2022 sees an extra date added to the calendar so there will be three meetings. Already established teams are getting scooters ready and a few brand new teams will be as well. So what’s it like to compete on track with close to 40 other loons? We’ve asked a few of the newer current teams to give us the lowdown. Here’s what they had to say…
Iggy
#32 Team Tuatha De Dannan –
Rider: Steve Hempenstall
Why did you get involved?
Just for fun. It was something I always thought I’d like to try but with the lack of industry or competition activity here (Ireland), access to racing always seemed too expensive and a little out of reach. When the opportunity came up to help Ernie and Paul (Team 12) I jumped at it. Over lockdown interest in the team had grown and it reached a tipping point where we had enough people to enter a fresh new team and split the heavy costs between both. SLUK’s Underdog concept and success also made competing seem more realistic and achievable, which played a part in influencing the final decision to enter a Vespa.
Who else was on the team?
Bofs (Searlas Anderson) and Birdy (Nigel Burnside) from Northern Ireland, myself & Paddy Little, both from the Republic of Ireland. Birdy was the only one of us with any kind of racing experience and although he’d retired years ago, his experience and advice were invaluable.
Why did you choose the PK and why did you Run VMC ?
As above, if Underdog proved anything it was that you could inexpensively build a formidable contender based on the sum of non-utilised parts found scattered around any decent circle of scooter enthusiasts sheds. Ok, we didn’t have a spare SS90 but Gavin (Team 12) had a PK frame which was just as practical as a basis for racing.
I’d already built up a cache of VMC parts for no particular reason. I follow their developments (keep an eye on SLUK for an exclusive VMC feature very soon) and when a new product is launched it is usually generously discounted on introduction so I tend to buy stuff I don’t need at the time but knowing I’ll end up using eventually. That said, their stuff is top-notch and very reasonably priced anyway.
Scrap heap challenge
Add all of that to the piles of junk already languishing in my shed and the jigsaw was almost complete before a penny was even spent. Our engine was pretty basic and cheap, just an optimised VMC GS56 cast iron cylinder kit, a 54/105 crank (leftover from another project), a VMC – KTM type reed block, 26mm PHBH (begged), VMC Tork S exhaust, VMC ignition (borrowed) and a standard single spring 3 plate clutch with a Crimaz multi spring adapter (stolen from another project), the kit and pipe being the only new outlays which came in at just a couple of hundred.
How did it hold up?
It rode, stopped and handled perfectly. Ironically, what I thought could be potential weaknesses were actually our strengths and the things I took for granted let us down. The optimised VMC cast iron top end set up was surprisingly strong and versatile, it exceeded all expectations in power and delivery. The €35 clutch held up great for the entire ten hours of abuse too. After two hours practice, two hours qualifying and two hours into the race we began to lose 3rd gear, deteriorating from the occasional hiccup to violent ‘buckaroo’ quite quickly. It was culpable in the eventual loss of our cooling fan that went unnoticed until it was too late, completely roasting the top end. If it happened to an expensive nicasil cylinder we’d have been out. Thanks to the ingenuity of the entire pit crew we recovered and got back out, gained a few places and finished the race, which felt like a victory in itself. According to the riders it squeezed out a little more power after the rebuild too.
How did you find the event overall?
The event was extremely well organised, and we were made to feel very welcome by everyone, as a complete rookie it wasn’t intimidating in the slightest, quite the contrary. There seemed to be a lot of inter-team camaraderie which created a really nice atmosphere too. Getting out on the track went from being utterly terrifying to totally exhilarating in a very short space of time once you got into the flow and stopped caring about anything else but yourself and the rider in front.
From an organisational perspective one thing we learned quickly is that a team needs proper management. There’s no point in having a reasonably quick scooter and good riders if you don’t have someone with a clipboard and stopwatch shouting at everyone and pulling it all together, so that’ll be an area for improvement. For the scooter, the motor will get ripped down over winter and get a new gearbox. I’ll mess around with the gearing too and change what needs to be changed, it’ll probably get a larger tank but engine-wise it’ll basically be the same spec. I’ll try to get it dynoed and get more pre-race road miles done which I regret not doing because it would have shown potential failure points sooner.
