SLUK rookie George Fielder joins SRP RaceTech | FEATURE

SLUK Rookie, 15-year-old schoolboy racer, George Fielder is back for his second season of BSSO racing.

For this year, he’s not only swapped to a Lambretta but he’s bagged himself an ex-Stuart Day Group Four SRP RaceTech bike!

Preparation for the 2025 season

After a great end to the season, riding Andy Walker’s Group 4e Lambretta (pictured above) it seemed to change my path towards the next season. Having taken a liking to the Lambretta I’d borrowed at Lydden, I started building my own.

I’d been given two sets of engine casings and I went and bought myself a few other things, like an Indian gearbox and a few other bottom-end bits. However, I was coming to the realisation that it wasn’t possible for me to build a fresh track-ready scooter in time for the second BSSO round at Lydden Hill in April.

Various chats with Andy Walker and my father, Rob Fielder, at Team George Scooters on the few Saturdays we had left, led me to believe we would be rebuilding the Vespa PK in order to race the upcoming season. Loading the van for the Mammoth Parts Fair a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea what would happen within the next 24 hours…

Cheek gets results

As the day went on, selling as many bits as I could to try and fund the upcoming season, I bumped into Paul Baker of SRP RaceTech. After asking for various tips on building the Lambretta, the question pops up: “Have you got anything he can ride for the year then, Paul?” Paul replies, “I might have just the thing for you back at the workshop”. A few days later, we made contact online, which resulted in Paul having a motor which I could borrow for the season, although he didn’t have a scooter to put it in.

Things get even better

I may not have a frame, but with an engine confirmed for the year, it made me feel a ton better, and my dream of racing a Lambretta became closer to reality. A day or so later, we made contact with Paul again about the plans for the upcoming season, and he mentioned that he might have just the scooter for me to put the motor in… Stuart Day’s Group 4 championship-winning scooter.

One careful owner

About a week went by after announcing my official joining of SRP Race Tech it was all systems go! The next Saturday, we went to Paul’s workshop and got on with building the scooter. Paul had already put the motor in the existing frame for me. It just needed a few cables and all the fairings putting back on, and it would be ready to race. Stuart Day had brought this scooter out a few months previously at Lydden Hill, which was absolutely soaking wet, so the clean-up was rather tough.

SRP RaceTech’s Paul Baker left, with seasoned racer Bob West – legends of track and paddock

Once the cables had been fitted, we bumped it into life and got it on the Dyno. Once it was all up and running, we went on to reinstall all the fairings after my dad had stripped the old stickers off them.

The voice of experience

Bob West goes down to help Paul on a Saturday down at SRP, so he came down whilst we were there. He showed me the ways of removing and replacing the front wheels in case of punctures or if I needed a different tyre compound, depending on the weather conditions. After finding a minor crack in the exhaust, Bob went round to the back of the workshop and welded it up for me. He then showed me how to take it on and off. Experience is definitely the key to racing scooters, so I made sure I was paying full attention.

Get it in the van

It then got dark and it was time to go home, so we loaded her in the van and took her home. A few things still needed to be done on the scooter, like my number boards and a few trims,

We got home, and with no time to spare, I got the scooter out of the van and proceeded to look at my number boards. Learning from my mum, as she has her own sticker maker, she made it look easy as pie when installing the stickers with my dad. As soon as they got the base for the number boards on the bike, I got to fitting the trim all over the scooter to finish off the looks. With everything done now, all I need to do is put a set of numbers on to go racing.

Thanks

A massive thanks to Paul Baker and Bob West for showing me the ins and outs and giving me loads of tips and tricks to make things easier when working on the Lambretta. They are very nice people, and I couldn’t recommend them enough.

Also, a big thanks goes to Andy Walker for helping me throughout the off-season and starting me off with the dream of racing a Lambretta. Last but not least, my dad runs TeamGeorge Scooters, which gives me a workshop to work in and the use of all his tools along the way.

Here’s to another great year and Production Class here I come… The first meeting for me will be at Lydden Hill in April. You can find the full BSSO calendar dates here. 

George Fielder