Hot shot DJs pull a hot pot charity night out of the stew

Salford Knights battle through adversity to put on a night for a children’s charity

Every year members of Salford Knights Scooter Club nominate a charity to raise funds for. This year's beneficiary was Salford Children's Holiday Camp (SCHC for short). The club hosted a brilliant night and raised a whopping £1200 for the charity. An astounding amount given all the uncertainty of rules, restrictions and mishaps they'd faced during the build-up.

Carry on camping…

SCHC, set up in 1926, was designed to give schools and disadvantaged children a welcome break by the sea in Prestatyn, North Wales. Some of the members of Salford Knights (or their families) have stayed there, so the camp is very dear to their hearts. Clubs, schools and groups from all over the country are able to stay, enjoying its facilities and the easy access to nearby attractions – even the Red Arrows pilots occasionally use it as a base! Even so, massive funds are needed to bring it to 21st century spec.

A cure for the Covid blues and soul

Sean, Paul, Tracey and the rest of the committee decided to break the Covid blues and put on a Ska and Soul fundraiser at the Winton Bowling and Social Club, which also happens to be their club house. The original plan was to have their very own Matty do the DJing, then throw in a raffle and live act. However, we all know what fate does to the best laid plans and during set-up Matty's equipment refused to co-operate. Luckily, the house DJ allowed him to use his amps; (bullet number one avoided). Matty began warming the crowd up but it soon became obvious that the live band wasn't going to turn up. To be honest, the crowd couldn't have cared less. The party mood had kicked in and the place started to bounce properly, Matty playing many tracks he'd been keeping back so as not to tread on the toes of the live act.

ThiThis iisn’t’t a club,lb it’it’s a ffamily il

The event had a real ‘family' feel, even more so because a hot pot supper was included in the ticket price. You've got to hand it to them, the event felt more like a real family celebration than a charity fundraiser night.

Then came the raffle. Prizes were donated by the charity, the venue, Salford Knights, Royal Alloy, Scootering magazine and some private individuals who'd heard of the event taking place and wished to donate as they'd been to the camp as children. One lady told me of a relative who had been to the camp when she was a small child and it was the first time she'd ever seen the sea. Did you know, even today that one child in five in the UK has never seen the sea. Fact. There were a few odd prizes – one company had donated a rack in a box. (Stupid me assumed it was a rear rack when I picked it up), in fact it was an expensive rack for roasting stuff in an oven! Oh well, I'm sure with a bit of creativity, it'll fit an LML.

After the draw was complete, Matty swung back into action – and the club's tradition of singing their own chant to Desmond Dekker's Israelites bounced off the walls with a very confident, happy gusto.

Salford – One Love

Eddie Lewis and Paul Blain (trustees of SCHC) went along to the club to receive the money and spoke of the donation to the camp's fund meaning so much more knowing it came from the very heart of the community the camp had been originally set up to help.

We're plotting a big music and scooter event at the camp in 2022. The Knights and Manchester North & Central have stepped up to offer help, so watch this space. It's a four-and-a-half-acre site, right on the sea front, with dorms, camping facilities, car park and three rooms for events/music/ stalls. So… if anyone wants any info, or is interested in helping the camp, or going there (clubs, schools, groups) get in contact with me through the magazine – as I'm helping with putting on events at the camp. Words: Rik

Photos: Clara B and Rik

On the face of it converting any air-cooled scooter to accept liquid cooling makes little sense. The bodywork resists the installation of radiators, the extra weight is considerable and that’s not to mention the degree of engineering involved. Yet it’s a concept that’s preoccupied scooter tuners for decades and the reason is that its advantages are considerable.

Water works

Fairly obviously the major benefit is that liquid cooling is far more efficient at reducing engine running temperatures. This means better reliability and less chance of seizing at high revs but that’s not the only advantage. Liquid cooling allows for a higher compression ratio, meaning greater power can be generated and less of that power’s devoted to keeping the engine cool. Anyone who’s used a hand signal at anything above walking pace will recognise the effects of drag. By using the flywheel as a cooling fan, scooter designers solved the problem of creating airflow in an enclosed space but built in a tremendous source of drag at the end of the crankshaft. A typical scooter engine will lose one or two bhp just keeping itself cool. It’s this combination of factors that make liquid cooling so desirable to scooter tuners.

Cool Casa

Various manufacturers have offered liquid cooled kits, some of very dubious quality, but Casa Performance’s latest offering is unusual in that it’s a modular conversion, the water pump being suitable for use on any Lambretta casing.

Available in both race (SRR) and Touring (SST) specifications Casa’s LC kit is designed to be used with the Casa case. It also works with the same 70mm bore x 68mm stroke and 120mm conrod as the air-cooled variants so owners of existing engines can easily upgrade should they so wish. Although the only running engines are pre-production examples the performance improvement is considerable, the SRR being boosted to 56bhp from its already impressive ‘standard’ output of 47bhp.

Pump up the volume

The heart of any LC conversion is the pump and Casa has designed an ingenious system which uses a ‘skimmed’ flywheel fitted with a specially adapted bolt which drives a toothed belt that turns the pump. It’s an elegant solution that’s too beautiful to hide and it quite rightly sits behind a transparent Plexiglas cover.

One thing that doesn’t come with the kit is the cooling system itself. The radiator and hoses together with the associated bracketry must be supplied by the end user. Given the number of permutations involved across the Lambretta model range and the fact that many of these kits will find themselves fitted to scooters that are already highly modified it’s an understandable move.

Who lives with an engine like this?

Having spoken to Micky at Casa, the result of all their hard work is a phenomenally fast engine that he claims will achieve in excess of 100mph without breaking too much of a sweat. It’s a phenomenal piece of engineering but that comes at a price. Although the conversion’s still being added to the Casa catalogue the conversion’s likely to attract a premium of around €1000 over the standard engine. Considering that a plug ‘n’ play SST engine retails at €8600, liquid cooling’s going to require a healthy investment. Of course the engine is only part of the story, a radiator and pipes need to be installed as will improved suspension and plenty of stopping power.

Even if cash isn’t an issue there are relatively few scooterists capable of getting the best from a 56bhp Lambretta but for those that can, it’s a dream come true.

Ironically the most popular component of the kit from a sales perspective could well be the pump. This is an area of engineering that defeats many LC projects and depending on cost, an off-the-shelf solution could revolutionise the entire concept.

The Casa LC kit certainly isn’t a tuning product for the masses but it could still be a great leap forward.

Thanks to Micky at Rimini Lambretta Centre for taking time to chat with us about the engine and Paul at Oiltek for access to his display example.