Any advice to anybody thinking of getting a team together.
1: Not only is it the best fun you’ll ever have on two wheels, it’s probably the cheapest 10 hours of track time you’ll get anywhere. If you’re already thinking about it then stop thinking and start working on a plan. You may never get the opportunity to enter a race of this calibre so easily again.
2: Nominate a timekeeper/manager. This job is as critical for saving time as being a fast rider is.
3: Study the regulations and criteria carefully.
4: Don’t be afraid to tell local two-wheeled businesses what you’re doing, they might donate a tyre or two, a box of spark plugs or some 2 stroke but it all adds up.
5: Avoid the kebabs from the chippy near the track where the lady behind the counter looks like Roy Chubby Browne, especially the night before the race.
Team #70 An Independent Idiot’s guide to the British Scooter Endurance Club
Rider: Martin Mcgowan
I’d always wanted to have a go at scooter racing but never had the money. So, when the BSEC started, I was eager to get involved. But with mundane grown-up stuff getting in the way, it still took until this April when the third event at Whilton Mill was live-streamed, that me and fellow idiot Bob McGee decided we had to give it a go. Or rather, I did, and Bob (who’s only really a pretend idiot) went along with it thinking I’d never arrange it or get a scooter that could possibly work for six hours of thrashing sorted. Or get leathers and boots and all the forms arranged. But I did somehow, with hours to spare, and Bob even managed to rope in Jonno Holt (now McHolt) who is even less of an idiot, to step in after another idiot pulled out.
So, Friday dawned, and after a day making our way oop north, getting stuck in traffic jam after traffic jam, we were eventually at the pre-practice briefing. Then 20 minutes later, after ignoring warnings from experienced racers to give the wet track a miss, I was slipping and sliding my tired PX200 around the Teesside track and loving it. But I was also a bit scared. I remembered a song that says ‘do one thing every day that scares you’ so I knew it would be alright. I came into the pits after five laps to find I only had 22psi in the back tyre so I pumped it up and went around a few more times and it felt much better. What a difference 8psi makes. I even overtook a couple of people who were carefully sussing the track out.
What a let down
Later that evening when we were changing MC18s for the brand spanking new MC35s that Roger of TASS had sent up, I found a small nail buried in my back tyre so that explained the loss of pressure. We all had a little drink and spent the evening talking rubbish with all the other friendly racers. Friendly is the word that described the vibe of BSEC. Very friendly and supportive with smiling faces all around. Everyone was very good and we were all in bed by about 11 when me Toni suffered another puncture, this time to our airbed.
Bright and early next morning, after more rain overnight, we all woke up to promising blue skies. And as the excitement and the temperature rose, we had another briefing where we were told not to look over our shoulders except when joining the track, and not to set ourselves on fire. Very, very good advice. McGee and McHolt went out first for a spin on the new rubber and they both seemed pretty surprised that the scooter went so well, which was nice. I had a little razz around as well and it seemed to be idling a bit erratically as I came into the pits. I tried a big handful of throttle to see if it would settle down to an even tickover and instead it revved its arse off and wouldn’t switch off. I stalled it into silence and had a mad ten minutes adjusting the mixture screw that just didn’t feel right, like it might be cross-threaded or maybe not the right one for the carb or something … Anyway we had a spare scooter that my lovely wife Toni volunteered the use of if we needed it (well, sort of!). We knew it would cost us a 20-lap penalty, but we just wanted to enjoy the ride.
Toni quickly got 70A scrutineered after we had turned the van upside down looking for the keys that were, sort of, in my pocket. I made my way to the track as the last call for racers went out and I was very relieved that the scooter was ticking over quite nicely again. I promptly plonked myself right in amongst the riders that had been placed in the top half of the grid much to the amusement (I guess) of some of the proper racers.
Our strategy had been to take it easy, not blow it up and not fall off, which we stuck to pretty well. I did get a bit excited and actually overtook a few of the slower scooters and, at one point the scooter that came second in club class, twice actually! My teammates, Jonno and Bob also stuck to the plan well, and we were all just enjoying ourselves.
