The Future is Orange!

It’s been a bit of a mad rush but I am now the owner of a second Benelli… a 2003 Tornado Tre which was once an insurance write-off and was then converted for track use and raced for several seasons by the previous owner, Pete Tindall.

I’d been thinking of booking some track-days this year but was a bit nervous about doing any damage to my Tornado – they are pretty rare and parts are hard to find, and expensive. So if I were to use my current bike I’d have to get a fibreglass fairing for track use, some spare wheels, replace exposed things like pegs and levers so that I could keep the originals undamaged, and so on. All of which costs money – maybe £2,000, plus the hassle of swapping all the bits every time I switch from track to road use and back.

As if by magic, last week there suddenly appeared on Ebay a Benelli Tornado Race bike – ready to go, for £2,500. Needs new tyres and the fairing has a few knocks but basically sound. So I thought about it for 15 minutes and then clicked the button marked “Buy it Now!”

Picked it up on Sunday and it is now sat in my garage next to the green & silver standard bike which I can now preserve in it’s existing state.

More pics of the ongoing project on flickr…

2003 Benelli Tornado track bike

• PowerComander PCIII, dyno tuned
• Techtronics quickshifter
• quick-action throttle
• Dymag Magnesium wheels
• Maxton suspension
• extra radiator to improve cooling