Meeting the big boys and the legend Didier Thomas

April 13, 2011

A dream come true… I had the chance to meet all the top teams of 50cc french variated bikes.

1- My buddy Remi Cusso introduced me to the legend and master tuner Didier Thomas who was one of the first to develop moped racing tuning technology with Bidalot parts back in the 70’s and 80’s. He also wrote the famous 2 stroke tuning french book “Gonflage des cyclomoteurs” that was banned a long time ago by the french government.  We talked about the actual moped scene in France and the US. There’s no doubt that moped racing is making a come back and it seems like the old timers are eager to make a come back. Even Didier is talking about finishing is personal collector Doppler race bike with his amazing tuning skills. As we were watching the Gr3 race, he shared with me that even though the actual level of competition is high, it’s not yet matching the speed of the old 50cc bikes in the late 80’s at the peak of the competition. That’s scary!

Didier who now works for Doppler development just announced that he’s working on fabricating new h20 50cc kits for motobecane av10 race bikes not using old new stock but developing  new cylinders adapted to the modern specifications, so it’s going to take a couple months. The actual Doppler replica kits we buy are designed for street bikes based on racing kits but with way less power. It is to expensive to build a real racing kit like they used to make back in the days, so Didier is going to design a new kit with racing specs for the track but it will be an hybrid model between a low performance street kit and top quality racing kit, to keep it affordable for the racers.

I asked Didier about making better Doppler racing kit air cooled for our Gr1 bikes but he wants to stay away from air cooled engines. The problem at this level of competition when you start porting a 50cc kit for extreme power is that you reach the mechanical limits. At very high rpms an air cooled cylinder heats up, loses power and often seize. It’s very hard to regulate the temperature especially on hot day. Racers end up spending to much time and money replacing their cylinders and pistons after each race. Even though it is more challenging for a new kid who starts moped racing to build a liquid cooled engine with a radiator and a pump, it should be cheaper in the long run with less seizing problems and better performance to win races.

2- I met Hugo Nouzille a young racer from Cyclomania Team owned by his dad Eric Nouzille an ex moped racer and tuner. They won the race this weekend with their crazy high tech Bidalot RS 50cc Gr3 vairated. Well done guys! They were super cool with me. They let me seat on their bike and it felt really tight with motorcycle gp quality. I feel bad for my friend Remi’s Team who dominated the first round but lost the second round because of a broken belt. That’s the nature of the game.

http://cyclomaniateam.skyrock.com

3- I met Julien Dore’ moped racer and owner of MIR 35 moped racing part store online. Some of you might recognize his famous yellow bike. He’s a super cool dude. He had some engine problems last weekend but compensated with his amazing riding skills to finish 5th overall. He gave me some cool racing parts for my future builds in the US, including a copy of the Bidalot engine spring that he manufactures. Thanks man!

http://www.mir35.com/2-cyclos

Photos:

Didier Thomas french master tuner vintage book:

Hugo Nouzille, Dider Thomas the legend and Me:

Hugo, his dad Eric and a young scooter racer:

Julien Dore’ “MIR 35”

Race Results:
1- Hugo Nouzille      – 34pts
2- Rodolphe Sellam     – 33pts
3- Axel Brenon            – 28pts
4- Chi King Hong         – 28pts
5- Julien Doré             – 26pts

Here are the 2 videos of the 1st round taped by Remi from Team Cusso outside the track and on board camera mounted on his Bidalot RS 50cc Gr3 with his pilot Chi King who won that round easy even after missing a turn due to overheating front break. He placed 4th overall but would have probably won the event if he didn’t have problems with a twisted new engine belt in the 2nd round. Not bad for a 50 year old veteran moped racer. Well done Chi King! Remi’s engine rips and sounds a notch better than the other bikes. He’s got the magic touch.

Videos:

Written by tomahawktuning Posted in 50cc French moped racing Tagged with 50cc french moped racing