Feature Scooter: Muscle Vespa (Bruised but never beaten)
After a set of unforeseen circumstances Paul Gray grasped the opportunity to brush himself down and develop his race-look performance Vespa…
After a set of unforeseen circumstances Paul Gray grasped the opportunity to brush himself down and develop his race-look performance Vespa…
Paul saw the Sprint with its water-cooled engine advertised on social media. “I liked it, I did a deal, cash was exchanged and I brought it home,” Paul smiled. Job done, you might think? That wasn’t to be; Paul’s first trip out on his newly acquired scooter was a memorable one, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. “My first ride-out was to the A19 Scooter Club’s Ride to the Runway do in 2018. During the journey I had no end of issues, and had to discontinue the ride when the carb rubber came off due to the engine overheating. Because of the problems I experienced I never made it to the do and it ended up with my mate recovering me and the scooter from the roadside.”
Shoot-out
With several issues identified Paul handed the scooter over to Chiselspeed. “It turned out that there were a few more repairs and fixes required than I’d expected! But after they’d all been completed the scooter was sorted and running sweet.” Having got the scooter fixed, Paul was eager to test its performance. “Myself and Chris Matthews decided to go to a dyno shoot-out at Mick Abbey’s in Stockton. All was going well and I was pleased with the dyno result (21.5bhp) until the last leg home from Ripon to Knaresborough. I came round a bend, the sun was low and the next thing I knew I was off the scooter and flying into a ditch!” Paul explained that the accident was caused when he hit a boulder in the road. “The police said that they thought it
could have fallen off a trailer. I had to go to hospital, but fortunately I’d not sustained any serious injuries.
“There was a funny side to the story, though; because just after I’d crashed, an off-duty policeman was passing and he stopped to check if I was okay; he’d been to the races at Ripon and was dressed in a black suit and tie. So when the ambulance arrived, the paramedic said to him: ‘We don’t need you love, he’s still breathing!’ – thinking he was an undertaker!” Paul laughed.
Never beaten
While Paul’s condition wasn’t a major cause for serious concern, during the crash the scooter had gone up in the air and landed on its legshields, bending the frame. “The redevelopment of the scooter was literally going to start from the ground up! It didn’t look good, but I got it recovered and fully stripped it down. The frame went to John Mclaughlin in
Cumbria to be jigged and the crease caused by the impact was cut out and re-welded.” As part of the upgrades Paul intended to develop into the street racer looks, he invested in a set of drop handlebars. The drops and the bodywork were then sent off to Phil Rhodes for paint.
“I thought Audi grey was a rare colour but not by the time I had it finished!” Paul joked. In the meantime, there were further adjustments and improvements Paul wanted to include. “When I bought the scooter it had a 12-inch front wheel and a standard 10-inch rear wheel. However, in the deal that I’d struck with the previous owner, a 12-inch rear wheel was included, so with this in mind I decided to go with 12-inch wheels all round.”
While all this was going on, it was clear that the problems Paul had experienced on his first ride-out were caused by overheating. “Previously the radiator had been mounted
underneath the scooter, which wasn’t the most efficient position for it to perform at its best,” Paul explained. After a bit of searching Paul found a KTM radiator set he liked. “This time, for better cooling I wanted the radiator to be mounted on the front of the scooter. But the idea to relocate the radiator on the front of the scooter was going to need some adjustments and specialised work. So I took the frame over to Keith Newman at K2 who made the mounting brackets, a one-off radiator cover, pipe guides and the Quattrini badges, which look fantastic.” Everything was beginning to take shape and the plan was coming together nicely. The wheels, radiator cover and pipe guides were sent off to LSN in Pontefract to be powder-coated in ‘crackle-black’, which supports the Audi grey and adds to the mean, understated looks.
However, after everything had been completed Paul had a change of mind. “I decided that I wanted the set-up of the pipework organising differently. It was one of those adjustments that no one would ever have probably noticed, but it was one of those things that was now at the front of my mind and if I hadn’t got it done it would never have left me!”
Extras
To deal with this section of work, the scooter went back to Chiselspeed for the adjustments, another check-over, some fine-tuning and dyno. “When I got the scooter back it all paid off; I’d got the set-up I wanted, I had it re-dynoed and it now gave out an extra 2bhp!” Paul smiled. Since the scooter’s been completed Paul’s only managed to fit in a couple of short runs. But even with that said, he’s very happy with the finished article and he’s looking forward to seeing how it performs on longer runs, which I’m sure won’t be a disappointment.
For me, there’s something about subtle understated Vespa street racers like this one. It’s a little bit hard to describe, bu scooters like this on first sight give me a feeling of intimidation blended with curiosity, which always sets the sense of intrigue running in my mind. I don’t know if it’s a combination of the slick lines of the scooter and the question of what level of power the scooter has to offer. But one thing’s for sure: if it looks right, it usually is right.
The redevelopment of the scooter was literally going to start from the ground up! It didn’t look good, but I got it recovered and fully strippedp it down.