Webbo: Harking back to a golden era

For all today’s advances in tuning technology, it’s still the ‘old school’ stuff that we really seek at heart. Paul illustrates that point perfectly...

If you were remotely involved in scooter tuning or racing in the 1980’s or 90s then you almost certainly had a copy of the Lambretta Tuning Manual by Dave Webster. Undoubtedly the best tuning work ever written for the Lambretta scooter, it had facts, figures… “a wealth of information” as the cover told us, and a wealth of information it definitely was!

The manual had started out as a collection of articles in the fanzine type scooter magazine produced from home by Norrie Kerr in the days when we didn’t have a newsagent scooter mag. Ever the businessmen, Norrie and Dave put together the typed articles to form a book in 1984 and in 1987 produced a reprint that was partially typeset rather than the familiar typed pages.

This book has stood the test of time in many ways and you still find it being referred to by racers and tuners today – 33 years on. For sure the technology has changed and so many better parts are available off the shelf but for anyone wanting to make their engines perform better there is much to be learnt from reading the manual. Whether it’s Dave’s explanation of how to calculate gear ratios, or setting your ignition timing by dial gauge, right through to which Kawasaki piston can be made to fit your engine.

The book is kept by many to refer to and one of the most useful sections for many is the brilliant gearing guide pages. I’ve certainly used that section a heck of a lot in the past 30 years or so as the oily fingermarks in my copy tell the tale. Dave had sat in the days pre-computer and calculated the ratio of pretty much every Lambretta gear ratio in every combination of sprocket sizes and then given you the handy figure of how fast you are actually going in 4th gear for every 1000rpm, which of course was the magic figures we wanted to know. Coupled with your rev counter, if I was brave enough I could see my revs on the straight and scare myself at the speed I was going. I still see those pages in tool boxes at race meetings now, which is testament to the usefulness of the data and detail in them.

Dave had the great knack of being able to put some very technical information into language that the everyday wannabe mechanic could understand. Of course the layman did not have the practice and skills that Webbo had and despite filing and grinding away for hours on cast iron barrels with all manner of cheap grinding bits and files, while I managed some good results, when I looked at the tuning that Dave had done on various barrels for me it was clear to see it was the work of a highly skilled professional.

Dave could be a very complex character at times, and was ultra-competitive and for any race where someone was in front of him he really did hate that person for the length of the race. He could be really intense at times but then when the pressure was off he could be a truly interesting and great person to talk and laugh with.

I often think of my early days racing with LLRT and trips to Dave to discuss engine prep. He once told me that a barrel he did for me was actually his last full race barrel that he did for someone else (but that’s a whole separate story) but no matter what team I was racing with or what year, the Lambretta Tuning Manual never left the tool box and to this day has its place tucked into the lid.

I have seen the manual on the shelf at scooter shops, on bookshelves, on shop counters, and tool boxes, and some pages laminated in toolboxes but not just for racers but for anyone who has tuned a Lambretta must surely have seemed some inspiration at some time from the little book.

Unfortunately Dave passed away a while back but remains one of the legendary heroes, and if we had a ‘Hall of Fame’ museum, he would surely be there… no doubt. Dave took aspects of scooter tuning and sport massively forward and was one of the relatively few figures in scooter history that was both a brilliant tuner AND rider. He also provided us with many stories and tales, some good and some not so good, that people still talk about many years later, to reflect on Webbo the angel (or occasional demon… lol).

But for certain, despite its age, his work in the form of the Lambretta Tuning Manual has many years of life left in it yet and despite its age and relative homemade feel we still love it and for many it gives you that warm feeling when you pick it up.

This book has stood the test of time in many ways and you still find it being referred to by racers and tuners today 33 years on.