HOOLIGAN RACING
While the Scout FTR750 shares little except a fuel pump with the road bike, Indian have been marketing the hell out of their Scouts with a mini-fleet of ‘Hooligan’ racers built by Roland Sands Designs using a Scout 60. Tonight I get to race one on a tiny dirt track that would easily fit inside a school gym. 18 bikes line up on three straight rows. To enter this Hooligan class they have to be over 750cc and have a stock frame. My Scout has 19in wheels, Dunlop dirt track tyres, a two-intoone pipe, dirt track style carbon fibre seat, motocross-style bars and a ding in the tank the size of a Yorkshire Terrier. While it has a front disc, it has no brake caliper or lever. The track is loose dirt, the six-lap heat race is a fistfight in a phone booth. I come third and make the second row of the final. There seems to be way too many bikes on the track for the final, and the crowd are howling approval. The first corner is, predictably, carnage and the race is red flagged after Roland Sands crashes and is ploughed into by a Harley Sportster, while he curls up on the track. Despite its 250kg mass, the RSD Scout Superhooligan is incredibly easy to ride hard. After only four laps of practice I’m confidently locking the rear tyre into the corners and gassing it, crossed-up on the way out. After a year of familiarisation, Roland rides the bike like it’s a modern 450 single. I’m no match for most of the locals, who’ve been racing these all year, but these Hooligans are sure fun to ride.