The 80s decade of scootering was ‘lively’ to say the very least and rallies were very well attended. The picture above was taken on Sunday afternoon at DISC ’85. Imagine a Sunday that busy now?
I suppose that when a rally was organised right in the middle of that period and situated geographically in the centre of the country, it was always going to be a big event.
Iggy’s schoolmate, Willy, standing beside a Vespa PX he couldn’t yet ride – 40 years later, he still rides one…
Influential
If DISC ’85 wasn’t the biggest ever UK scooter rally, it was certainly the biggest one that wasn’t on a Bank Holiday weekend, or at the seaside. It was also one of the most influential events for hordes of young scooterists.
Technically, DISC wasn’t even in the 1985 list of National Rallies. It fell a fortnight either side of the Great Yarmouth and Dunbar rallies.
1985 Nationals Rallies
- Morecambe: 5th-8th April
- Clacton: 3rd-6th May
- Great Yarmouth: 24th-27th May
- Dunbar: 21st-23rd June
- Exmouth: 5th-7th July
- Colwyn Bay: 2nd-4th August
- Isle of Wight: 23rd-26th August
- Weston Super Mare: 13th-15th September
- Redcar: 4th-6th October
School outing
In the photo above, that’s a 14-year-old Iggy (far left) stuffing his face with a traditional rally dogburger. He’s stood with a few school friends; they’d hired a 53-seater coach and filled it with young mods and scooter boys. Their parents wouldn’t let them go for the full weekend, so they had to make do with just Sunday. Undeterred, their outing gave them a taste of what was to come and the rest is history…
Mud and mayhem
Prompted by a random text from me, Iggy posted about the 40th anniversary of DISC ’85 on the SLUK Facebook page on the anniversary date, and I’ve really enjoyed reading people’s memories of the rally in the comments. You can read them by clicking the link above but feel free to scroll to the bottom of this page and leave your own comment about DISC ’85.
I too vividly remember the rain and the mud, but thinking back, it’s the enormity of the event that blows me away the most.
DISC ’85 offered a campsite at one of the country’s most famous venues where we could watch scooter racing and the twisty sprint time trial. The main building housed possibly the largest custom show ever seen at a rally at that point, and two of the most popular scooterist live bands of the time – Bad Manners and The Meteors, not forgetting The Gents of course!
Custom show
Held in the Exhibition Hall at Donington, the custom show attracted many of the big names and custom scooters of the time.
Take a look through the entry list, and you’ll still spot quite a few familiar names who are still active today. The official entry list was boosted by lots of ‘on-the-day entrants.’
Len’s Scooters of Shipley had painted a dealer special P-Range Vespa to honour the event
Factory involvement
Vespa UK had financially invested heavily in the rally and even had a brand New PK 125 ETS, with other cash prizes, as a raffle prize.
I also remember seeing an Armando’s P-Range Vespa being raffled off.
The dealers’ stalls had masses of tuning goodies for sale, especially for the ever-present smallframe Vespas of the day.
Accessories
Yankee seats, Driver screens, and baffleless Pitones seemed to be hanging off every other dealer’s stall aimed at P-Range riders.
No aluminium kits
An abundance of Snetterton seats and Fresco exhausts could be found, aimed at the Lambretta riders. This was all at a time before the legendary TS1 kit was available, and the Vespa T5 was still one summer away from arriving in the UK.
Loud ‘n Proud
I rode to the rally on my SX Lambretta. It was a real bitsa of a scooter, with odd panel work and running an AF stage 4 175cc engine fitted with a square slide 27mm Dellorto carb. I’d cut open the clubman exhaust, removed all the baffle plates, and rewelded it back up. The scooter certainly lived up to its name – I’d paid £280 for it a few months earlier.
Note ‘Donington’ spelt incorrectly
Having my photo taken at Donington and being mentioned by name in the new Scootering Magazine (it had only launched earlier that spring) some months after the rally, felt like a big deal back then.
Vespa price list 1985
Check out this Vespa price list and range of models dated the Monday straight after DISC ’85. All models were geared except the Piaggio Ciao.
I’m happy to go on record saying the admission ticket I bought for DISC ’85 was possibly the best £5 I’ve spent on scootering so far.
Ride safe SLUKers
Col
Pictures are from Stu Lanning’s British Scooterist Scene mag. Other pics, programme and patches are Col’s, additional Donington images, Iggy/Willy.
