Slow ride
To startoff with it wasmainly down to
private individuals who would tune
cylinders and build exhausts to gain
improvement. As the industrybecame more
lucrative, manufacturers joined in.
Ever since man invented the wheel, the machines
created to use them have become faster.How
fast they go though, is down to the owner.
T
he Lambretta GP200 andthe
SaturnVrocket have several
thing sinc ommon,believ eitor
not.Theywere both built at the
sametime and both didthe
same thing–movehumansfrom one
destinationtoa nother. Okay,sothe Saturn
Vneeded to burn 15 tons of fueland
required50,000technicians just to get it
moving,this compared toathimble fullof
petro land one person proddingthe
kick-starterto get theGP200 in motion,
butits horses for courses, asthey say.
Thereis one more thingthat they both had
in common andperhap sthe most important
of all: theywere both more powerfulthan
their predecessors. Why is thatso? Well, the
Satur nVneeded it so it could escape
earth’ sgravitational pull. TheGPneededit
because vehicles atthetime had become
faster ,sos ociet ydictated thatit was
required. Both hadthe power theydid
because it’s human naturetoi mprove on
whathas alreadybeen done before.
Avehicle manufacturer needs to sell as
many of its productsaspossibl etok eep its
businessrunning.Byupgrading themand
making them better,meanstheycan keep
ahead of the competition.Italsohas to be
remembered thatwe,asp eople, wanttodo
things quickerthan we used to. Bigger,
bette r, faster .That’s whyplanes, trains,cars
and everything else constantly improves
each year,sowecan get fromAto Bfaster,
or in more comfort, and/or moreefficiently
in terms of fuel. This takes us back to the
Lambretta,ors cooters ingeneral. As the
roadsoft he UK,orthe rest of theworld for
that matter, impr oved, this allowed usto
travel faster on them. By theearly 1960s
themotorway agewas upon us, when
vehiclescouldsafely traveleven faster.
Manufacturers quickly jumpedonthe fact
that they could nowproduce more powerful
and faster vehicles to
accommodatethe new
environment.Thatiswhy the
TV200 wasprodu ced, a
Lambretta thatwas capableof
competingin this exciting new
era of faster travel. Evenitssales sloganof
‘Thescooterof the motorwayage’
announcedthe fact.
The problem ofascoote rorany other
vehicle becoming fastermeansthe personin
controlneedstobesensiblewiththeir
driving.The GP 200,when itwas available,
had atop speedof69mph.Thatmeant on
themotorway it could keep up with traffic,
butalsomeantinabuilt-upareathatwasa
30mph zone, if someone wasreckless
enoughthey coul ddomore than doublethe
speed limit throughit. It would lead to a
convictionifcaught,butwhatitprovesis
it's downtothe person ridingittob ehave
properly.IfInnocentihadn’t built the200cc
Lambretta orcontinued tomake it more
powerful,uptotheGP 200 ,thenhowelse
would they have developedamachine
capable ofkeepingup with moderntraffic?
They couldn’t.Itw ould beno usetaking an
LDorseries 1 onthemotorway,because
they wouldbe to oslowandbecomeadanger
to other drivers in doingso.
This then bringsus to tuning,andlet's
face it,the Lambretta was in such a
detunedstatethatthepotentialtoincrease
it was huge.Even goingbacktothe 1950s,
people weretrying to make themgo
quicker.It’shumannature to do so.Every
vehicle ever madehas ha dsomeonetry and
improve itsperformance, eventhe Reliant
Robin! There is no doubtthat after the
racingboomofthe late 1960s,Lambretta
tuningreallytook offand has remained
with usever sinc e. To startoff with, it was
mainly down to privateindividuals whwould
tune cylinders andbuild exhauststogain
improvement. As the
industry becamemore lucrative,
manufacturers joinedinwiththe likes of
TS1,startin gawhole new phase of
Lambretta performance.Nowwith
technology movingoninleapsand bounds,
manydifferent tuning optionsareavailable,
givin gaperformancethat even justafew
years ago seemed almost unthinkable.
So is itabad thing?No, of courseit
isn't...it’sjust progression. As cars and
motorbikeshavebecomeevenfaster,the
Lambrettahas followed. It justtakes longer
to do so because small companies and
individuals are the ones movingit fo rward.
Shouldthis magazineandotherslikeit
promote the availabilityof tu ning and
performanceproducts for scooters?Yes, it
should... becauseoutofitall comes better
things.Withmorepowercomestheneedfor
stronger brakes,improvedsuspension,
bettertyres, andsoon. If no onehad ever
bothered totune ascoote r, thennoneof
thesethingsmentionedwouldhave
followed.These improvements are all
accessibletoa ny Lambrettaowner ,even if
in st andardform,thusimprovingthesafety
aspectoftheirmachine,Iftheywantthem.
Freedomofchoice is everything.
EvenInnocenti strovetoimprove the
potential of scootersbybreakingthe
125mphbarrierono ne in the 1950s.
What’ simportant though, isjust wher eand
whenyou decide tousethe potential of
your scooterin th ecorrect manner,
regardlessofh ow muchpowerith as.
Advancementsinp owerand component
spec are pleasingchoice stohave, if used
responsibly on the roadbythose whobuy
into it. Sadly, thosewhoride recklessly
would probablydosoeven on astandard
machine...weall know‘thatguy’ in the
clubwho hashad morecrashesthan
everyone else,no matter what he was
riding. So nobody can blametheir offs on
excess tuning or power,usually it’san
inabilitytor ideproperly and responsibly!
i t A th
12 |SCOOTERING|AUGUST
