Birtele wheelies his Parmakit smallfame between two corners chasing Casa Lambretta’s Fuschini.
Combining a scooter rally with a race meeting is not a new concept.
Disc ’85 at Donington Park was probably the biggest, but the same format has been used for the NSRA’s Santa Pod sprint weekenders and also the Stoneheads SC’s Run & Race events in Germany.
This time it was time for the party to move to Italy and the Pomposa kart circuit on the Adriatic coast between Venice and Rimini.
Handling the rally side of things was Italian national association Scooterists Italia Reuniti (S.I.R), while the racing would fall under the remit of the multi-national European Scooter Challenge (ESC) organisation, ably assisted by Rimini Lambretta Centre, Casa Lambretta and Parmakit.
Wet wet wet
The rally had a split-personality, with the daytime events at the kart circuit and all the night-time entertainment and accommodation being housed in the nearby Florenz holiday park on the seaside. Think ‘Woolacoombe with racing’ and you aren’t far off.
As a first event, nobody knew what to expect. In Italy the racing and rally scenes have even less cross-over than Britain, so this was very much an experiment.
An experiment that looked very much like it might go badly wrong on Friday when all of Northern Italy seemed to get a good dose of thunder-storms. For those racers who’d turned up early for the free practice day on Friday it meant lots of track time but very little learnt. Wet kart circuits have about the same grip coefficient as Teflon-coated banana skins.
Max had his scooter stolen on Friday but the paddock looked after him.
The British contingent was smaller than hoped, but with the final championship round taking place the next weekend at Cadwell Park it’s little surprise that few felt like risking machines, injury or so much cash on this event. The other unspoken risk for the Brits was humiliation. All the BSSO scooters are set up for high speeds and long tracks which require greater stability, different gearing and suspension setting and less in the way of physical fitness than a kart circuit. Everyone knew that the chances of beating the ESC boys in the Italian racers backyard was a virtual impossibility, but at least a few had the balls to give it a go.
Sat in the thunderstorm on Friday’s serpentine ice-rink I’m sure that looked like a bad idea.
The same can probably be said for all the Italian scooterists who endured Friday’s downpours and arrived soaked at the seaside, but at least by 6pm it all started to dry out.
Friday evening’s entertainment began with a 10 Euro pizza and pasta buffet (including 2 drinks) at the beachfront campsite restaurant. It then continued as a traditional scooterist do in the hall on the site. If the BSSO contingent weren’t going to win prizes on the track several at least kept the Union flag flying in the niter, far longer than was sensible if you had a race the following day.
With the luck of the Irish, Saturday arrived as a blue-sky day. After a croissant and coffee breakfast (included) on the seafront the rally-going scooterists slowly made their way to the circuit.
On the track the classes were massively simplified from the usual ESC programme and the Brits were allowed to join wherever they felt comfortable. Besides the usual northern European ESC competitors, R&R also brought over teams from Greece for a real pan-European track party.
In terms of spectacle the racing didn’t disappoint. With the circuit now dry and warmed by the sun, the grip level was only just short of ‘Velcro’.
Finger-trailing nutter
It’s too much to go through every class and race but stand-out moments included:
- Seeing the ESC smallframe K5 ‘production class’ for the first time, running on cheap Polini iron kits and exhausts and 19mm carbs. These scooters aren’t much over 12hp but they go as fast around the corners as they do on the straights with a talented rider on board.
- Watching the largeframe Vespa riders battle it out and in particular the guy on the Pinasco P-range who could manage to drag a gloved hand on the track on both sides of the scooter. Who says you can’t race a PX!
- Witnessing Parmakit’s smallframe racer Paolo Birtele chasing down Fuschini in every race. He would wheelie onto the straight while still leant over and then proceed to ride on one wheel through every gear down the straight. The man is a lunatic.
- Seeing Casa Lambretta team’s Luca Fuschini effortlessly dominate the top class races ahead of a charging Birtele, breaking his own personal lap record and then performing a rolling burnout to celebrate.
- Enjoying the way Max from Munich was looked after at the presentations. He’s had his race smallframe stolen out of his camper van in a nearby supermarket car park on Friday. A hat was passed around in the paddock to gather some money for him. Additionally he was awarded a new Parmakit race kit by the organisers which probably helped ease the pain of the theft.
Beautiful Falc-powered carbon fibre smallframe
For the Brits it was a predictable baptism of fire. Nobody had their scooter geared correctly for the track – most only using one or two lower gears – nor did they have enough experience on tracks that are hairpin after hairpin, but they all still seemed to have a good time. Kart circuit racing is really physical and tiring and the leading Italians are half the age of some of the more venerable Brits.
