We ride the world’s fastest Lambretta | FEATURE

Riding in a straight line. How hard can it be? As it turns out, when you’re piloting the world’s fastest Lambretta, it’s not as straightforward as you might think.

Let’s set the scene: I’m at Santa Pod after accepting an invitation from Eric Cope to do a 1/4 mile sprint on his Taylor Tuning-powered Lambretta. This is a full-bodied RB 252 Lambretta with original engine casings on standard stud spacings, not a hybrid using modern casings.

As you can see, ‘run what ya brung’ does exactly what it says on the tin…

Run what ya brung

I arrive at Britain’s most prestigious 1/4 mile sprint track to warnings over the radio that “Extreme weather alerts are in place for much of the country – we’re expecting record temperatures and possible thunderstorms”. It’s 28°C at 9 am, and that rises to 32 pretty quickly. It’s too hot for clothes, way too hot for leathers.

Santa Pod is hosting a ‘Run what ya brung’ event in the daytime and a Saturday evening sprint with bands and entertainment laid on. It was already starting to get busy.

Who’s the fastest?

Eric currently holds the record for the fastest Lambretta, having achieved a top speed of 127 mph over a flying mile at Elvington on July 5th, 2020.

Lane 1, Eric against the young padawan, Wol, in lane 2

Two’s company

As I parked up in the paddock, I heard the sound of a meaty Lambretta heading back down the access road towards the start line. I wasn’t surprised to see that it was Eric on his formidable orange, black and grey full-framed Lambretta GP machine. Regular rally goer and Reservoir Gods SC member, Wol wasn’t far behind him. They were the only two scooter riders here for this non-championship event.

Long-time scooterist and former boy band member Wol (left) found a new scootering passion and met his racing ‘dad’ two years ago when he visited Scooter Shootout.

Addictive

The duo (Eric and Wol) compete in both the Straightliners and National Sprint Association Championships, a 20-round commitment. Wol is (or was) a familiar face on the rallies until he discovered sprinting a couple of years ago. He’d been to Scooter Shootout on his road-going TS1, had a go at sprinting and was hooked. He’s since built his own sprinter, using a similar spec RB engine as Eric. Both engines are tuned by Darrell Taylor of Taylor Tuning fame.

At the moment, Wol’s scooter still runs on conventional fuel, but he’s just about to convert to cooler-running methanol in a bid to edge closer to his mentor, Eric’s times.

Anyway, that’s enough about the professional sprinters. It’s time to bring on the complete amateur…

Having said my hellos, I had a long walk back up to the paddock. A quarter of a mile is quite a long way to walk on a very hot day. I quickly got myself signed on and leathered up.

Thrown in at the deep end

Before I’d even had a chance to study the start line and lights, I was handed Eric’s scooter. Gulp.

This is a full-on methanol-burning 63bhp sprint scooter. Its aluminium fuel tank is only good for 3 runs… It’s as thirsty as it is fast. It sounds angry, it is angry. This is an absolute beast of a scooter.

NoPro

Starting in lane 2, I’m beckoned towards the lights by a marshal and instantly get told off for having a GoPro strapped to my chest and a Sena camera on the side of my helmet.

Let’s do it…

Seconds later, I’m trying to find the sweet spot on the line where the white staging lights in my lane both illuminate to let the starters know you’re in position. A stretched, supercharged Hayabusa sits opposite me in the left lane and gets ready to disappear up the sticky black tarmac before I’ve even found first gear. A decent supercharged Busa will make around 372bhp and do a standing quarter in around 9.9 seconds. It makes five times more power than Eric’s Lambretta.

Run #1

Once they’re on, the lights go amber, then green… very quickly. That’s when things go backwards. Time, thoughts, and the ability to ride a scooter. I’m sitting as far forward as Eric’s specially extended seat will allow in a bid to get my weight forward, legs splayed on either side of the track.

Riding somebody else’s scooter on the road for the first time is daunting, but you have time to get a feel for things. This takes daunting to a whole new level.

Launching this missile for the first time is frightening and exhilarating all at the same time. Will it spit me off?

VIDEO: On board with Iggy

I’m off the line, much slower than I should have been, and quickly trying to get into second on the five-speed box Eric had fitted for the first time, ready for The Pod. The front end is very light, and I miss second. I power through in third and lose count – did I hit fourth or fifth? Who cares? There’s quick and there’s ballistic fast. This fits into the latter category; it’s an absolute missile.

I’m over the ¼ mile line in what seems like a millisecond. Surviving this first run is a big deal to me, and I feel euphoric.