My, bright idea, as it turns out, of using the name Independent Idiots Race Team also panned out well. It became a topic of conversation among the brilliant Alpha Live commentating crew, deciding whether it was rude or not to call us idiots. I got quite a bit more screen time than I probably deserved and even got filmed being told off by Keith for failing to dismount when coming in to refuel at one point.
The fast tickover had returned after a couple of rider changes, and if the engine was suffering an air leak it was making it go pretty fast, and I figured that if it blew up we at least wouldn’t have to wait five hours for recovery. It actually did carry on working for another four hours while more and more of the highly-strung race scooters had hissy fits. A few people also had minor spills, one of them happening right next to me when my good friend Simon Purdy got thrown off his Maico. Luckily neither Simon nor any of the others that crashed suffered any serious injuries.
One of the best things for me was seeing BSSO race scooters in full close-up action, while they burnt me up, obviously. It’s a bit daunting as you hear them bearing down on you, but you just keep your line and they do get around you somehow. I did get badly cut up twice, both times by another novice, but I think I managed to ride quite sensibly, as did Bob and Jonno.
My times on track went so fast, and it was impossible to count how many laps I was doing, or even how many times I got lapped by the fast scooters. It was great to find out I’d done a 1.12.421 lap (timing error), even if I really hadn’t, and the best thing about it was Shaun Hodgkin telling me it just wasn‘t possible; anything is possible when you’re an idiot Shaun!
I think we were coming off for pit stops in the same place as everyone else, and from what I’ve seen of the footage, we probably were. But anyway, we just wanted to finish, and to encourage all idiots everywhere to give it a go.
I for one, and Bob and Jonno for three, thoroughly enjoyed racing The Idiot Mobile around for six hours. I highly recommend it to anyone that can get themselves on the grid to give it a go, and even take it a bit more seriously than us, if you’re that way inclined, but you’ll still have fun doing it.
After the trophy presentations, people with a short journey said their goodbyes and the posh people went to nearby hotels, the fun people set up little camps and got a bit pissed. The highlight of the evening was Mungo’s (Team IDK) tomato sauce poem, recited in full.
Brilliant weekend and thanks to Keith and co for such a great event. Roll on April!
P.S. I rode the scooter to work on Monday, in the rain, still with the race tyres on, and the erratic tick over. That was also fun!
#47 McNair Racing
Rider: Lee McNair
I started sprinting and hill-climbing a classic Mini in the year 2000 I then made the leap to circuit racing in 2003 in another modified mini. In 2005 I moved on to a national championship where I got various fastest laps and class wins.
In 2008 I swapped the Mini for a Honda Integra Type R which was a cross between a production touring car and a BTCC car.
My father was a South London mod back in the 1960s and he got back into his scooters. I wanted to spend more time with him so I followed suit as it were. I got to know John Balcomb and Mikey from JB Tuning and went to watch them compete in the BSSO at Lydden Hill and the guys from Casa Performance were there too. I mentioned to John that it looked like fun and he said “Have a go at it”. With the riders and teams in BSSO being top drawer and ferociously fast it was something that I kind of discounted as being older, a bit tubby and having no two-wheeled racing experience.
Fast forward a couple of years and Keith Terry started up the BSEC. Talking to John Balcomb I said that having a go at scooter racing was something that I still liked the idea of as I had not completely got the racing bug out of my system.
A few days later John sent me a link to a Production Class BSSO scooter that had come up for sale. I did a deal and once back home pulled it apart, shipped the engine to JB Tuning for a check over and rebuild. The frame and bodywork went to my good friend Jason Guilbert who had just started his business Finish Line Bodyshop and once back together I had a little run around the industrial estate and loaded it up for racing.
Our first race was Whilton Mill this year, where a good friend Sam Pearson shared the riding duties but my nephew Joseph Robson couldn’t sort a licence in time due to Covid, so Graham Tatton stepped into the breach. As two-wheel novices it was great having Graham in the team as we learned a lot.
Our second meeting was Teesside in September and with the scooter in the same spec we were looking forward to it as we now knew what to expect. Joseph joined us this time but unfortunately we broke a tooth off first gear at the start and before we could decide what to do Darren Scott, Graham Tatton and Barrie Braithwaite from Team DSC stepped in and fitted a new gear cluster in quick time and got us back out racing. The three of us managed to get roughly an hour’s racing in each before we had front brake issues and had to retire.
