Feature Scooter: McLaren GP
BritishFormulaOneracingdriverJensonButton won his only world championship title when driving for the Honda-engined Brawn team in 2009.
Mark Kendall is a Formula One motor racing enthusiast, as well as which he's a builder and rider of custom scooters. His two passions have been blended perfectly in this machine, which he's named McLaren F1.
Button's emotive rendition of We Are the Champions on his Formula One championship-winning, post-race victory lap at the Brazilian Grand Prix was one of the defining iconic sporting moments of that year. For the following 2010 season, Button had secured a place in the McLaren team; although he won the championship in a Brawn, it was his car for his new team where he displayed his hard-earned number one plate. Mark Kendall is a Formula One motor racing enthusiast, as well as which he's a builder and rider of custom scooters, and has been for quite some time too. His very first scooter was a smallframe V90. Mark's inaugural scooter rally was Disc '86, which he rode to, two-up, on his first custom-built scooter, a Vespa PX125. Despite monsoon-like conditions from where he was based then, Wolverhampton, to Disc '86, his initial enthusiasm wasn't dampened. Though just about everything he was wearing, and the kit he took with him, was. It was a different element that featured instead of the proverbial baptism of fire for Mark's first national rally experience. “I picked up my weekly pay packet of £43 on the Friday, then set off with my mate Barnesy on the back, it was torrential all the way there, all we had in the way of any protection from the rain were a few black bin bags. We were cold and soaked right through, so spent a couple of hours in a laundrette drying just about everything, while we warmed ourselves up a bit.”
Mark was bitten by the scooter customising bug in the mid-'80s, his first attempt being the Vespa PX he rode to
Disc '86. It was themed War of The Worlds, created in '85, pre-dating the Vespa of the same name and theme originally built by Rugeley Scooters as a sort of demonstrator a year later. Bizarrely, Mark also owned the other War of the Worlds Vespa for a short time, which has recently been given a revamp, after 28 years, by the current owner and fellow Banbury SC clubmate Dave Turnbull. Since building his first custom scooter in '85 Mark has, over the years, become something of a serial customiser, with many quality machines created. Far from exclusively, though it has to be noted that he has specialised in Formula One and motor racing-inspired street racers to more than a degree, having so far built four between 2008/9 and recent times. “I do love my motorsport, my first Formula One, motor racing-inspired street racer scooter was Brawn, based on Jenson Button's world championship-winning car. As a tribute as well as a celebration of his championship win, I built this one, McLaren, complete with the number one plate. It was featured in Scootering, June 2011, when it was first built. In 2015 I built a street racer based on the Lotus-Renault team car in black and gold. The last motor racing-inspired street racer I built was Mille Miglia based on, and inspired by, Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson's 1955, one thousand miles, Italian endurance race win. That street racer is now residing over in New Zealand. I'm currently working on my fifth motor racinginspired street racer, I'm keeping what it's inspired by to myself until it's finished. My base model for the next project is a Grand Prix Lambretta.”
The last motor racing-inspired street racer I built was Mille Miglia based on, and inspired by, Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson’s 1955, one thousand miles, Italian endurance race win.
Originally built from an Li150 Special – which Mark took ownership of from a mate in 2008 for a very reasonable £200 – McLaren, once built, picked up an abundance of show awards in the Street Racer category, in addition to being a feature scooter in this very magazine. Mark's creations are very much made to be ridden, not hidden; needless to say, he clocked up countless miles, traversing the UK to a plethora of rally destinations over the ensuing years after the build. The vast majority of miles were ridden two-up too and, as with all things mechanical, use, with or without abuse, will eventually lead to wear and tear taking its toll, especially on tuned engines and parts. Around five years ago Mark decided to treat McLaren to something of a partial makeover by replacing and upgrading the suspension and adding a new engine. A full rundown of what has gone into the most recent engine is listed in the accompanying scooter specifications. As well as which, regularly maintaining not only McLaren but all his various steeds is something that has become more than second nature over time, including ensuring they're all given a dyno test and set-up. A decade or more on, Mark's McLaren street racer is still going strong, stronger than ever – testimony if any was needed to Mark's attention to the basics.