From the Archives: Lambretta Racers

Update 06/07/10: We just got a comment from Peter S., who actually posted this picture originally.  He provides some interesting background and information on these amazing Lambretta race scooters:

This is good as it displays what Innocenti was up to in 1951!!  This is a photo of the 4 bitubo racers made by Innocenti, that were used in the local German series in early 1951 and were raced by the NSU factory who made Lambrettas under license from 1951. These machines had two rearward facing exhausts. It had another exhaust exiting on the other side. The carbie faced forwards into the airstream. These were fitted with 12 inch wheels. Romolo Ferri was sent to Germany to race these and in their first appearance at Drieckensrennen, Otto Daiker won the 125cc race. He was also entered into the Hockenhiem race for the World GP series, but failed to start.

Original Post 12/8/09: From Racing Retro, who seems to dig up an unending trove of sweet vintage photos, comes this great of four mid-50's Lambretta racers.  There was a time in Italy where scooters really battled it out for racing wins, and both Piaggio and Innocenti built works racers.  Of course, Piaggio had a much more serious factory sponsorship, but Innocenti did build some quite serious racing machines which were sold to private racers.  I'm not really sure what's going on in this picture, but these look like they are factory fresh scooters. 

You can see the amazing custom bodywork quite well in the photo.  The gas tanks and all of these body panels were hand beaten.  Such craftsmanship!  You can also see the special large wheels (probably 10") and the custom wheel rims.  The huge final drive/shaft drive housing is also noticeable.  The massive megaphone exhaust is very interesting.  It comes out over the top of the shaft drive and exits on the kickstart side.  I would be very curious to see the other side of the motor to see how it clears the carburetor.