BSRA #6: The Isle of Wight International Scooter Rally 2025 | RALLERY

August Bank Holiday is finally upon us, and thus the largest scooter rally of the year.

For me, over the last few years, this has meant getting the ferry from Portsmouth on a Thursday afternoon to the Isle of Wight, after having spent an hour or so street art spotting in town beforehand.

I’d actually seen a fair few scooters on the way down there, with around half a dozen scooters on the ferry. Luckily, things were plain sailing, as I’d heard of others being less fortunate and the ferry’s engines cutting out, thus requiring a tow back to Port.

Heart of the rally

Once at the campsite at Sandown Airport, it was a quick walk to the local Morrisons for a few supplies, and a chilled-out evening at the new bar located within the main tent.

It’s nice to wake up on Friday morning and already be there, although not technically working a shift for VFM until midnight, it does prove to be a long day; however, spending it with others working shifts and running the odd errand helps. It’s also nice to be able to have a look round the stalls at a leisurely pace and check out the scooters coming in as day-trippers, which was a relatively steady flow all day.

Price drop?

One thing worth noting was the reasonably priced second-hand vehicles for sale, which over the last couple of years probably would have been at least £1k dearer, although whether this shows the tide is finally turning in respect to prices is yet to be seen.

At the brand-new end of the scale, and to give credit to them, Royal Alloy had a fairly comprehensive stall and a large range of their scooters on display, and as such, were rewarded with being constantly inundated with potential customers.

Trapped butterfly

Unfortunately, the evening’s advertised headliners, The Chords UK, were delayed on the motorway on the mainland, so to compensate, the first band on The Butterfly Collective did an extended set. This went down exceedingly well, with both the crowd and the band themselves, with at one point the over-exuberant lead singer getting his foot wedged in the barriers at the front of the stage.

Silent disco

When they had finished, the disco continued until midnight in the main tent, whence the Soul Hangar was cleared, and the silent disco took over. For some reason, it seemed very quiet (and not just because of the lack of amplified music), although there were many first-timers in attendance, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it.

Exodus

All too soon, it was 2 am, and time to pack things up for the night, but not before Jason Ude had cleared the dance floor of everyone on the blue channel (if anyone could let us know what he actually played to cause the mass exodus, we’d love to know).

Custom show

Saturday at 9 am saw the main tent ready for custom show entrants, which by the time it was opened up to the public at 10, had around 70 vehicles inside, competing for 30 different trophies.

As usual, there’s always an eclectic mix of styles present, from chops and cutdowns, original condition and restored, to engineering marvels, plus those showing their pride and joy for the first time. This year saw a handful of Mark 1 P-Ranges being entered, which was nice (considering it’s hard to believe they are now 40+ years old!).

Full blown

Something notably lacking, though, was the number of full-blown customs, although at least that made the judging in certain classes a tad easier.

One thing that has caused us problems over the years is counting the sheer volume of ‘Punters’ choice’ slips that are voted on during the day, as it’s a very hands-on and time-consuming process. If anyone has any ideas on how to streamline this process, then we are all ears!

Daytrippers

Apart from in the show, there were always a few interesting scooters to look at in the daytrippers’ scooter park, which, to be fair, was probably the most crowded I think I’ve ever seen it. Obviously, the good weather helped out a bit this year. Also, during the afternoon, Cian Downing (who’d played a fantastic set at Aberystwyth) did an acoustic slot in the Soul Hangar, to those many people milling about in the sunshine.

Crazy Horses

First band of the evening saw The Corsairs rocking the place as usual, with one of my favourites (She Sells Sanctuary) getting a makeover in their own style, alongside many other notable hits from other artists. Next up were Dad Manners, who constitute more than just a tribute band, playing virtually a full back catalogue to a packed and appreciative tent. Afterwards, and again until midnight, the disco was in the main tent, my last vision being of Lobby and various others dancing to the Osmonds’ ‘Crazy Horses’, I’m not sure much could’ve outdone that, to be honest. At midnight, the soulies were evicted for a second night from the Soul Hangar, so that the silent disco could continue the night’s entertainment, with many returnees from Friday night and a few more people to boost the numbers.

There wasn’t any grand eviction from the DJs at closing time (2 am), but we did seem to have more poorly functioning headsets than in previous years.

Ride out or home?

Sunday heralded my eventual return homewards, thus missing the ride-out, which for some is the highlight of their weekend. For some reason, I’ve never actually done the ride-out, and I guess I may never will; perhaps that’s because I remember going to the Isle of Wight when there was no such thing, or because I’m pretty shy. Either way, Booga captured plenty of you on the ride out and you can see the gallery above.

I managed to catch the 11 am ferry and spent the return journey with my club mate Jason, before a nice ride home via A-roads in the sunshine to round off the weekend.

Thanks

At this point, I’d like to congratulate the likes of Tori, Big Kev and Daz (plus their other halves) for the organisation that goes into putting on this event, plus a massive Thank You to everyone else within the VFM Collective family. Luckily, I get to see firsthand how much effort is put into everything by everybody to ensure that those paying customers really do get Value For Money. I personally don’t see how people can complain about the facilities (toilets and showers were continuously being cleaned) or how much the entrance fee is, plus the new 4-way traffic light system seemed to alleviate some of the past bottleneck issues.

Negativity

Bizarrely, the Isle of Wight Rally always seems to get an extraordinary amount of flak, with much of the negativity I’ve seen online seemingly coming from those who weren’t there and who haven’t been for a few years. Somehow, they still manage to pigeonhole it into something it quite definitely isn’t. Yes, it’s a very spread-out event these days, what with the number of other events being put on by those who, as I see it, have fortuitously jumped on a bandwagon (of capitalising on a captive audience) without actually having to put any effort in. It’s also best not to forget that a sizeable chunk of this audience probably doesn’t attend any other rally during the year either, whether it’s a National or otherwise, and from what I’ve heard, some people only buy a scooter a few weeks beforehand and then sell it not long afterwards.

The Isle of Wight is still a lot of things to plenty of people, whether it’s hanging out at the green in Ryde or the events put on nearby, to staying in caravan parks and razzing around the Island, to camping or glamping at the airport campsite or doing the ride out on the Sunday.

My preference whilst on the Island is to support the VFM/BSRA, as these are the people who put on these events throughout the year across the country, not just over one weekend, but thankfully I’m very much ‘an each to their own’ type of person and appreciate there’s something for everyone.

Words: Scott – Medway SC and BSRA Championship Controller

Photos: Booga