As each race goes by we are learning more about our riding, the spares we need and what tools we are lacking. As well as what are the weak points on the scoot and how to make them stronger and better. We feel that as well as our riding we can improve our pitstops and rider changes and the scooter is always having little changes and development carried out on it.
Having raced cars for the best part of 20 years and having been involved in the sport for 30 years I have never been in a competitive paddock that has such a nice relaxed atmosphere as in the BSEC one. With teams, riders and even spectators eager to help riders I can only see the racing getting bigger and bigger and I would encourage anyone who is into motorsport, even if scooters are not their first love, to have a go as they will not regret it.
#47 McNair Racing
Rider: Sam Pearson
What made you get involved?
Lee is a long time friend of mine and I fancied getting back into racing but something a bit more fun and accessible than car or bike racing. Being a scooter guy already he saw BSEC and thought it’d be perfect, he just needed other riders to join the fun with him!
What’s your racing background?
18 years ago I was involved in four wheeled club racing and used to mechanic for a former boss of mine but the first time I’d ever ridden a motorbike was two years ago when I did my Direct Access. After passing I didn’t really enjoy riding on the road that much, or the biker scene. I did a couple of track days and it seemed the racing bug never went away. In 2021 I started my rookie season racing a 250 with the British MZ Racing Club but being an ACU licence holder that puts us in the race class, despite all being scooter novices. I’d never even ridden a scooter before the Whilton Mill event 2021!
How did that go?
I crashed Lee’s Lambretta in practice at Whilton Mill (heavy right hand and 2-stroke power band) which caused some stress and made me feel terrible but it was rectified before race day and we learnt what a BSEC event was all about. We’ve been a bit unfortunate with some mechanical issues this year but we hope with a bit more mechanical luck our steady pace will be good enough for a respectable place on the leaderboard next year. Endurance racing seems to find a way of punishing you though and it seems everyone faces challenges, what’s more important is how you deal with these challenges.
How did you choose what to ride? Have you got a scooter background?
That was out of my hands. I have no clue about scooters and I bow to Lee’s knowledge but I’m learning more the longer I spend in the paddock. If someone quotes a model number to me I have no idea what they are on about right now.
Race preparation, what you’ll change/improve for next time etc?
After Teesside we’ve been scraping the exhaust so we need more clearance, especially with my 17 stone on it! We’ve also been a bit savage on the brakes and it appears we might need to upgrade the front calliper. Personally I’ve adapted my riding position to sit less like I’m going to the shops and now have my feet further back and leaning more forward. The next step I need to start moving my weight off the side of the scooter more
Rider: Linda Bedson
Earlier in the year our mate and Euro riding companion of many years, Ian Skinner, wafted the idea of putting a team together for the Teesside 6 Enduro. I was keen on the idea and immediately offered to be pit crew/catering staff… oh says Ian ‘I was thinking you’d be riding!’ My initial reaction of ‘certainly not!’ that soon gave way to ‘oh what the hell, why not?’ See, the thing is – I have always regretted never having a go on the Santa Pod track back in the 90s and the only thing that stopped me then was me! Worried about making a fool of myself in my 20s is not a thing that bothers me now in my 50s! I suppose I hadn’t really considered the more dangerous elements of flinging myself around a racetrack with actual racers!!!
So fast forward to September and Ian had done a superb job of building up the race scooter over the summer, once we’d received confirmation we could participate. In fact, so good that I was more nervous about dropping the bike and scratching it than hurting myself in the event of an off (who am I kidding – I was bricking it in case I came off and hurt myself lol!)
Friday the 10th of September and there we were #88 Team JetSet – Ian, husband Mark and me squeezing ourselves into eBay purchased leathers and heading round to scrutineering in prep for the Friday practice session.
A squadron of scooters
I went out first and as the track was fairly quiet I enjoyed getting the feel of the bike and went into my second lap. Following the back straight, coming round the long sweeping bend and into the double hairpin – I glanced left to see a squadron of bikes tearing up behind me – I bottled it and headed straight back to the pits thinking ‘what the hell was I doing??’ Lol!
