Through the Grapevine

Things of interest you might have missed elsewhere...

Legendary record-breaking Vespa SS90 put up for sale

In 1967, the legendary Giancarlo Gori took the tuning craze to the extreme by rebuilding his race-winning Vespa 90SS and entering it in the Week of Records event at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire. It cracked 150kph in the quarter mile and accelerated from 0-100kph in 7.6 seconds, thus setting a world record. That scooter has been in Giancarlo's private collection for many years, but is now up for sale.

Interested parties can contact him directly via https://gorielaborazioni.com/index.php where they can also place a bid.

Vespa 90SS spec:

■ Constructed in 1966 on a V50 base

■ 92cc cylinder kit

■ Developing approx 15.6hp at 9700rpm

■ Compression 11:1

■ 22,5 Dell'Orto carburettor

Potholes: a growing concern and major risk for road users

Potholes are perceived by road users to be a much more significant concern than they were three years ago according to the findings of a new report from IAM RoadSmart, the UK's largest road safety charity.

Their annual Safety Culture Report (which tracks road users' changing attitudes to key road safety issues over time) reveals that 75% of road users now perceive potholes to be a bigger issue than they were three years ago.

Further findings from the report (which involves surveying more than 2000 individuals) also discovered that around 89% of road users have been affected by potholes over the last year.

Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart director of policy and research, said: “The pothole situation on UK roads has now become much more than just irritating, it's a significant threat to personal safety”.