A little background information
Vespa 90 Super Sprint
The Vespa 90SS was a sport derived scooter of which around 5300 examples were built between 1965 and 1971.
My Race Vespa was bought in 1986 for £240. Today values have rocketed.
The scooter features much narrower legshields than a standard smallframe Vespa with dropped narrow handlebars, streamlined mudguard and a shorter wheelbase than the standard model.
The most noticable feature is the center dummy tank unique to the Super Sprint range. Not only helping in the rigidity of the frame it also helps with cornering.
The motor was entrusted to Charley Edmonds of Performance Tuning in Northampton.
The aim of the project was to enable me to be able to put the power down rather than being spat off by creating a wider smoother torque curve.
In terms of riding its quite simply the most responsive , most powerful motor I’ve ever used with circa 32hp . Its a pleasure to ride after the various self-tuned rotary-valved motors I’ve raced over the years. Of course it can bite and will if you overstep it as I did below….. My thanks to Lee of the FAB scooter club for this video.
Team Performance Tuning
Charley Edmonds of course is behind the motors and chassis setup with most of the teams bikes. See the links page to Performance Tuning. He specialises in race two and four stroke preparation and tuning. Although Charley a relative newcomer to scooter racing has won 4 consecutive group 4 and Bsso overall titles. The team consists mainly of Charley, James, Phil,Steve Coneeley and me of course.
Charley Edmonds.
James Campen
Phil Bevis
Steve Coneely
John Woods
A little more about me….
Well my first Vespa was the 50 Special which I bought in around 1984. I was only 15years old then. As I was too young to ride I pushed this scooter 9 miles home to my dad’s garage. It didnt need a lot of work , some cables, bulbs… I needed more tlc than the bike did after my 9 mile push I can tell you. I got my provisional licence on my 16th birthday and off I went.
For me it was just too slow.. so a vespa 100 motor was bought, 4 speed gearbox, I ported the barrel and a larger carb and exhaust was fitted. I used a carburettor from a Lambretta with an alluminium adapter as I couldnt afford a proper one! It did around 55 to 60 mph. I was over the moon!
But soon of course I got bored, turned 17 and the Norrie Kerr 135 kawa/autisa motor went in which cost me a fortune back then. By now though I had my first 90ss which was to become my race bike. Quite tatty when bought it was the perfect project machine. I used the Norrie motor to get me through my ‘newcomers’ events in order to get my full race licence.
I’ve also owned a Vespa 90 which I built up from various collected parts and I restored the red 90ss which is my road bike today. It sits in good company next to my Et3. For a few years I worked for Kegra Racing who sponsored me throughout the 2000’s. It was here that I developed my group3/4 malossi spec motors. Today I dont get much time to ride on the road. It scares me to be honest. But i’m in the process of re-working my road bike’s motor and I’ll make a post when its ready for those who may be interested.
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