BSRA #7 ISLE OF WIGHT NATIONAL SCOOTER RALLY 2022 | RALLERY

August bank holiday weekend 2022 has been and gone already. It’s frightening to think that a full calendar year of scooter events has now passed since we got the go ahead to meet in large numbers again after the dreaded pandemic and its restrictions.

The Sandown Airport official Isle of Wight scooter rally campsite was even busier by early Thursday afternoon than it was at the same time last year. Although some riders had taken the enforced decision to go to the island a day early because of the threat of industrial strike action at Southampton’s Red Funnel ferry terminal.

The largest attended rally of the year has a knack of stretching out a Bank Holiday weekend into nearly a week away from home for some rally goers. Thursday evenings early arrivals were entertained in one of the large aircraft hangers on the site, christened the “Soul Hanger.” DJs played regular rally tunes to an excitable bunch of scooterists until late.

However, as the evening went on, the utterly tragic news that a German scooterist had died in a fatal accident just outside the campsite left everybody completely subdued. The reality of just how fragile life can be really kicked in on Friday morning with people talking of nothing more than the previous night’s tragedy. “R.I.P Mattias”

The onsite dealer’s village, with bars and food vendors area, looked bigger and busier than last year’s event. But because this is only the second rally at this new venue, it’s hard to gauge numbers overall compared to previous I.O.W rallies. The island rally attracts more spare parts stalls than any other rally by some margin. It was also good to see SIP Scootershop supporting the UK scene too.

The fact that the campsite is based at an airfield, means there is always going to be a lot of airborne activity overhead. A constant stream of helicopter pleasure flights taking scooterists on joyrides above the island were taking off and landing in the field adjacent to the camping area. But when an 11-ton military Chinook helicopter hovered over the campsite doing a short acrobatic display the tents directly below its flight path were shaken – some completely flattened with the downdraft much to the amusement of some of us.

As the campsite filled up throughout Friday most scooterists seemed to stay on site, but a fair number of people made use of the coaches making constant return journeys into Sandown, or further along to the town of Ryde. In the main marquee Friday night’s headlining band were The Specials LTD, a 9-piece band playing all of The Specials greatest hits from the late 70s to the very early 80s. Northern soul fans were kept happy in the ‘Soul Hanger’ and from midnight until 2am all musical tastes were catered for at the Silent Disco.

Custom show

Saturday’s on site custom show in the main marquee is always bursting with entrants and very well attended by spectators. This year’s was no exception either. I often wish custom shows were held outdoors in proper sunlight to show the paintwork to full effect and to give these scooters the display space they deserve. But then rally organisers have to factor in for the UK’s weather not behaving!

Lots of regular show entrants were on display, including a healthy amount of chopped and cutdown scooters, but my personal favourite scooters in the show were two Vespas owned by club mates Mark and Big Mark from Surrey. One a green smallframe the other a blue “P” range both looking absolutely superb in differing old school style metalflake paint jobs with helmets sprayed to match the scooters. These two extremely talented scooterists did their own very intricate paintjobs. Full custom show entrants and results can be seen in the Rallery.

Thrash it

The campsite and traders area remained busy all day long with riders coming and going, or campers just chilling around tents in the very warm late August afternoon sunshine. Ska covers duo Double Barrel blasted out music to entertain all those in the dealer’s village area. Grantham’s JG Scooters went down a storm with their mobile Dyno last year and so they were back to give out more of the same tuning advice, set ups and banter as scooters screamed out once more on their Dyno.

Party goers heading off for the night on the coaches seemed split between the towns of Sandown and Ryde, but those that stayed on site, saw great live performances from 60s garage, surf beat band Senior Class followed by The Style Councillors – the only tribute to The Style Council – all rounded off with more silent disco fun for the 2am brigade.

For many, a final night beckoned in the Soul Hanger at the airport with DJs playing more rally favourites until the late hours. Over the weekend, and across the island, all number of night-time discos take place, but my little review here on ScooterLab purely relates to the officially organised events, and to me this rally was simply No7 of 9 on the BSRA 2022 calendar. Albeit an extremely good rally.

Thanks, and respect go to all of you that support the rally, but also a massive thank you to everyone that put on hi-viz clothing to organise and steward the whole event, especially Tori Stevens and family. Without all of you genuine scooter riding folk this rally would grind to a complete halt or not take place at all.

Sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mattias Klabis R.I.P fellow scooterist.

Ride safely SLUKers Col
Photos: Booga, Col and Shaun Hodgkin