The adrenaline was definitely pumping and I felt like I was grinning from ear to ear and that was just a practice.
There were a few adjustments to make to the scooter before morning but to be honest I didn’t get involved, I’m not that technically adept with a Lambretta – I just like to ride them and occasionally break them!
Saturday morning and back out on the track for practice and timings to determine start position. All three of us were novices so the agreed plan for the day was to have fun, stay upright, stay safe and complete the 6 hours intact.
We had no pit crew or helping hands, it was just us! We decided to do an equal split of the riding with Mark taking the first 30 minutes, me second and Ian third. This meant we shared the six hours with 4 half-hour stints each.
The riding itself was fairly uneventful thankfully. I was pleased to actually catch the exhaust a few times on cornering and whilst there was certainly no ‘knee down’ moments I did feel I gained confidence as the laps built up.
I’ve had days in my scooting life where I’ve covered 300+ miles in a day’s riding to get to places like Oban. I’ve also had numerous mile-munching days across Europe to various Euro Lambretta destinations but never with a pack of adrenaline-fuelled racers constantly bearing down on me. This was certainly a different experience in the name of ‘endurance.’
I found the weekend a thrilling yet exhausting experience and I’m pleased to have been able to take part.
Would I do it again? Never say never but probably not, I’m more of a tourer than a racer. I’m pleased to have come away unscathed and whilst we made some headway from a starting position of 34 to finishing overall in 24th I’ve no desire to risk life and limb to better it. I’ll leave that to the racers out there.
Rider: Stuart Hannay
Team: Nick Odell (mechanic/rider) Billy Simmons (mechanic/rider) Stuart Hannay (catering/dogsbody/rider of sorts)
The team’s name is a rehash of a (now defunct) scooter club from Stratford Upon Avon (circa late seventies/early eighties). Billy and Nick were planning to do the 10-hour endurance at Magny-Cours when BSEC’s first race was announced in 2019. They decided to get some experience and entered as a team of four, (with Bruce Mac and Adrian Melson) and finished the race in 21st place after a couple of minor crashes in the wet.
Teesside 2020
Then Covid struck and the Magny-Cours plan went out of the window, but they were eager to do Teesside 2020. In the pub one night, Billy asked me if I fancied doing the next race, and drunkenly I agreed and then promptly forgot all about it. Three weeks before the race Billy reminded me, and I had a rather fraught time desperately trying to buy second-hand leathers and boots on eBay. I had been off the road a while and when I tried to get a replacement visor for my helmet, I was told they had stopped manufacturing them years ago! So, I got a new lid and I was hot to trot. In truth, the race scared the living daylights out of me. I hadn’t ridden a Lambretta for 12 years, and I hadn’t ridden anything for over a year, (that’s marriage for you). Now here I was on the fastest scooter I had ever been on, and utterly out of my depth. On my first practice lap I managed to stall on the hairpin! Things weren’t looking promising, but after a while, I got into the swing of it again and put in some blisteringly bang average lap times. The race itself had a few nasty crashes and after a long red flag, (over an hour) I was glad when my stint was over. We were inside the top 20, when we ran out of fuel with five minutes to go, we ended the race in 20th. I was elated, but unsure I wanted to continue.
Fast forward to Whilton Mill 2021 and I find myself inside a dead cow again. As nervous as I was, I wasn’t going to miss it. I haven’t ridden for six months, which is a marked improvement on last time! The track was tighter and twistier than Teesside and lacked the long straight which suited me just fine. For the first time I really started to enjoy myself on track, and I knew various people in other teams, so it almost had a scooter rally feel to it. Initially, the race went well, and if we had been in the ‘Whilton 3 hours 40’ we would have won our group, instead, we crashed, and both our quickest rider and scooter were broken. Game over, blast!
Teesside 2021
So then to Teesside 2021. We have a much-improved paddock area and a bit more experience, (I haven’t ridden since Whilton but watch endless YouTube footage as research instead). As it was being live-streamed, we decided that we wanted to plug our friend Dixie’s book. He has brain cancer and has written a book of poems, musings, hopes and fears with proceeds going to Brain Cancer Research. He is a lifelong scooterist, so plugging his book in the race seemed the perfect setting. Alpha Live Timing were great and really went the extra mile, (thanks chaps).
