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.
This is one of just 6 or 7 factory-built Triumph Strongbow flat trackers made in the late 1970s to compete in a series sponsored by Bulmers to promote their Strongbow cider brand. The competition was inspired by the Trans-Atlantic Match Race road racing series and featured six British riders – Chippy Moore, Malcolm Carradine, Barry…
The legendary NCR workshop played a significant role in the early competition life of Ducati, perhaps most famously they built the special 900cc race bike that Mike Hailwood piloted to his seemingly impossible comeback win at the the 1978 Formula One TT at the Isle of Man. NCR was founded in 1967 as a small motorcycle…
The Triumph TS8-1 Prototype was released as a last-gasp effort by the struggling British motorcycle marque in 1981 as a touring motorcycle to compete with the likes of the BMW R100RT. Triumph has built some of the most famous motorcycles in the world over the course of their history, and most Triumph models will be…
The new-for-2019 Norton Atlas Ranger is the latest addition to the line-up from the storied British motorcycle manufacturer that was rescued by Stuart Garner in 2008, and has gone from strength to strength since. To cut to the chase for those of you who don’t have time for a full read – the Norton Atlas Ranger…
At the age of 93, WW II veteran and AMA Hall of Famer Ed Fisher still rides everyday, and even continues to race as an amateur. Ed has always had a throttle in hand, since he was 16 years old. He began his racing career as a factory rider for Indian Motorcycles, before representing…
Auto Design Prints was founded by Bradley Dyer to create world class automotive art with his own unique style. Bradley works in the design department for Jaguar as his day job, so he has no shortage of design chops, and he has access to some of the most beautiful cars ever built. This series of…
