Tony O'Brien Vespa 90 SS : Vespa Tuning: Vespa Racing

It all started back in 1985 for me watching the race scooters at Donington that made me catch the bug. After attending many meetings the following year as a spectator I started making attempts to buy the rare Vespa 90 Super Sprint.  After some help from a spectator (i’m sure his name was Dave) who called me to say he’d found one,checked it for me and although it needed tlc it was perfect for racing.

So money changed hands and my race career began in 1988.

It took me one season to achieve my license and I began 1989 with my group 2 (125 standards) motor tuned by the legendary racer/tuner Norrie Kerr.

I believe my best result was a third place that year but generally 4th (or 5th) was my ususal spot behind Norrie Kerr, Terry Frankland and Mark Green. Racing was a big eye opener for me. The sheer corner speed of the top racers left me shocked! 1990 introduced a new class for the Vespa’s.
Group 1 limited the engines to 100cc and as such was very competitive on the track.
I was offered full ride sponsorship from 3 top tuning shops at that time, Msc/Norrie Kerr, Mikeck and Kegra opting to race under the latter with Graham Best and Keith Terry.

Racing all year against Norrie and Tim Wilson from Taffspeed gave me my first Championship. Riding amongst such legends in the smallframe world such as Norrie and Terry gave me a feeling of pride which exsists to this day and I certainly feel privileged to have been overtaken by them both!

After this life took over for quite a while but the bug returned and in 1999 I came back to racing in Group 3 (150cc standards) winning the championship in 2000.

Since then Scooter Racing underwent many changes within the classes and numbers until today where we find ourselves on a growth trend with our sport gaining popularity all the time.

We currently race with the Vintage Motorcycle Club and this entitles us to attend and race some fantastic circuits all around the country. Mallory Park, Cadwell Park, Lydden Hill to name but a few, to view the 2011 race calendar click here.

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