2009 Scorpa SY R
Think ‘Scorpa’ and, in the UK, one name springs to mind: Nigel Birkett. He and his wife, June, have built an excellent working relationship with the dealer network they supply with the range of models and spare parts for the customers who compete on the French-built machines. They first became the official UK importers in 2005 when the machines were using the tried and tested water-cooled Yamaha TYZ engines. With John E Shirt, Nigel was instrumental in its predecessor, the ground-breaking air-cooled Yamaha monoshock, back in 1983. In 2010, the Scorpa would move to a new European engine supplier, and the corporate colour would turn to orange. As they say, the rest is history.
In late 2009, Nigel took delivery of the last batch of the two-stroke Yamaha engine machines. These new 2009 models were once again an evolution of the previous year’s models, with no real significant changes. Here we take a look at the brief history of the machine and revisit the test carried out by Steve Dixon, reflecting on the machine that became a massive hit with riders of all abilities. It’s interesting to note that Nigel Birkett still has a brand new 2009 Scorpa SY 250 R in the very box it came in from France all those years ago!
BULLETPROOF
At the turn of the millennium, word got out that Scorpa would have a new stylish trials model to present to the waiting world. They had previously used the Austrian Rotax aircooled engines to power the machines, but these were now very outdated. They presented a revolutionary looking new machine, with the water-cooled Yamaha TYZ 250cc engine at its heart. It featured a very low, sleek-looking design with the ‘bulletproof’ Japanese engine housed in a tubular semi-perimeter steel frame.
The Yamaha engine had a second-to-none reputation for reliability and quality parts; its down side was that it was over-engineered, which was reflected in its physical size.
The Anglo-French-Japanese machine would be assembled at the Scorpa factory in Montpellier, France, using a mixture of European components and parts, for the finished product to be presented to the buying public. The interest in the new machine was incredible. In Japan, they would be sold as Yamaha trials machines and, once again, the manufacturer would become a player in the world trials market.
First introduced in 1993, the worldwide Yamaha dealer network had spare engine parts already in stock, which was a plus-point for any potential buyers of the machine in its new guise. In the 2002 FIM World Trials Championship, Japan’s Fumitaka Nozaki won the Junior World Trials Championship. The Scorpa machines would be imported into the UK by Neil and Martin Crosswaite and, in 2003, they took a new young rider under their wing — a certain James Dabill!
TRIED AND TESTED
The machine was an immediate hit with the buying public, who loved the Japanese engine for its smooth power delivery with the legendary reliability of the engine despite its age. It was first introduced in 1993, and it soon became a popular machine. Over the years it evolved with the addition of upgraded parts to keep pace with the other machines. The cycle components were common to the ones the other manufacturers used on their Europeanproduced machines, again making spares readily available.
In 2005, Scorpa moved to a brand-new production facility at Ales in France with successful French businessman, Philippe Ariston, at the helm. This new governmentfunded facility would become a motorsports centre, available for a multitude of disciplines.
Nigel Birkett would also become the latest UK importer for the French machines in early 2005. With the input from Nigel, the
“Nigel Birkett still has a brand new 2009 Scorpa SY 250 R in the very box it came in from France all those years ago!”
machines continued with their popularity. In France, the ex-FIM World Trials Champion, Marc Colomer, was employed to help with the new four-stroke trials project, once again using a Yamaha engine. It left the two-stroke
SY with no further development. Compared to the opposition, with the machines proving expensive and the two-stroke engine coming to the end of its service, the French company’s future looked quite bleak even though Germany’s Iris Kramer gave them the 2007 FIM Ladies World Trials Championship on the trusty 250cc SY two-stroke in 2007.
2008 would see special ‘anniversary’ machines released to celebrate 15 years of the brand, but by now the writing was on the wall. With the downturn in the economy and the decrease in the exchange rates, the Yamaha engines became too expensive to import from Japan to France. It was a sad day when the French company announced it had gone into receivership in late July 2009. Scorpa was not finished just yet. In 2010, the Sherco boss, Marc
Tessier, purchased the Scorpa brand, leaving the door open for another story in the future.
QUICK SPIN – REVISITED
In 2009, we travelled to the Lake District to have a quick spin with the 2009 Scorpa SY 250cc R in the hands of Steve Dixon; an excellent national rider who had ridden the Scorpa with support from the UK importers. As we still see so many of the machines in the trials world, we bring you that report to remind any potential purchasers of the machine in 2020 just how good they are. It’s quite interesting to note that any owners we speak to in the present day still reflect the words from this quick spin.
Steve Dixon: “On riding the machine, the first thing you notice is the superior braking power over the older models, at both the front
and the rear. I have been quite critical of this for quite a while but with new ‘wavy’ discs fitted you can now stop on a sixpence with one-finger pulling power at the front, and the back giving a nice progressive feel through the aluminium footbrake.
“Moving on to the suspension, this is where I feel the most significant overall improvement has been made. I like the ‘linkless’ rear suspension as I feel it gives more progressive feedback to the rider, especially on rocks. Having ridden the ’08 machines and now the ’09, the improvement in the action helps to lift the machine up and over rocks, steps etc. whereas before much more rider effort was required. The action appears to be quicker but more progressive. Along with the modifications to the front fork, internals is a definite improvement to the machine.”
Easy to Ride: “One significant asset the machine retains is its ‘easy-to-ride’ factor. Though many riders see the Japanese engine as quite a large unit, it holds its line in a section really well. As for the overall performance from the engine, it feels oh so smooth! The basic Yamaha engine may now be quite old in the tooth, but they have changed the ignition settings a little, and I notice from the specification sheet that some work has been carried out on the reed valve settings.
For me, when the engine is worked hard and especially when you ‘burn out’ to find grip, the response from the engine is much better, and maybe it does rev a little higher than last year’s model. The aesthetics and titanium wheel rims certainly make the machine look sleeker than before, and in my mind, a good machine has got even better”.