It’s Thursday – nearly the weekend, and if you’re at a loose end, here are a couple of ideas.
March of The Mods – Birmingham – SORRY – SOLD OUT
29th – 31st is The Teignmouth Scooter Rally, down in Devon
Check out the EVENTS page my comprehensive list of 2019 Events.
If you’re running an event, get in touch and I’ll list it for free (If I deem it appropriate – oh the power of being in charge of your own blog – it’s going to my head!)
I wrote a couple of weeks back about The Breasticle Run, which is the sister event of this one… The Testiscle Run. And it’s not the first Testicle Run…
On the previous Testiticle run, a team of Lambretta enthusiasts took on a challenge in aid of Cancer is a C***! One scooter on the road at ALL times left Rainham in Kent, travelled to Landsend in Penzance, had a little detour across the Severn Bridge into Wales then up to John o Groats in returning to Rainham in Kent. Aiming to do it in 48hrs or less, they actually completed it in 56 hrs. Quite a feat I’m sure you’ll agree!
On the previous Testiticle run, a team of Lambretta enthusiasts took on a challenge in aid of Cancer is a C***! One scooter on the road at ALL times left Rainham in Kent, travelled to Landsend in Penzance, had a little detour across the Severn Bridge into Wales then up to John o Groats in returning to Rainham in Kent. Aiming to do it in 48hrs or less, they actually completed it in 56 hrs. Quite impressive I’m sure you’ll agree!
In 2016 the Lambretta riders riding same route, not only battling the clock (aiming to better their time!) but taking on a team of Vespa riders travelling in the opposite direction…
The age old argument “Which is the better scooter?” is about to be answered, once and for all. The first team over the finish line obviously have far superior scooters and are much better riders… and it will obviously be the Lambrettas… won’t it?
It all kicks off on the 18th. On their Facebook page, you’ll hear all the news, read all the banter and follow the two teams progress around the UK. This is all being done to support various cancer related charities (detailed on the Facebook page) and needs all the support you can give it.
Here’s the Facebook page again.
One for your diary… Feb 17 – 19th 2016: A number of themed fund-raising activities will take place, all centred around 4 ladies (of a certain age); riding geared Italian scooters, for roughly 1000 miles, over 3 days around the southern coast and counties of England to raise money for Cancer related charities.
For more details, and to donate to this worthy cause check out their Facebook Page.
For more things to do in 2016, check our my Events page. If you have an event to add, get in touch.
Well, $209,000 actually. But when you’re spending that much, the $9k in pocket change. Anyway, it’s (another) “Jimmy” replica (from Quadrophenia). That’s right. You read it correctly… it’s not even the ORIGINAL scooter from the film… that one (this one) sold for a mere £36,ooo back in June. But, in case I’m sounding a little unenthusiastic about it, there was an excellent reason this scoot fetched so much… it was for a good cause… the (RED) Charity… in an auction curated by Apple’s head of design Sir Jonatan Ive. And it is signed by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend. Ok, so it’s a true “pop icon”, I can see the appeal. And you could buy half a dozen absolutely top notch Lammies for the price of this one. Make that a dozen. But that’s not the point is it
If yore interested in the actual scooters that were in the film, there’s is an excellent site, VCB160 that tracks the history of the two main scooters in Quadrophenia; Jimmy’s Lambretta and Sting’s “GS” Vespa (which is actually a Vespa Rally, made to look like a GS).
via ScooterFile
A lot has happened since my original post. There off! In fact, they’ve been going for over a week now… and it’s been eventful to say the least. A broken collar bone, and some severely stressed scooters that have needed a fair bit of work on them. But it was never going to be easy was it? The team Siobhan, George (A Harley and Triumph rider who’s first experience of Lambretttas was day one of the trip!), Tino and Oreste (on a Vespa) have got as far as Cairns.
Follow their progress here: lammiedrive.blogspot.co.uk
Siobhan Ellis is riding a 1958 Lambretta Series 1 Famebreather (more about the machine in a moment) from the very top of Australia… to the very bottom. In case you hadn’t noticed, Australia is quite a big country. That’s a long way. A very long way. From Cape York to Wilson’s Promontory to be precise… 6,350km (or a gnat’s under 4,000 miles in old money). Making it especially hard the first 800km’s aren’t even on proper roads… but dirt track …dirt track that isn’t even open all year round.
Why?So why is Siobhan doing this mad, mad journey? Well, it’s all for a good cause… Breast & Prostate Cancer Research at St. Vincents Hospital, Sydney.
Why Lammie Drive TWO? Because Siobhan has a track record of doing this, having ridden the 4,700km from Sydney to Perth back in 2009. This time, there are five riders doing it… and I think they are all on Lammies too.
The LammieSiobhan’s scoot is fantastic… a Replica 1959 Scottish 6 Days Trial Lambretta. Which should help a bit on the the first 800k of graded dirt track. The pics show Siobhan’s fine machine with a Targa twin, but for the event she has opted for a super crank single cylinder.
They kick off from Cape York on 23rd of July, ending up in Melbourne 23 days later on the 16th August. To cap it all off, Siobhan is taking the next couple of days to ride back to Sydney. Take a look at the map!
Siobhan’s already received great support… from the LCGB, And the Lambretta Club’s of Germany, Italy and the USA, she’s also receiving great support from Lambretta Evergreen. Check out all the generous sponsors here. But what this basically mean’s the expenses are covered… so everything raised goes to charity. It’s a good cause… so dig deep and chip in.
You can follow her progress, find out more, and contribute on the Lammie Drive 2 Website here or Facebook page; here.
If you do the Twitter thang, it’s twitter.com/LammieDrive
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