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Lydden - Twenty Five Years On

On Saturday 30 August 2008, twenty-five years after my last visit I once again returned to Lydden race circuit for the BSSO Scooter Championship held in conjunction with the Vintage Motorcycle Club meeting. The last time at Lydden I had been competing on my Group 6 Special, on this occasion though I am a spectator.

I had left home in Chichester at 7am and arrived just before 9.30am, the weather was looking perfect, sunshine and blue sky, bikes were already on the circuit for their practice sessions. The first thing that struck me was how good the circuit looked and how clearly every part can be seen from almost any position around it. Nice to see that at last some significant investment has been made improving the circuit; the paddock too has been spruced up, tarmac laid in many areas, some additional buildings and a rather more formal ‘holding’ area for bikes waiting to go out onto the circuit with a huge inflatable arch.

Walking around the paddock and looking at the Scooters I was impressed with the presentation of the machines which all looked well prepared and nicely turned out. Once out on the circuit the number of Automatic Scooters became apparent and even more noticeable how quick they were; at one point I stood at the end of the start and finish straight by the left kick watching everyone flying into Chessons, the little machines looked very quick going into there.

Both races were won by Stuart Day and with due respect to all other competitors, only Charlie Edmonds looked likely to make a serious challenge, although from the sound of his machine he may have been suffering from clutch slip in the first race. Closer racing took place in the midfield with several battles taking place, involving machines from different classes.

So what’s changed in 25 years? There is a much more ‘professional’ air about Scooter racing, roller start devices and tyre warmers being two of the most obvious ‘advances’. I think every machine was equipped with an expansion chamber exhaust, electronic ignition and carburettor size has increased with a typical 200cc machine now sporting I believe, a 38mm carb.

There now appears to be more choice in tyres, which I suspect means different tyres being used depending on the conditions. If Stuart Day’s machine is typical then the flywheel has been dispensed with and a small duct fitted for air-cooling, in addition to an outboard hydraulic disc brake.

Compare all this with 25 years ago (I really can’t believe it’s that long). There was really only one way to start your machine and that was to bump start it, although some people did retain a kick-start. As for tyre warmers? Warming your tyres up happened in the first couple of laps. Tyre choice? Well most racers were still finding old Avon’s to put on their racing bike, even though they had been out of production some time; Continental did sponsor the championship for one or two years but withdrew when hardly anyone used their tyres.

Many machines if not most were still running points ignition and on a 200 / 225cc machine it was unusual to see anything larger than a 34mm carb. It does now seem strange that in the early seventies most people were still using gutted large bore exhausts rather than an expansion chamber; especially as all two stroke racing motorcycles of the time used them. This I think was indicative of the very amateur nature of the sport, which is not in any way intended to be a derogatory comment. Indeed it’s this factor that really epitomises the difference between Scooter racing then and now; the absence of special equipment and expensive ignition system, exhaust, clutch, crankshaft, piston etc, provided a level playing field on which anyone could compete competitively for a relatively small outlay.

Progress is inevitable and of course racing naturally promotes this, and so it was good to see the positive elements of that. It would however be disappointing to see the sport become too specialised so that only a few can afford to pay the price of the equipment and parts necessary to be competitive. Is that already happening?

David Hayward