We had a cunning plan, start from the back! We figured 36 other bikes haring into the first bend would turn into an almighty bun fight, almost certainly ending in a spectacular pile up. We would do the tortoise and hare routine. Fortunately for all concerned, the race started without incident, but we now had a lot of work to do. As it was Nick’s bike, he always does the first shift. He had a race licence in the 80s, (that’s why we are in Road Class) and by the time he had finished his first stint we were inside the top 20. Billy was up next and really upped the ante, when he jumped off the scooter an hour later, we were up to 10th.
All good things must come to an end, and so it was with Team 8, it was my turn. I’m still the slowest of the three of us, but I gradually managed a bit of consistency, (treacle probably: thick and slow). I also had a few wake-up calls when I ground the exhaust out when cornering, but the terror I felt in 2020 had gone. When my spot was over, amazingly we were still 10th but this was mainly due to other teams having technical issues. The rest of the race carried on in this vein, but it was becoming apparent that the London Lambretta Club were gaining on us fast. Could we hold on to second in our class, and gain our first ever trophy? A game of cat and mouse was afoot over the last half hour, we were feeling levels of nerves not felt since the World Cup penalty shootout. With a few minutes to go, disaster! The L.L.C (No.4) had caught and overtaken us, third, it is then. Wait, no! It appears that both teams are reading the screen incorrectly and both riders are now on the same lap. All Billy needs to do now is see it home and don’t do anything daft. Oh, the elation at crossing the line! So, after 4 races we had finally got our first podium. We were 2nd in Road Class and 10th overall. I called my family, (who don’t really like me racing) and told them to stop worrying, then back at the paddock we crack open a beer and celebrate.
The atmosphere and camaraderie amongst all the teams is amazing. It genuinely feels like a little community. Rival teams help each other and friendly banter, parts, food & beer is shared too. Keith and the team have created something special here and it’s growing fast. The last two races being streamed on YouTube has been an absolute game-changer. If you are reading this and thinking, ‘I fancy a bit of that’, then you probably should go and do it. Come in, the water’s lovely!
Rider: Flea
Other riding bembers: Ten foot Timmy, Flea, Spoke, Bigun, Prospect Doink (chief engineer and cock hat wearer)
Bike: Lambretta Vega 135 with a 4 speed J 125 box, Casa clutch, Doinkmaster 3000 disc brake, Doinkmaster Performance B1 exhaust system, home-made ignition with Scootronics bits and pickup.
Bigun had been rambling on about endurance /wacky racing type events for a few years with the idea of getting backing from a rich benefactor (Rob Skipsey) to run an LD in one of these events. Various rules and regs meant it would be too slow so we settled on the next stupidest looking bike – the Lambretta Vega.
The 1st race at Whilton mill we had the bike completed at 8 o’clock the night before the race, took Bember 1 (as our bike has been named) up and down the street to check he worked and took him racing that night. We managed to strip the cylinder head in practice but after fixing him completed the race – we are scooter boys, we don’t run bikes in. 23rd out of 33 in this race according to the official results although we thought it was 33rd – stats don’t lie!!
· Find 4th gear
· Make Ten foot Timmy 3 foot shorter so he’s faster
· Win a trophy instead of stealing one
· Run a full race with no breakdowns
16th April: Whilton Mill
16th July: Teesside
10th September: Teesside
The British Scooter Endurance Club will also be at the Newark Show on January 8th-9th 2022 so pop over and speak to Keith and the team if you’re going.
Live coverage
If you missed the coverage, want to watch again, or are new to endurance and want to know what to expect you can catch up on the Alpha Timing footage from Whilton Mill and Teesside 2021 on the videos below.
Find out more
British Scooter Endurance Racing is open to pretty much any geared scooter, and to any rider with either a road or race licence. If you want to find out more about the rules and regulations you can visit the BSEC website, or ask on their friendly Facebook page.
Brilliant write up and can’t wait till I have a crack at it next year