Approx 70 or so motorcycles of all shapes, sizes and ages were entered into the Oliver’s Mount Race Circuit Hillclimb on Sunday 8th October. Vintage bikes, classic bikes, modern sports bikes and a few supermoto/motocross bikes thrown in for good measure make for a good spectacle!
But those of us with good taste really turned up to cheer on the four Lambretta riders competing. They were all flying the flag and helping to promote the ‘Scooters on the Mount’ side of the hillclimb events.
The competitors race up part of Scarborough’s legendary Oliver’s Mount road race circuit. It is an anticlockwise track, which is very rare in racing. The bit the hillclimb sprint uses, starts in the area normally used for the pits and finishes at the top of the main hill – the highest point on the track.
The riders go up one at a time with a 30 second or so delay, which makes for constant flowing action. The bikes go in category order – classic, then modern and in different capacity limits too.
SLUK were invited to be the first magazine to actually road test a running 242cc Lambretta engine built around Richard Taylor’s Gran Turismo Intercontinental engine casing.
This first engine has the following spec:
- GT200 single exhaust port kit bored to 70.5mm with AF Wossner piston
- GT crankshaft, 62mm stroke 110mm rod
- Readspeed 5-plate clutch
- LI gearbox 17×47 sprockets
- Indian ignition with Kheper V3 programmable CDI
- Franspeed race exhaust
- 30mm PHBH DellOrto
All this has been built into a production GT Intercontinental casing by Eden Bakewell for use in his abused-like-a-ginger-stepchild GP.
Apart from a dodgy gear selector and overly hard double engine mounts, the engine produces horsepower in the high-20s, but since the GT casing has standard stud spacing it will take any kit designed for the Lambretta 200 engine.
The chief advantage of the GT casing over its upgrade rivals is that you can still fit Lambretta components, so it’s a no-brainer if you just want to build a stronger engine around tuning components that you already own. I certainly wouldn’t waste my time with an SIL casing at this stage. Eden’s engine was fitted with a normal Lambretta mag-housing and side casing and a GT Lambretta Crankshaft. Many of the rival casings can only be used with crankshafts with wider webs chosen in order to eliminate known weaknesses of the original Lambretta design. That said, Richard’s casing design is highly adaptable and he expects to be able to machine it to take a 72mm stroke Honda CR250 crank at a later date.
Considering both the engine casing and cylinder kit are the design of a British one-man-band, you have to be impressed that the project has actually got this far. I should quantify one-man-band a little: Richard has been producing Lambretta parts since the late ’90s, starting with the highly respected GT186 kit.
We spoke to Richard for news on the latest developments. Currently he is producing only one version of the casing, which is to take Lambretta cranks with standard width and diameter; though there is a ‘trench’ cut in to permit the fitment of many aftermarket 62mm cranks without modification. Shortly Richard will also offer a ‘plus’ version of the casing which is opened out to accept the larger diameter web cranks currently offered by Harry Barlow and LTH.
By the end of August production will start on the 4th batch of 25 cases and with these Richard plans to offer his own steel gearbox endplate. This is based on the original design and is interchangeable with the standard Italian type. Richard figures that making his own endplate, as well as parts like the hub bearing retainer and shim, will make it easier for engine builders because they’ll have a known source of quality new parts to match. The current batch of bare GT cases are priced at around £620 but the end-plate is likely to increase the cost by at least £50.
Richard’s next plans are to produce the following:
- A matched side casing with an increased gasket face height in order to accommodate bigger clutches.
- A dedicated GT mag housing
- A GT clutch
- A high-strength GT gearbox
Further down the line Richard plans to produce long-stroke Intercontinental cylinder kits aimed not at the highest-performance market, but at producing a tractor-like 330cc touring engine, but one step at a time.
We at SLUK have consistently been first to bring you the news about the ‘new school’ engine casings, including this exclusive of the first GT casing coming out of its sand mould. If you want the latest info first, keep SLUKing.
Sticky
Can I see the floor through a hole in the casing in the transfer area?
I was just looking in to say the same lol might run bit lean lol
Logging in not looking
well spotted 😉