I’ve ridden superbikes at almost twice the speed of this Lambretta, but there is no comparison. The scooter is way more exhilarating to ride. It runs a ‘hard tail’ rear end, so there’s no suspension. Eric actually tore his retina at one bumpy sprint meeting.

I head back down the return road to the queue where Eric awaits his turn. Linsey hands me a timing slip, and Eric shows me where I’m losing time, whilst Wol looks on.

Losing time

Unsurprisingly, it’s off the line and for the first 60 feet of track. Even so, this first run was done in 15.8302 seconds and with a terminal speed of 89.6mph. Eric had already done a 12.6 ¼ and a top speed through the lights of 102.90 mph (his personal best is 12.43 at 105mph). In sprinting terms, the difference is long enough for him to make a cup of tea.

Over the course of the day, I had five runs in total and slowly improved my times, although I was still struggling with the gearbox (my excuse is that it was new and stiff), even though Eric seemed able to get all five gears.

Reaction times

Getting off the lights quickly is an art in itself; it helps if you know that you don’t wait (traffic light style) for the green light. Amber and green are pretty simultaneous. My reaction time was 0.9434 of a second on my first run, compared to Eric’s 0.1514; it’s a lifetime away. My 0-60 feet time was also diabolical, 2.6566 seconds, compared to Eric’s 1.8049. I clearly had a lot to learn in this alien-like discipline.

Run #2

Lining up for my second attempt, I didn’t feel quite as nervous about the launch. I now knew the scooter wasn’t just going to flip me off the back. Even so, I misjudged the lights and my reaction time was 0.9493, my 0-60ft was slightly quicker at 2.4658, and my speed over the line was 97.56 in 15.2292.

When he’s not sprinting, Eric relaxes by killing flies using chopsticks

100mph Lambretta Club

I was surprised at my improved top speed, and Eric remarked over lunch, “You can get the 100mph next time…” Suddenly, I started thinking about joining the very exclusive club that is the 100mph Lambretta Club. It hadn’t even crossed my mind until this point.

On full frame Lammies, there are (as far as we’re told) only Eric Cope, Keith Terry and Gav Watson who have officially cracked the 100mph standing ¼ mile. Gaining full membership to this club would please me immensely.

Don’t let off

For my third attempt, I almost halved my reaction time, taking it down to 0.5120, although I messed a gear change up and had a slower 0-60 ft of 2.4731. That wasn’t my worst mistake, though. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I let off the throttle before the end and cruised across the line. My ¼ mile time was 15.2463 at 79.80mph. What a plonker.

Run #4

I decided that I’d have one run against Wol after lunch and then hand the scooter back to Eric to show how it should be done. My reaction time was better on this run, 0.4227 and the 60-foot time was 2.5709. Wol still cleared off into the distance though. I finished on a 14.2344 and 96.91mph. Not enough to hit the ton.

I took the scooter down to the queue and Eric told me to have another go against Wol. The queue was getting longer and the time between runs was around an hour by this stage. The heat was stifling, the hottest day of the year, according to the weather lady but the atmosphere was changing..

Look just how much out of line a mild sidewind can throw you…

Run #5

I fluffed the start and missed a gear and got a 14.6279 and 93.71mph, that was despite a nasty sidewind. Still not enough to get into that 100mph club.

Time was ticking on and even though Eric had stood about, sweating in his leathers for most of the day, he told me to have another attempt. We queued for a while, then started to feel the odd raindrop. Although the rain was very light, Santa Pod take no chances when it comes to safety and they cancelled the rest of the session.

The need for speed

I love riding scooters and I really enjoy riding fast scooters. If you can throw a few corners into the equation, that’s perfect. Hence the reason I’ve never really ‘got into’ sprinting.

I’ve not done much sprinting at all; the last time I was at Santa Pod was back in around 1994 for the NSRA rally there where I took my road-going MRB 170 T5 up the strip (it felt very slow on that). I’ve since done a couple of runs at Elvington on autos but never really taken it too seriously.

What Eric’s scooter has shown me is that riding fast in a straight line isn’t as easy as it sounds. It needs more than just a quick engine and favourable weather conditions. I returned from Santa Pod with numerous thoughts on how to improve my launch technique. My first port of call would be to watch the start for a while before having a go. I was far too gentlemanly on the lights.

Learning how to change gear on an unfamiliar machine would be a distinct advantage as well.

Eric seems keen to let me have another crack at a non-championship event, so there’s a glimmer of hope that I might still hit the magical 100mph on a full-frame Lambretta…

Thanks to Eric for trusting me with his very fast scooter.

Words: Iggy

Main photos: Blackett Photography

Additional images: Linsey, Iggy