Sadly for me, this event rather rudely clashed with a scooterist friend’s wedding in Las Vegas. This meant for only the second, or third time in BSEC’s history I had to miss competing. It’s also the reason why this race report has been published later than usual.
Luckily, the recently published author of ‘Taking in the View’ and main man at Team Solid Air (#13 pictured above) was on hand to ride and write about the latest Tside.
Iggy
Thighs the limit
I am sat in a comfortable chair on a bright Monday morning. Sunlight is pouring in through a window warming the room up, despite autumn making its presence felt. But I hurt. A lot. Not all over, just my thighs. My legs have that feeling that is brought on by sitting on the throne for far too long, reading whichever scooter magazine I have pulled out of the conveniently placed wall rack. Walking is a problem.
Blame Keith
What sort of hedonistic weekend has brought on this discomfort? Partying all night long, dancing into the small hours? Hiking up a mountainous peak while being battered by strong winds? Or being driven to push myself to breaking point in the gym? No, none of these. My burning muscles are entirely the fault of one man, namely Keith Terry, formerly of Kegra Racing in Southend. And I thank him, along with many other people of a similar persuasion that are feeling the same aches and pains today as myself. People that spent eight hours racing round Teesside Autodrome only two days earlier, in the name of fun.
British Scooter Endurance Club
In 2019, Keith formed the British Scooter Endurance Club with the intention of providing an opportunity for road-going scooterists to thrash their classic geared scooters easily, cheaply and in relative safety around a racetrack. Free from the obstacles and myopic drivers of metal boxes commonly found on our public roads. Six years later, Keith continues to stand in front of a pack of snarling two-stroke racing scooters that wait for him to drop his black and white chequered flag. This is the signal for the riders to dash, or hobble, across the tarmac to their waiting machines. They speed off and hope to keep going round and round and round until they see that same chequered flag waved in front of them by the same bearded man from Essex, some eight hours later.
The Solid Air crew
Team Solid Air
A couple of days before the race, I travelled north to Team Solid Air member Viv McCann’s workshop near Darlington. Part social call and part pre-race prep, we pottered around on Friday morning making some final tweaks to our race scooter Solid Air², before heading off to the Autodrome for the afternoon’s practice session.
As always though, there was a mechanical gremlin making its presence felt in the run-up. Having started Solid Air² up for a quick blast before being loaded into the van, we both heard a strange clicking noise coming from the engine. There was nothing else to do but whip the side casing off and investigate the problem. This action revealed a broken kickstart spring that needed to be replaced, thankfully a fairly straightforward fix. Panic over, we set off for the short drive to the track, where teammate Nigel Sleightholm was waiting to join in the fun. Practice for us was uneventful and allowed us to blow our track cobwebs away in preparation for the race. Sadly, a couple of teams did experience more serious complications when their riders departed company from their bikes, and which necessitated some major repairs. Thankfully no major injuries were sustained by them though.
Race day
Saturday morning arrived. There was a small shower of rain early on before we left home, but the forecast predicted a dry race and thankfully followed through on its promise, which was a minor miracle considering this year’s summer washout.
A BSEC endurance race wouldn’t be complete without a Le Mans-style start. 29 puffing scooter riders dashed across the track to their machine and shot off over the start line. Just about everybody got away cleanly, though one team inadvertently forgot to switch on their fuel so came to a disheartening stop after only a couple of bends until the problem was thankfully pointed out.
Man down
Dramatically, having just completed their first lap, Chiselspeed knocked up the first crash of the race as their rider lost grip while storming through the bus stop section. While the scooter slid onto the grass, the rider amazingly seemed to keep a grip on the handlebars, but his feet were momentarily trapped underneath the scooter’s floorboard. Luckily, he escaped injury, and, like a true racer, was only concerned with picking his machine up and regaining his place at the front of the pack! Onlookers were relieved at this near miss and the rest of the race was relatively quiet with the paramedic team only being called upon to tend to one broken collar bone and an ankle injury.
Run of shame
Along the way, many teams suffered mechanical breakdowns and the track marshals did a great job with their waved yellow flags, protecting the riders as they pushed their machines back to the pits. There were also quite a few instances of teams running out of fuel as they tipped their scooters over through the big right-handed bend at the end of the straight, who then had to endure a walk/run of shame back to the fuelling area. Thankfully, there was only one red flag to stop the race, and that was for a short period only.
Finding his feet
These endurance races entertain spectators with lots of closely fought battles out on the track, and this race was particularly entertaining, with many changes of position on the leaderboard and a good mix of machines from all classes in the top ten positions. For our team, Viv took Team Solid Air from 17th position on the starting grid up to 11th place in his first session, while Nigel did a great job of finding his racing feet again after having not been out on the track for over a year, and so we found ourselves working our way up into the top ten. Team 4 – London Lambretta Club had got themselves high up in the ranking but had to retire with rear hub problems later in the race. This left team 84 – Escargot, team 27 – GRR, and us to battle it out and claim our spot at the finish. I was able to get ahead of GRR, but Viv needed a couple of laps extra to catch Escargot, which he sadly did not have at the end.
Varied classes
BSEC races see starting grids normally in excess of 30 teams, with them varying in race experience from brand new first-timers all the way up to seasoned racers with decades worth of track miles under their belts. There are four classes to be chosen from, depending on the scooter used and the riders that make up a team. This system allows a full motorcycle licence holding, road-going scooterist with no race experience to pit themselves against thoroughbred BSSO competitors, past or present, but still have a chance of leaving the meeting with a trophy. There may only be one team that can finish the race in overall first position, but there are races within the race because of the different classes. A fast scooter alone does not make a race winner in the BSEC. A team with a road-going, reliable machine, with riders that can keep their scooter “shiny side up”, clocking up as many laps as possible in the allotted time, have as much chance as anybody else to go home with a trophy.
The race flowed nicely over the eight hours, until Keith and his chequered flag finally welcomed team 74 – The Real Taffspeed, across the finish line – having completed a whopping total of 351 laps! They were followed shortly after by team 30 – Chiselspeed in second place and #15 – Team Vespa (The Originals) in third. An honourable mention must go to Holt Racing who commendably achieved seventh place on their first outing.
Bowing out
Sadly we say goodbye to team 54 – The Odd Mod Squad, who are hanging up their race leathers following this meeting. These gentlemen, who by rights should be sitting at home smoking a pipe while wearing a pair of comfy slippers and sipping hot cocoa, are gracefully retiring after being a part of the BSEC right from the start. For me, they embody the spirit of these events. Regardless of age, or how fast you ride, or what position you finish in at the end, having the desire to be out there on the track, enjoying a great time with mates, making memories, is what it is all about. These BSEC races give everybody a chance of winning a trophy, and The Odd Mod Squad have at least one sat proudly on a shelf at home. Enjoy your retirement gentlemen.
Words: Mark Bennett
Images: Lee Hollick – Lee will be uploading the images to his website soon.
VIDEO: You can watch the full 8 hours of race action on the video above – the event sponsors can also be seen on the video thumbnail…
Next year’s BSEC dates
The 2025 BSEC events have been confirmed for the following dates:
- Saturday 28th June – Whilton Mill
- Saturday 6th September – Teesside
More info about scooter endurance can be found at BSEC’s Facebook page or on their website.
Taking in the View – Life from a scooter
If you’ve not already got yourself a copy of Mark’s excellent book, you can buy one here. It’s a great read that will resonate with any SLUK reader’s journey through scootering.
Can’t wait till next year as gutted missing racing with Team So Solid Air Crew @ Teeside