Strange Andy’s P Range obsession
Obsession [uhb·seh·shn] noun: the state of being obsessed with someone or something. If that description fits any one person, then it has to be Andy Connell.
Andy Connell (or ‘Naka’ as he’s probably more famously known) is now 51 years old and from Pontefract; he began his scootering story back in about 1987 while he was a young Mod schoolboy in his original West Yorkshire home town of Castleford.
It was while at school that the young ‘Naka Nut’ (to give him his full school-time nickname), got to know some of the older lads from the local scene, such as Stubbo and Woody, who he would later join as a member of the same scooter club, that being the Wakefield Knights.
Naka’s hometown of Castleford (Cas, or Cas Vegas, as it’s colloquially known) is a historic market town famous for its Rugby League team and the cheeky sense of humour of the locals. These proud northern folk defeated attempts by the local authority to rename a historic bridge, built in the late 1800s and known as Tickle Cock Bridge, to the more supposedly acceptable Tittle Cott Bridge when it was redeveloped in 2008. So now there is a plaque displaying the correct name securely fastened to it to prevent any future confusion brought about by interference by some snowflake in a politically correct office environment. This cheeky local sense of humour must have rubbed off somewhat upon the impressionable young Naka Nut, as since that time he has owned several scooters with rather odd custom themes.
AND SO, IT BEGINS
Naka attended his first rally adventure (Scarborough) in 1987, getting on the road himself with the prerequisite scooterist’s entry machine, the fantastic Vespa 50 Special, a year later in 1988. Not long after that, he upgraded somewhat to a Vespa 90, but came a cropper, falling off on a corner that was covered in fresh grit. He again upgraded – this time to the top-of-the-range smallframe, the Primavera, and in the process, began to slowly work his way through the whole of the then current Vespa range. Following on with a theme, this was written off when he was hit by an ice cream van; luckily this only left him Flaked-out for a while, with nothing more serious than crushed nuts
(Chris, you may think it’s a Fab idea to Zoom in on this, but can we avoid these hundreds and thousands of ice cream-related references in the future please, as you’re turning into a bit of a Screwball – Ed).
A WORLD OF PASSION AND PAIN
His next mount was his first venture into the world of the P Range and was where his obsession with the models would begin. He purchased a PX125 fitted with a T5 motor from Jade Scooters in Wakefield, but was hit by a car on this, causing damage so bad that the headset touched the seat.