Perhaps a fairer international Run and Race get-together would be at a mid-sized track like Lydden in Kent. People are looking into the possibility…
Off-circuit the atmosphere in the paddock was cooler than penguin bollocks. A tomping sound system greeted rally-goers with some very cool DJing playing outside the usual rally favourites. This is Italy. Among the stalls of scooter parts and race teams are scooter clubs with local salami, cheese and wine to try.
The good weather almost doubled the numbers from Friday and while at first no scooterists seemed in a rush to leave the beach, now they seemed just as reluctant to leave the paddock where they were surrounded by a perfect ambiance of custom scooters, sizzling sounds and aperitifs.
The evening didn’t go quite as smoothly to be honest. What was billed as the included ‘Gala Dinner’ in the campsite restaurant for the 550 attendees was perhaps one of the worst meals I’ve ever encountered in Italy; both cold and tasteless. So bad in fact, that I ordered a pizza at the bar; which was delicious.
Outside, on the campsite’s basketball courts a massive stage and sound-system had been set-up for The Beat to headline. The band cancelled at the last minute leaving it to DJs to entertain the crowd on volume setting 11 through a perfectly clear PA. The crowd that is, and anyone within a 2km radius. All were treated to some excellent choons whether they liked it or not. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those on the next-door campsite did not like it and the police arrived at 2am to suddenly pull the plug. It took some time to restart proceedings in the dinner hall, by which time the moment had passed.
Outdoor knees-up interrupted for the traditional Italian trophy presentations
None of this affected my enjoyment at all. As a first crack at this sort of event in Italy it did show potential for the future. Some of the details need tweaking to make sure all the promises made are fulfilled (headline band and ‘gala’ dinner specifically) but I can’t complain about an end of season weekend of sun, sea, sand, soul and scooters with racing thrown in as a bonus?
If Friday’s thunderstorms had lasted into Saturday though, it might have been a very different story…
Words & pictures: Sticky
Additional photos and gallery by Lee Hollick
Sticky’s Gallery
Lee Hollick Gallery
Combining a scooter rally with a race meeting is not a new concept.
Disc ’85 at Donington Park was probably the biggest, but the same format has been used for the NSRA’s Santa Pod sprint weekenders and also the Stoneheads SC’s Run & Race events in Germany.
This time it was time for the party to move to Italy and the Pomposa kart circuit on the Adriatic coast between Venice and Rimini.
Handling the rally side of things was Italian national association Scooterists Italia Reuniti (S.I.R), while the racing would fall under the remit of the multi-national European Scooter Challenge (ESC) organisation, ably assisted by Rimini Lambretta Centre, Casa Lambretta and Parmakit.
The rally had a split-personality, with the daytime events at the kart circuit and all the night-time entertainment and accommodation being housed in the nearby Florenz holiday park on the seaside. Think ‘Woolacoombe with racing’ and you aren’t far off.
As a first event, nobody knew what to expect. In Italy the racing and rally scenes have even less cross-over than Britain, so this was very much an experiment.
An experiment that looked very much like it might go badly wrong on Friday when all of Northern Italy seemed to get a good dose of thunder-storms. For those racers who’d turned up early for the free practice day on Friday it meant lots of track time but very little learnt. Wet kart circuits have about the same grip coefficient as Teflon-coated banana skins.
The British contingent was smaller than hoped, but with the final championship round taking place the next weekend at Cadwell Park it’s little surprise that few felt like risking machines, injury or so much cash on this event. The other unspoken risk for the Brits was humiliation. All the BSSO scooters are set up for high speeds and long tracks which require greater stability, different gearing and suspension setting and less in the way of physical fitness than a kart circuit. Everyone knew that the chances of beating the ESC boys in the Italian racers backyard was a virtual impossibility, but at least a few had the balls to give it a go.
Sat in the thunderstorm on Friday’s serpentine ice-rink I’m sure that looked like a bad idea.
The same can probably be said for all the Italian scooterists who endured Friday’s downpours and arrived soaked at the seaside, but at least by 6pm it all started to dry out.
Friday evening’s entertainment began with a 10 Euro pizza and pasta buffet (including 2 drinks) at the beachfront campsite restaurant. It then continued as a traditional scooterist do in the hall on the site. If the BSSO contingent weren’t going to win prizes on the track several at least kept the Union flag flying in the niter, far longer than was sensible if you had a race the following day.
With the luck of the Irish, Saturday arrived as a blue-sky day. After a croissant and coffee breakfast (included) on the seafront the rally-going scooterists slowly made their way to the circuit.
