Vince Wooloff – My First Rally

Vince Wooloff is the force behind Oddballs, now a regular fixture in the rally calendar, taking place in August at Abingdon Rugby Club. It was his brainchild five years ago, initially as a one-off to remember a close friend who’d died from cancer. Vince organised a weekender to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and it was such a massive success that it has become a regular event.

Originally in April, it now occupies a prime-time position in August and part of the fundraising efforts includes a custom scooter raffle. This year a Vespa PX is being built and will be given a Gatch spray job, with tickets being sold at rallies leading up to the Oddballs weekend. Tickets cost £10 each and are limited to just 1,000 so the odds are much better than the lottery, to win a scooter worth a few grand.

Oddballs now attracts over 2,000 scooterists and Vince always tries to mix it up a bit. This year the fancy dress theme is cowboys and indians, and the Friday night’s entertainment includes a Studio 54-inspired disco and funk session. The custom show attracted 90 scooters last year, and anything goes, from a pristine restored machine to a modded-up Puch Maxi!

Vince’s own scooter is Bedrock, which he lovingly rebuilt 9 years ago having rescued it from some cardboard boxes. He crafted all the leather parts, made panniers, the tool roll and ‘stitched’ leather through the headset and other parts of the scooter.

Here is the story of how Vince got into the scene and how the journey home from his first rally ended really badly!

Vince Wooloff – My first rally

How did you first get into scooters?
Well in 1983 I was in the Royal Navy and based in Yeovil. I was 16 years old and wanted some kind of transport, so ventured into town to look in a bike shop. I was initially looking at getting a motorbike, a Yamaha chop type of bike caught my eye, but next to it was the very latest Vespa PX125E which really DID catch my eye!

So I purchased it but due to my age I couldn’t ride it at that time, so my mum’s brother came to Yeovil to pick it up and ride it back to Oxford. Even now we laugh about that as he was a biker and rode it back in all his leathers and at a running-in speed of 50mph! I’ve never looked back. It’s in the blood, as they say…

What was your first rally?
It was the Isle of Wight in August 1984, but unfortunately due to me being in the Navy it was quite tricky to get time off to do rallies. Luckily for this one the ship I was on was in Portsmouth for a refit and the opportunity was there to go on my first rally so I took it. I rode my PX over on my own, but met up with lads from my home town on site though.

What job were you doing at the time?
Well, as I’ve said, I was a serving member of the Royal Navy where I was a chef. Moneywise, I didn’t earn a great amount as wages weren’t that great, but it was enough for drink, food and more drink

Were you in a club at the time?
No I wasn’t, although I knocked about with several, including Rated X from Wantage and the Oxford Roadrunners.

Where did you stay?
I stayed on the official site, which was just outside of Newport if memory serves me right. 

What memories do you have of the rally?
I don’t have many, as such, as my memory is rubbish, but I must have been a good time as I’m still at it 35 years later.

Was the journey home eventful?
Not from the rally no, as it was a very short journey, but after the rally weekend my first trip back home to Abingdon in Oxfordshire was. I had a hold-all on the back with personal stuff in it like my passport, bank card, chequebook and so on. Anyway after doing 45 miles I pulled over to find hold-all was no longer there! It stressed me out to the max and I never did find it.

What was your favourite custom scooter of the time?
That’s a tricky one. I loved Lambretta chops and still do, ratty ones and full blown paint job ones. I own an 80s classic chopper myself, formally “Rubble Without A Cause” now called “Bedrock”.

What was your favourite rally anthem?
It’s not an anthem as such, but no rally was complete without hearing Binky Baker and Toe Knee Blackburn. I still have my copy of that record. The music I was mad on was psychobilly, and I still love it now.

Do you still have a scooter?
I do yes, a ratty PX166, a Vespa GTS300, and my pride and joy, the Lambretta chopper.

What do scooters mean to you now?
Well, being within the scene has bought many top people into my life. I used to take hundreds of pics of scooters, but now I’d rather take pics of the owners, especially as we get older and we now start to lose good friends. The people are what make good memories

My time now is spent organising a big rally in the heart of Oxfordshire called “Oddballs Rally”. It’s now in its fifth year and from the previous four we have handed over £28,000 to the Teenage Cancer Trust, plus £1000 to CLIC Sargent which supports young people with cancer and £1000 to Scotty’s Little Soldiers which supports children who have lost a parent whilst serving in the British Armed Forces.

I don’t hold back when booking bands, and last year we had rally legends King Kurt plus six other top bands, and this year we have a rare performance from another legendary band The Highliners, and again six other top bands. In the past two years we have given away a full blown custom scooter in the raffle, each time painted by Gatch, and we have another of his creations for this year’s rally.

We pull in over 2000 people to this rally. It is a tiring event to host, but seeing so many smiles from rally-goers and knowing the money I raise makes a massive difference for those who need it most, that’s what drives me.

I am already in full 2020 rally mode, having sorted the services of the top two psychobilly bands going. We will have King Kurt Back again, plus Demented Are Go, and Oddballs will be the first ever rally to have these performing at.

Thanks so much to Vince for sharing his story and the great photos!

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Read more My First Rally stories using these links (in alphabetic order)
– Ali Richards
– Bill Mac
– Dave Lloyd
– Dean Percival
– Dizzy Holmes
– Iggy Grainger
– Jo Jackson
– Lee Parker
– Lee Richards
– Mike Oxley
– Niamh Pennington
– Nick Jolly
– Norrie Kerr
– Roger Williams
– Sandra Smith
– Sarah George
– Sean Robinson
– Stacey Gardner
– Steve Bone
– Sticky
– Stuart Owen
– Vince Wooloff