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 10 minute films shows the process of building an engine from scratch, including the casting process, machining, final assembly, and the completed motorcycle’s first test ride. It’s an interesting look into how motorcycle (and car) engines were painstakingly built back in the early days of motoring, every step of the process involved highly-skilled machinists,…
The Land Rover Series 3 – Introduction The Land Rover Series 3 was introduced in 1971 and was pretty much a “face-lifted” version of the Series 2 and 2a. Most parts are interchangeable between the 2a and the 3. The Series 3 (commonly referred to as the Series III) featured a few mechanical improvements over…
The Matchless G80 TCS Typhoon was the fastest off-road version of the G80, with the largest engine, and the highest power-rating that was available to the general public. The Creation of the G80 TCS Typhoon Interestingly the idea to create a 600cc version of the popular 500cc Matchless G80 CS (Competition Scrambles) wasn’t the idea of…
The Reassembler is a series by former Top Gear and current Grand Tour host James May. If you’re anything like me, James May is your favorite of the three motoring Beatles, and this series is the pure, distilled essence of May. There are currently two seasons available to watch for free on YouTube, with each episode…
The Orkney Baffle by Ashley Watson was developed to seal the otherwise exposed area between the bottom of your motorcycle helmet and the collar of your jacket.
Although the cars built by Allard aren’t particularly famous outside of classic car circles, the influence they had on the future of sports car design, particularly the Chevrolet Corvette, Shelby Cobra, and Sunbeam Tiger, are undeniable. The Allard J2 and J2X were the most successful competition cars built by the humble London-based factory, from 313…
