back to our digs to get changed and ready for the nights festivities.
Thanks
That evening upstairs in the Venue Cymru, Brassneck were playing, whilst downstairs was the soul room and we all had a blast. I have to say I really enjoyed the rally and Steve, Daz and all the guys and gals who worked the doors, did tickets manned the carpark and helped out should be congratulated. They all get a lot of grief and it is easy to forget that but for their efforts our scene would be nothing. I often forget but let me say thanks and well done I will see ya next time.
Thankfully the weather was better on the way back and I thrashed my scooter all the way home, which meant two things. Firstly, I got back in just over five hours… and I ran out of petrol again on the M5. This time heading back, two-up loaded at full tilt into the wind I ran out of fuel at just over 130 miles. Note to self, when the last bar on the gauge starts flashing at 100 miles assume 120 is your safe average limit… but hey it was fun.
Words and photos: Bill Mac, additional photos, Col
Rallery by Bill Mac
Col’s Rallery
SLUK Shop – scooter products by scooter riders, for scooterists…
Custom show results
- Best of Show Beatles Vespa PX
- Best Lambretta Scum
- Best Vespa A classic vintage Vespa GT (EAW939L)
- Best Auto Sandertune based on a GP
- Best Chop/Cutdown Black Widow Lambretta GP skelly
- Best Custom Paint M&M’s Lambretta
- Best Engineering Lower Class radical Vespa flip back PX
- Best Classic/Vintage Lambretta Model D ridden by a little hairy guy
- Best Plating/engraving The Beatles
- Best Street Racer Monster Energy Vespa PX
- Best Mural Living on The Breadline
- Best Oddity Skelly with a large Piaggio engine, very odd
I have to agree with the comments on the Llandudno rally ,the weather going up was like being in a washing machine and the closest I’ve been to giving up and returning home but that’s what scootering is all about, it’s just so harder as you get older; the gloves gave up as did the waterproofs and water even got into the carb ,the mallossi sponge filter fell off but it still got me there and to the custom show (Assassins Creed )Lammy auto ,the doos and Llandudno were great and like many like minded scooterist I chewed the fat and danced the dance and will be back when I get new gloves,waterproofs,filter etc.regards tomo NDSC.
ok i’ll put me hands up to it it was me that ran the bar out of vodka,i know it was because my pocket was about £60 lighter by midnight them trebles were deadly.Was a good stagger back to the digs from what i recall as well.