100mphscooter.com Classes Explained

From Street Scooter to Top Scooter . . . .

In an attempt to explain our scooter classes and the reason for each class, am going touse my own experience sprinting my Italjet Dragster which evolved from a Street Scooter to a Top Scooter.

Please note that this scooter ran sub 12 second 1/4's
as a street legal scooter. However, the purpose for me buying it was to take it off the road and make it go as fast as possible on the drag strip.

Right from the first year it ran in the 12.1 bracket with motorcycles that covered the 1/4 mile in a similar time, and when 100mphscooter.com was born and we designed the classes, it went straight into the Top Scooter Class because it was running the 1/4 mile quicker than 13.1 seconds.

All of that aside, we are not looking at its speed or time, we are however looking at the procedure in which it was modified which shows each individual class perfectly.

Confused already? read on, all will be explained . . . .

The Evolution of Street Scooter to Top Scooter

Some people are happy to turn up to event after event and run their Scooter for the fun of it.

Albeit, during the weeks in between events they see
less and less of their families whilst spending more and more time in the garage attempting to find a 100th of a second or 1 mile per hour improvement on their last outing.

And others, just like Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1 who
began racing Karts, then went to Formula Renault,
Formula 3, GP2 and eventually Formula 1, are determined
to progress to Top Scooter.

My first attempt at Scooter Sprinting was in 2003 when I sprinted my Lambretta Vega (with a 125cc kit) and recorded a best 1/4 mile standing start sprint of 21 seconds and 53mph

But I wanted more . . .

Automatic Street Legal Scooter over 125cc (Auto over 125cc)

In 2005 I bought myself a highly tuned,
taxed and tested, street ridden 172cc Italjet Dragster, and by the end of my first season sprinting the auto I had recorded a best
1/4 mile pass of 12.91 seconds and 96mph.
At that point we were bracket racing, and my
Lil Scooter had to sprint in the 12.1 second bracket with bikes that covered the 1/4 mile
in a similar time.

Apart from the tuning to the engine, upgraded clutch, variator, gearbox, drive belt, big carburetor and sports exhaust (tuning to the engine and drive train only) the scooter was
a standard Street Legal Scooter which in today's classes would run in:
Automatic Street Legal Scooter over 125cc (Auto over 125cc)

Modified Street Legal Scooter Unlimited cc (Modified Scooter)

In my opinion little more could be done with
the power plant so over the winter break I decided that if I wanted to improve my times
and speeds I needed to modify the scooter removing weight and making it more
streamlined for the 2006 series.

Look at the image and you'll see how the seat pod has been lowered into the frame and moved backwards to allow me to get down behind the handlebars and out of the wind. Additional to
this and what you cant see, is that I replaced the front shock with a solid bar lowering the front end as far as possible, and in an attempt
to increase HP I removed the lighting coils off the stator and the fins off the variator. Without the lighting coils I didn't need the lights, or the lighting circuit in the wiring loom, so all
were removed along with the heavy plastic under seat helmet box and the huge un-necessary fuel tank which was replaced with a 1 litre mini moto fuel tank. The plastic light lenses were cut and siliconed into the body to fill the holes.

Now all this work "Modifying" the scooter to make it go faster than everyone else's opens up the argument "Should it still be in the Street Scooter Class"?

With 'little work' it should get a Daytime MOT, but then the 'little work' would be reversed to run it on the drag strip. If the scooter cant get an MOT in its race state, or it is modified in such a way that you cant run it on the road, I mean how far would I get with 1 litre of fuel,
the question again is . . . . "Should it be in the Street Scooter Class"?

The idea of sprinting is to make your scooter go as fast as possible and to beat your opponent, I think we'll all agree on that. But modifying your scooter beyond that of a scooter which is ridden to rallies is an unfair advantage.

So with this in mind, and in an attempt to ensure like for like scooters sprint in the same class we designed a class specifically for the modified scooter Modified Street Legal Scooter Unlimited cc (Modified Scooter) This class allows all of the above modifications and also extends to scooters modified to run with motorcyle engines.

Automatic Competition Scooter Unlimited cc (Auto Competition Scooter)

Having carried out all of the above changes I only managed to improve my elapse time (et) by 100th of a second, and the top speed by 1mph.

Bearing In mind that I had bought the scooter
to go as fast as possible and hopefully set
come new records, I bought myself a cheap frame of ebay for around £25.00 and went
about modifying the frame for 2007 so it was
purpose built for the drag strip.

The engine mounts were moved back and up the frame so the engine hung nicely out of the back extending the wheel base to hopefully eliminate wheelie'ing off the line. The rear shock was removed, and the engine was solid mounted into the frame with a metal bar. The steering and front suspension was removed and re-located higher up the frame allowing the whole scooter to sit only inches off the ground, and the front suspension was again locked out by welding the swinging arm directly into the frame. A purpose built 'Drag Scooter' which conformed exactly to the Automatic Competition Scooter Unlimited cc (Auto Competition Scooter) All looked good, but being solid mounted at each end and with the frame flexing every time it hit a bump it was very unpredictable and really unsafe to ride. Subsequently my speed and et fell right off to 96mph and 13 seconds.

At the end of the year it was back to the drawing board, and for 2008 another frame and some hydraulic forks were purchased from ebay.

There was little other change to the build, but whilst running this setup I ran a personal best 101mph with an et of 12.5 seconds.

To explain a little more about the Competition Scooter Class.
This build of machine is soley for the drag strip and not the street, subsequently it will not compete in the street or modified street class.

Although being purpose built for competition, we felt there needed to be a break point which would allow the every day garage tuner to compete in a class without being swamped by tuning shops building machines where no expense is spared.

With this in mind we came up with the 13.1 second breakout rule. We know from experience that a scooter whether it be geared or automatic can be made to run a 13 second 1/4 mile pass. But to run a 12 second 1/4 mile requires an extremely light pilot or an arm and a leg being put into the build of the scooter which an every day scooterist running for fun cannot always match. The 13.1 breakout rule basically means if a competition scooter constantly runs faster than 13.1 seconds it must move up the top scooter class enabling the competition class to remain competitive.

Automatic Top Scooter Unlimited cc (Auto Top Scooter)


And finaly I was there . . . .

. . . . from Street Scooter to Top Scooter

A totally home fabricated frame that accelerates from 0mph to 60mph in less than 2 seconds and covering the 1/4 mile in 12.5 seconds at 103mph.


To go back to the 13.1 breakout rule.
My scooter build conforms with the Competition Class rules, so I could effectively run it in the competition class. But because of my stature it regularly runs sub 12 second 1/4 mile passes. Without the 13.1 breakout rule, I could competed in the competition class and would more than likely win every event! What fun would that be for the others in the competition class? none at all!

'Fastest Scooter wins'

'Fastest Scooter Wins'

When a scooterist takes his 'Pride and Joy' to an event he wants to do two things . . . .
have fun, and show that his Scooter is the fastest scooter at the event.

100mphscooter.com in conjunction with the
National Sprint Association - Northern Section are holding a 6 round 1/4 mile Sprint Championship to find out who has the fastest scooter in the UK in each of nine classes.

At each of the six rounds you will gain points towards an overall Champion who will be crowned at a presentation dinner at the end of the year.

To take part in our Championship you will need to make yourself a member of the National Sprint Association - Northern Section at a cost of £25.00 for the year. You will also require an ACU race licence at a cost of £43.00 again for the year, and each round will cost in the region of £50.00.

As little as that for a years sprinting and the chance to walk away with a trophy for
The Quickest Scooter In The Country in your class of course.

Please note:
At this point event dates and prices shown are still to be confirmed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .