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 A Day at the Races |
Dear Jim’ll fix it…please can you fix it for me to thrash a load of brand new scooters around a race track for the day, dressed as a Power ranger? Iggy aged 32 Manchester...
Ah well, Jimmy Saville may not be making the dreams of children come true anymore but Moore Large, U.K. importers of the Malaguti and Sym range of scooters, certainly know how to keep 40 grown men happy! The kindhearted management decided to splash out on a track day for their dealers, at Derbyshire’s Darley Moor race track…and the fools invited us along too!
The day started for us early birds with complimentary drinks and a nice bacon butty in the sunshine. The Moore Large staff were busy unloading the shiny new scooters from the back of the lorry. Meanwhile, sales manager Steve Oliver was on his way from Manchester Airport with two freshly revamped Sym scooters in the van; the new models had been flown in from Taiwan only hours earlier. I was hoping one of the new Malaguti F18’s was going to make its debut for the track day but unfortunately it wasn’t ready in time, damn! |
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As more dealers arrived, it was time to sign on at race control and listen to the safety briefing. We were told to ride safely and not to race…if you put kids in a candy shop then they’re gonna eat sweets I reckon! Darley Moor is situated on an old World War Two airfield; the track is 1.5 miles long, quite flat and has some nice bends and a couple of long straights, ideal for the scooters. So with the track marshals and ambulances in position it was time for us to play...
Moped Mayhem
All the current models in the Sym and Malaguti range were lined up ready for us to abuse, so we had about thirteen scooters to play with. By this time, Sticky had arrived so we both decided to start off gently by taking two 50’s out for the first ten minute session. Sticky opted for the F15 Firefox whilst I went for the brand new nicely re-styled Jet 50. Half way around the first lap, it became apparent that Sticky’s moped was quicker than mine but I tried in vain to catch him up. After a few laps, the chequered flag was out to signal the end of our first session. The next group of riders went out whilst we queued up for another go, we were like excited kids waiting for a go on the dodgems at a fun fair! The ten minutes seemed to pass much slower than it did whilst we were racing, err I mean testing scooters sensibly! We decided that it was time for us to move up to the 100cc class for our second race. I chose the Malaguti F10 whilst my race rival went for the Jet 100. I was held up by the over zealous track manager on the start line because my helmet sticker, which allowed me onto the track, had dropped off. This allowed Sticky an early advantage! After this session, I decided to get my leathers on. It was all getting a bit too serious for wearing jeans and trainers!
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Go, Go Power Rangers
I’ve not worn my old red and white bike leathers for a few years, so as I strode confidently back into the paddock, I still thought they looked cool…although my lanky comrade seemed to find them highly amusing! After a moment or two of careful consideration, I decided to keep the leathers on; at least I might get noticed! We moved onto the 125cc’s now and I chose one of my favourites, the Sym Euro MX, which I had recently tested for the magazine. I felt right at home again on the Euro. Sticky opted for the 16” wheeled Ciak. This race was more fun as we duelled with some of the fast lads from Northern cars in Keighley.
Bring out the Gimp
Sticky decided it was time to put his leathers on as well, having already worn a hole in the knee of his cordura trousers! Suddenly I didn’t feel self conscious anymore, the gangly one looked much worse than me in his well worn, tight, black, leather gimp suit. The last time I saw anything look as shocking as him was whilst watching Pulp Fiction!
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Thirteen Scooters, Unlucky for Some
Whilst waiting for our next session to begin, I asked the gimp’s advice on how to take the top hairpin properly. I went out onto the track on the Joyride 125 whilst Sticky tried out the Phantom F12. After a couple of laps, I flew through the esses at speed and readied myself for the top hairpin. As the apex to the corner came into view, a cloud of dust rose into the air. The dust settled and I saw Sticky wrestling with the Phantom. He fought to regain control of the machine and it suddenly high sided and spat him into the gravel trap. I’m sorry to admit this but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I passed by, if only he’d listened to his own advice he’d have perfected the corner himself! Luckily the only injury was a dented pride and a broken mirror. Unfortunately, due to the accident, the session was ‘red flagged’ so we returned to the pits.
Excuses, Excuses
The organisers decided it was a good time to have a break, before somebody got broken (one of the dealers crashed on the same session and hurt his thumb). We did the post crash analysis and concluded that several factors caused the accident…the scooter had a slow rear puncture which was over inflated to compensate this caused the exhaust to scrape on the tarmac which lifted the back end and threw the gimp off…or maybe the wrong kind of leaves on the track, a sudden drop in track temperature and finally my favourite explanation was a lanky journalist showing off!
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Excuses, Excuses
The organisers decided it was a good time to have a break, before somebody got broken (one of the dealers crashed on the same session and hurt his thumb). We did the post crash analysis and concluded that several factors caused the accident…the scooter had a slow rear puncture which was over inflated to compensate this caused the exhaust to scrape on the tarmac which lifted the back end and threw the gimp off…or maybe the wrong kind of leaves on the track, a sudden drop in track temperature and finally my favourite explanation was a lanky journalist showing off!
After a break for lunch, quite a few of the dealers had gone home which left the remaining twenty or so of us to get extra time on the track. Having sampled every scooter in the range, I decided to do ‘the scooter taste challenge’. The idea was to jump on any available scooter and just ride it without looking to see what model it was. I had a good duel with a couple of lads on 100cc scoots, swapping positions on the corners, they left me a bit on the straights but I closed right in again on the brakes. As the session ended, I got off the scooter and was amazed to see it was a 50cc Firefox F15. I was convinced that I’d been riding a larger capacity machine, obviously it was de-restricted but if I was a sixteen year old looking to buy a nice scooter this would have been my choice, I’d be interested to see how it would perform with a kit fitted. The handling, brakes and engine were all superb, not to mention the sporty styling. The afternoon soon passed by. After every ten minute session ended, I pulled into the pits, passed the scooter to anybody that was waiting and went straight back out on something else, great fun.
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Race Results
Before I knew it, we were into the last hour of track time and I loved every minute of it. One of the Keighley lads was ‘black flagged’ for grass tracking on the Madison 400. The big tourer was struggling a bit with ground clearance on the track but apart from that, the afternoon passed without further incident. For the last half hour I went out on my three favourite scooters of the day, in reverse order…the Ciak; although I’m not a big fan of large wheeled scooters, the Ciak was a lot of fun to ride, handled really well and was quick on the track. In second place was the Joyride 125, basically because as the name suggests it’s a joy to ride! It was very smooth and fast around the circuit. And finally in pole position, you may be as surprised as I was to find a 50cc, yes it’s the Firefox. It was capable of keeping up with larger capacity machines through the corners, it looked great with its recent facelift and I’m sure I would have a good laugh on it in town, if only I was sixteen again...
The day seemed to be a great success; it gave the dealers a chance to really test the product that they sell. I’m sure for many of them it’s the only chance they really get to have a proper ride on a scooter and it must help them if they know how a particular machine handles a good thrashing. After all, it’s much easier to sell a product that you know is up to the job. It’s a shame more importers don’t put on a similar type of event. I decided it must be time to go home when I realised the track was closed; they almost had to drag me away! Thanks to Moore Large for making a little boys dream come true!
Used by kind permission of:
Ian Grainger 'Iggy'
Freelance Journalist and photographer |
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