insured

Words and pics: Paul Robinson
WHO DARES WINS
Enter, 24-year-old James Maclean, a
locksmith from London. One of the
first, if not the first to fit a PM59
exhaust to a Typhoon. This could well
be the quickest Typhoon in London, if
not the UK. But the proof is in the
pudding as they say. And it just so
happens that James has the dyno
graphs from PSN and quarter-mile
times to prove it. Think you’ve got a
faster Typh?
James’s Typhoon is that quick it ought
to be called ‘Widow Maker’... James: “Well
what can I say? It’s fast, really fast, it’s like
it just wants to be thrashed. It loves to be
opened up but doesn’t like low town
speeds. But who’s gonna use a scooter
with that much power on busy roads,
unless they want a visit with God or our
pals down at the DVLA speeding fines
department?” Wise words.
POWER MAD
James’s scoot is another fine example of
Dream Machine’s work, check out the
distinctive Honda VTR SP2 Castrol race rep
panels. Not only does the scoot look like it’s
meant for racing, it is raced. Which is a lot
more than can be said for the armchair
racers out there – ya get me? (as Big
Brother’s Science would say). James was
the first Dream Machine customer to go for
this paint job on a scooter. With a unique
What you’re looking at could be the meanest, fastest
Piaggio Typhoon in town. At 31.4 brake horse,
could this be the mutha of all Typhoons?
Stars and stripes,
and a pointy nose
scoot in his hands he was quite happy
about this, until he spotted a Runner tucked
away in the corner of a scooter shop in
South London with the same paint job. “Just
remember who got it done first,” quips
James (somewhat disgruntled), “I
originated, others pirated”. Okay chief! Easy!
James has been into scooters for some
time now, “Ever since I had a go on my
mate’s Italjet Formula 125 twin, around
1998,” he says. “I jumped on that and
thought ‘wow, mental’, I didn’t think
scooters went that fast and after that I
wanted one ASAP.”
He’s owned a number of scooters over
the years, a Speedfight 100, a Runner 125
and he knows loads about Typhoons, this
being his fifth. He went straight to work on
it with a Malossi 172cc big bore kit and a
25 mil carb. “I was happy for a few weeks,
then I started to notice the PSN ads saying
they could get more power. I gave them a
call and spoke to Andy and booked my
bike in a week later.”
In the claustrophobia that is the PSN
dyno room, James’s Typh was running
14.5hp. A day later it was up to 17hp then
not long after that James’ engine was back
again for some porting. Two weeks later
the engine was pushing out 27hp – “I
nearly killed myself on it on the way
home,” he says, “tuned Typhoons and busy
London roads don’t mix.” After a while
James realised that he couldn’t ride his
scoot every day for fear of killing himself
(or someone other poor soul), so he
promptly decided to enter the X-Race
series. Back the engine went to PSN in
Batley for more porting. With a 30mm
KOSO carb now fitted and possessing even
wider ports, there
it was – a
mighty
31.4hp – full
steam ahead!
A rare sight, PM59 zaust
fitted to a Typhoon
30 NOVEMBER 05