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- Polished wheels are irresistible bling
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- T.S.A.B supports the rear wheel to prevent the casing from snapping
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- Front panel is modified Piaggio NRG
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- Muffler exit is cool if nothing else
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- ‘Phoon forks will do
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- Big carb and fluid catch tank
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- Radiator sits low and flat
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- Rear bodywork consists of modified Typhoon panels
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- Ferrari red
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- Low-rider position helps launch without wheelies
Automatic scooter sprinting was big in the UK at one time, with Scooter Shootout events supported by a dedicated championship called X-race. The series followed the traditional UK/US format of racing over the quarter-mile. That’s a much longer distance than most European sprints, requiring completely different tuning and set-up. With exit speeds exceeding 100mph the gearing is longer, the clutch action must be different and aerodynamics far more important.
Just because the championship has gone, it doesn’t mean that the interest has waned. Far from it.
Young scooterists are still interested in bettering the UK records and times set by fast automatic machines in Italy and Greece. 28-year-old Adam Chaplin from Watford is one of this new breed of twist-and-go tarmac terrorists.
Adam’s first taste of sprinting was with a home-tuned Gilera Runner 172 in 2011. This achieved a top speed of 87mph and covered the quarter mile in 14.6 seconds. There are plenty of road-going scooterists who’ve spent serious money on their machines but still wouldn’t be capable of beating that result.
On an auto at lower performance levels then nearly every improvement comes from a machine alteration. Riding technique has little bearing when you can just open the throttle and crouch, but as the performance raises so does the skill level required. If you are technically-minded then the sprint track is a good place to learn about set-up because every jetting or tyre pressure change gives a quantifiable result on the track.
Going faster is addictive though, as Adam explains:
‘Next I asked PSN Scooters to build me a race engine for my new bike; the Typhoon. They did and it ran 14.0 seconds after a hard life on the road. I put a new crank and piston in it and returned to the sprints. To my surprise, the conrod decided it was going to let go half way down the drag strip which pretty much ended that engine.’
Addictive and expensive…
The next stage was to go to one of his friends who was just getting into 2-stroke tuning; obviously with some degree of talent because again Adam reduced his times, now achieving 12.7 seconds in the Typhoon chassis but struggling to better that level after a full season. Sadly the friend was now too busy to continue with the project, leaving Adam once more looking for a tuner.
Next port of call was Darrell Taylor of Taylor Tuning. Darrell, who is now well-known in the classic scooter tuning world, was actually tuning small capacity bikes and automatic scooters long before he worked on a Lambretta. Darrell prepared the current ported Malossi kit and the results are impressive.
The engine is actually based on the water-cooled crankcase of a Gilera Runner 125 fitted with a heavily-tuned Malossi 172 kit mated to a 55mm-stroke Top Racing crankshaft and a re-worked PM Tuning centre-plug head. The engine sucks through a Keihin PWK35 fitted with VIK bellmouth and via a V-force reedblock intended for the KX85 motocross bike. The transmission is all-important for automatic sprinting but the set-up is quite simple. Adam uses a Malossi variator, belt and up-gear kit.
Adam’s performance has now crossed the limit where automatic sprinting suddenly becomes a skill sport. Now he’s at a level where traction, weight distribution and balance are delicate factors in order to crack a good time. In a normal chassis all his new engine wanted to do was wheelie or ‘chuck him off the back’ .
This sprinter is based around the extended chassis of a 2001 Piaggio Typhoon with remnant off-cuts of original scooter bodywork used to streamline what is a very long and low machine. Keeping the weight low and forward helps to reduce the tendency to wheelie but next the issue will be to counter wheel-spin.
At Santa Pod it was clear that Adam was flying, setting a personal best quarter-mile time of 12.1 seconds with an exit speed of 102mph. That’s not very far from the times of PM Tuning and TDR Scooters who have both hit times of 11.9 seconds. At this level, those next few tenths of a second get frustratingly harder and harder to slice off but I reckon there’s room for Adam to achieve his goal of beating the British record even without resorting to nitrous oxide. SLUK will be keeping a close eye on his progress…
Words and images: Sticky
Video filming: Sam Round
If you have an interesting scooter that you’d like seen first on SLUK, please get in touch. Talented scooter photographers and videographers also sought.
Specifications
Name: Adam Chaplin
Town: Watford
Model: Piaggio Typhoon / Gilera Runner
Year: 2001
Engine details: flowed and machined Gilera Runner 125 cases, ported Malossi 172 bore with re worked PM Tuning center fire head, Top Racing 55mm crank, Malossi variator and belt, Malossi gears, HPI ignition, PM 59 exhaust, KX85 V-force reedblock, Keihin PWK 35mm with VIK Tuning bellmouth
Top Speed: 103mph 1/4 mile
Best Time: 12.1 seconds
Power: 38.44 bhp
Fabrication: custom Typhoon frame has been extended by 1 foot and lowered all round. It has a Gilera Runner radiator mounted underneath, custom rear panel made from two Piaggio Typhoon panels and a nice bit of fibreglass. The front is a customised NRG panel which has been also fibreglassed (all chassis work done by myself)
Accessories: Stage 6 rev and temp gauges, quick-action throttle
Coatings and finishes: Ferrari red panels, black chassis, polished side casing, T.S.A.B and wheels
Thanks to: Vik Tuning, Taylor Tuning, PSN scooters and everyone who has supported me over the last few years racing.
-
- Polished wheels are irresistible bling
-
- T.S.A.B supports the rear wheel to prevent the casing from snapping
-
- Front panel is modified Piaggio NRG
-
- Muffler exit is cool if nothing else
-
- 'Phoon forks will do
-
- Big carb and fluid catch tank
-
- Radiator sits low and flat
-
- Rear bodywork consists of modified Typhoon panels
-
- Ferrari red
-
- Low-rider position helps launch without wheelies
Nice to see the lad doing well. That’s one fast scooter. Nearly 40bhp. Triumph’s Bonneville when first sold in the UK was 40bhp. .
It’s encouraging that he’s up for the challenge. It’d be good if this spurred a bit more competition too…