On the track the classes were massively simplified from the usual ESC programme and the Brits were allowed to join wherever they felt comfortable. Besides the usual northern European ESC competitors, R&R also brought over teams from Greece for a real pan-European track party.
In terms of spectacle the racing didn’t disappoint. With the circuit now dry and warmed by the sun, the grip level was only just short of ‘Velcro’.
It’s too much to go through every class and race but stand-out moments included:
- Seeing the ESC smallframe K5 ‘production class’ for the first time, running on cheap Polini iron kits and exhausts and 19mm carbs. These scooters aren’t much over 12hp but they go as fast around the corners as they do on the straights with a talented rider on board.
- Watching the largeframe Vespa riders battle it out and in particular the guy on the Pinasco P-range who could manage to drag a gloved hand on the track on both sides of the scooter. Who says you can’t race a PX!
- Witnessing Parmakit’s smallframe racer Paolo Birtele chasing down Fuschini in every race. He would wheelie onto the straight while still leant over and then proceed to ride on one wheel through every gear down the straight. The man is a lunatic.
- Seeing Casa Lambretta team’s Luca Fuschini effortlessly dominate the top class races ahead of a charging Birtele, breaking his own personal lap record and then performing a rolling burnout to celebrate.
- Enjoying the way Max from Munich was looked after at the presentations. He’s had his race smallframe stolen out of his camper van in a nearby supermarket car park on Friday. A hat was passed around in the paddock to gather some money for him. Additionally he was awarded a new Parmakit race kit by the organisers which probably helped ease the pain of the theft.
For the Brits it was a predictable baptism of fire. Nobody had their scooter geared correctly for the track – most only using one or two lower gears – nor did they have enough experience on tracks that are hairpin after hairpin, but they all still seemed to have a good time. Kart circuit racing is really physical and tiring and the leading Italians are half the age of some of the more venerable Brits.
Perhaps a fairer international Run and Race get-together would be at a mid-sized track like Lydden in Kent. People are looking into the possibility…
Off-circuit the atmosphere in the paddock was cooler than penguin bollocks. A tomping sound system greeted rally-goers with some very cool DJing playing outside the usual rally favourites. This is Italy. Among the stalls of scooter parts and race teams are scooter clubs with local salami, cheese and wine to try.
The good weather almost doubled the numbers from Friday and while at first no scooterists seemed in a rush to leave the beach, now they seemed just as reluctant to leave the paddock where they were surrounded by a perfect ambiance of custom scooters, sizzling sounds and aperitifs.
The evening didn’t go quite as smoothly to be honest. What was billed as the included ‘Gala Dinner’ in the campsite restaurant for the 550 attendees was perhaps one of the worst meals I’ve ever encountered in Italy; both cold and tasteless. So bad in fact, that I ordered a pizza at the bar; which was delicious.
Outside, on the campsite’s basketball courts a massive stage and sound-system had been set-up for The Beat to headline. The band cancelled at the last minute leaving it to DJs to entertain the crowd on volume setting 11 through a perfectly clear PA. The crowd that is, and anyone within a 2km radius. All were treated to some excellent choons whether they liked it or not. Perhaps unsurprisingly, those on the next-door campsite did not like it and the police arrived at 2am to suddenly pull the plug. It took some time to restart proceedings in the dinner hall, by which time the moment had passed.
None of this affected my enjoyment at all. As a first crack at this sort of event in Italy it did show potential for the future. Some of the details need tweaking to make sure all the promises made are fulfilled (headline band and ‘gala’ dinner specifically) but I can’t complain about an end of season weekend of sun, sea, sand, soul and scooters with racing thrown in as a bonus?
If Friday’s thunderstorms had lasted into Saturday though, it might have been a very different story…
Words & pictures: Sticky
Additional photos and gallery by Lee Hollick
Sticky’s Gallery
Lee Hollick Gallery
The wife and I did this event midway through an epic 3500m adventure via Vienna, Budapest and like a few others added a short stay in Venice to the agenda. Having never been to a race event before we didn’t know what to expect however loved it, we’ll definately look at attending some UK ones next year and will go back to Italy if they do a similar event in the future.
For us the atmosphere amongst the spectators, various clubs who were keen to offer their stickers, food and wine and were so welcoming it made such a welcome change from the norm!
Personally we made some new friends, saw some amazing skills on the circuit and got to speak with some of the dealers who I spend so much if my hard earned with despite how busy they clearly were – like Sticky says it wasn’t perfect but thoroughly enjoyable (just so glad the rain cleared or it would have been a very different tail).