2012 - Returning to the track!

Last week saw most of the BSSO 2012 riders at Mallory Park for the Official pre-season test day.

I arrived myself all full of optimism and parked up next to my old mate Matthew Gooch who was out to play on his Street Class Jet 200.

It was great to see all the riders and catch up with a few for a chat.  Some new faces this year as always and a few notable absences!  With the riders meeting over it was a quick check over and fuel the bike then onto track.

Initially felt somewhat rusty as I have sold my road bike and the rebuild of a Jet200 has come to a stop, so I''d not ridden a scooter at all in 5 1/2 months so first lap out felt well odd !  I took my time but the scooter felt nicely quick down the straights so felt OK.


After about 4 laps though I really started to feel the pain from my broken ribs. ( result of a snowboarding accident a couple of weeks earlier!  )  It seems that whilst the ribs were up to mountain biking they sure as hell weren't up to the braking forces into Edwinas and the hairpin!

I was pretty glad to be honest when the first session was over as it was pretty painful!  I dosed myself up with painkillers and checked the bike over, and all too soon it was back out on track again!   The sessions were coming round really quick.  After lunch I did just one more session before admitting defeat to the pain as it was making me feel pretty ill and certainly unconfident!  The last thing I needed was a spill and further injury!

In the last session the exhaust note had changed and inspection revealed that a mounting had come loose and also the muffler was breaking up.  There was also some oil appearing under the engine from the mag housing that was so troublesome last year! A quick patch up and I let Matt go out to do 3-4 laps to see how he enjoyed a modern race scooter.  He came back with a grin !

This week the engine was stripped and checked - the excess oil had been caused by an oilseal failure so I was glad to have found it before any damage was done.!

A new seal was fitted and the mag housing bearing re-greased and all cleaned up.

A new Gianelli muffler has now been fitted too, the old one is probably repairable though and can be relegated to spare.  The new muffler is carbon and has a different design end can to the last one.  i doubt theres any performance difference but they do look nice.  If they are good enough for Charlie Edmonds then I am sure they will do for me!


This week sees the first round of the 2012 Championship when we visit the Croft Circuit in the north east for the first time in a few years at the invite of the NEMCRC.

The Lambretta Club GB have been supporting the meeting and we're expecting good numbers of spectators!

I will be doing up on pain killers, but Mallory had definitely put me very much backwards with my recovery for the broken ribs and have been in much pain again since!  I shall just have to dose up on the painkillers for the weekend I think!

No pit crew this weekend.... :-(