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

The morning arrives with more water than the Peckham Spring..

Its not looking good … so the wet tyres go on.. front and back. Scrutineering comes and goes.. I am not over happy with my front brake but I intend to bed it in during the practise which is now very wet-not good when you intend to drag a brake for a lap or two… anyway….

Practise arrives.. The wet I rather dont mind.. actually I quite like… I like the bike moving about a little . It tells me how on the limit it is. Quite often though they will let go quite aggresively but this is all part of the fun!

The motor is running fine.. clutch still all good so it looks like that problem is now behind me.. the new BGM rear shock is really doing its job… really pleased with this! So… back to the pits after a red flag due to someone having an incident.

By the time the first race approaches its now dry.. the tyres are changed and suspension adjusted to what I think. Tyre pressures altered..

I am on last row on the grid.. quite a way back. I cant see the front row which has the black Gp4 of Charley and Guy Toppers grp6 on it…

Lights change… the revs are at around 6000. Feed in the clutch and off we go… err.. maybe not.. the motor stalls… as it pulls off.. this isnt right.. finally I get moving … something wrong. I hit the power and finally start to catch up a few. I am 21 machines behind.

There is definately a lack of power and approaching Edwinas for the first time the motor cuts out and I free wheel through the complex. Manage to bump the motor to restart it on the exit and we are off again.. only for it to cut out at the hairpin.. Grrr…. lap 2 the same thing… but this time as I approach the hairpin the front brake does not work.. nothing!!!..I lock the rear brake and chuck it into the hairpin… Two issues now..flat out its all fine but I have nothing below 8000 rpm..

I am up to 4th but on exit from the bustop the motor cuts..I slide and yank in the clutch … it fires and upon letting the clutch out the power hits and its telling me to get off… I comply and find myself sliding to the grass..

So… there is a problem motor wise… also I find my front brake isnt working at all.

A little bruised and battered (so is the bike) I get back to the pits. After a little thought I start to go through the bike. There is a fault with the master cylinder that I simply cant fix so its game over. Motor wise – it maybe an igintion fault. Off to the PT works next week!