Scooters and the people who ride them don't always get a lot of respect from the motorcycling community, but you'd better believe they're taking themselves more and more seriously. When in 2007 a group interested in setting up land speed record classes for scooters was rebuffed by the folks who run motorcycle speed-racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats each year, known as "Speed Week," they decided to do it themselves.
One early result of the formation of the Motor-Scooter International Land-Speed Federation (MSILSF) is the inaugural Scooter Land Speed Trials, which will take place Nov. 21 in Devore, CA. Scooter manufacturer KYMCO USA has signed on as the sponsor for that event.
Says the MSILSF on their website, "With no recognized sanctioning organization willing to accept motor-scooters into the fold, we decided to create our own organization, appoint ourselves as the sanctioning organization of motor-scooter land-speed records, and get about the business of hosting the First Annual Motor-scooter Land-Speed Record Trials on November 21st 2010 at El Mirage Dry Lake, California."
The event will feature 13 classes from 50cc to 650cc as well as 3 sidecar classes. Four engine classes will be permitted: 2- and 4-stroke aspirated and 2- and 4-stroke turbo.
In their release about the event, the MSILSF says, "We are going to keep our first annual event extremely simple. We’re essentially running a 'run what you brung' speed trial for scooters only. Scooters have two small wheels! We’re self-proclaiming this to be the First Annual Motor Scooter World Land Speed Trials, so if you set the highest speed in a particular class you will hold the 'Motor Scooter World Land Speed Record' for that class."
The event will be held without the participation of the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA), which has been hosting land speed trials at El Mirage Dry Lake for more than 60 years. The SCTA's motorcycle rules require a minimum of 15” wheels, and that requirement precludes most motor scooters from participating.
Nevertheless, organizers are working with the powers-that-be for Speed Week and still have hopes of becoming part of that event.
"We are now working with Dennis Manning of BUB Racing to integrate motor-scooters into the AMA/BUB 2011 Bonneville program," says the organization.
Comments
Seeing the scooters race down the lanes of the Salt Flats would be interesting.
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