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At the ACU British national records meeting at Elvington on September 18 Gavin Watson not only established an official record for a two-way mean average time, but also set the fastest one-way speed this year on a Lambretta.

The two-way mean average, taken from the best run completed each way, gave Gavin an average speed of 104.9mph which has established an official ACU record in the 300cc scooter class. It must be noted that this is the first year this class has been run so Gavin has established the record.

Next year will be interesting as a whole clutch of riders attempt to break it. During the record attempt Gavin made several runs on his cut-down sprinter over the weekend and achieved a top speed of 110.921mph, backing it up with two more runs within 2mph of his top speed. This eclipses James Winter’s time of 107.73mph, which was set in May on a full bodied Lambretta, and now stands as the fastest time this year.

The engine, based on an RB252, was originally built and ported by none other than our own editor Dan Clare. Since then the engine has been worked on by Darrell Taylor with minor modifications but Gavin is keen to point out the both Dan and Darrell are responsible for its 40+ bhp. The frame is a full-blown stretched, cut and raked sprinter and was built by Dan and Sean Brady back when they co-owned Scooterotica garage.

In the future Gavin intends to develop things further to participate in more events, in what looks like being a busy 2017 for him. He points out that the goal is obviously to go faster than before, but is a big learning curve along the way. The key to success in this sport is patience and understanding and whether each separate modification improves performance. If Gavin takes this approach then who knows what speeds and time he can achieve.

With four separate Lambretta teams and several tuners now vying for both top speed and ¼ mile glory the entry for 2017 is looking stronger than ever. There is no doubt that development over the winter will be at a fast pace ready for the new season. There will be a full review of this season shortly and rest assured we will be following closely the exploits of all the current riders and those who also wish to join in.