I never knew that people raced scooters at the Isle of Man. Until last week when I discovered this footage and became an immediately happier person. I like scooters. I know that this makes me less of a man in the eyes of hard-core motorcycle dudes but I don’t care. There’s a lot to be said for a 50cc smoke-spewing two-stroke, with tires the size of doughnuts and a headlight that gets brighter or dimmer based on how much throttle you pull.
The video was shot on an 8mm Super-8 camera and is 41 years old so it’s a little shaky in parts and a little dark in others, stick with it though, it’s an fantastic glimpse back to a simpler, cooler time.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
Although just 25 examples of the Jaguar XKSS were built it took the company over 60 years to complete them all, because of a tragic factory fire followed by a 58 year pause in the…
This documentary first aired in 1984, it tells the story of Stanley Edge who was the original designer of the Austin Seven, in his own words. Edge was well-known for his friendliness and enthusiasm for…
The Flying Boats is the most comprehensive documentary we’ve ever seen on the subject of amphibious aircraft, if you’re a regular visitor to the pages of Silodrome you’ll know that we’re quite fond of flying boats,…
Goldtop was founded in 1951 and quickly grew to become one of Britain’s leading motorcycle gear manufacturers, many of the original ton up boys of the late 1950s and ’60s wore Goldtop gear while riding…
This documentary covers the introduction of the Peugeot 205 T16 into the Group B class of the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1984. The French automaker had their work cut out for them, they knew…
