Report From Italy
REPORT FROM ITALY
CARLO PERELLI
IMOLA 200 MILES
At long last, a race where Ago and his MV didn’t play their usual role! It was the Daytona-style Imola “200 Miles,” where the ten times world champion and his mount were only 3rd fastest in practice and in the race were kept in 3rd position before retiring for unspecified “engine troubles.”
The prospect of watching Ago on even terms with at least a handful of other riders attracted 70,000 people to the hillish track, a figure not attained in Italy since the 1953-1956 “golden days.”
Ducati made the greatest effort for this new event and was well rewarded. Under “desmodromic wizard” Ing. Taglioni’s supervision, no less than eight VTwins were prepared for works riders Smart (on loan from Kawasaki), Spaggiari, Giuliano and Dunscombe. With 40mm Dellortos, 10:1 compression ratio and desmo heads, these V-Twin five-speeds gave 85 bhp to the rear wheel at 8800 rpm, with the possibility to rev up to 10,000 rpm in the lower gears. Their weight was limited to 356 lb.
At the Daytona-type start, with the 41 riders sent off in two “waves” separated by 6 sec., Ago shot into the lead and hotly defended it for three laps. His shaft drive four-cylinder, though, was not exactly “steady” while braking and changing down hard. Then, Spaggiari and Smart, already fastest in practice, mercilessly overtook him, opening a “safety gap” of 10 sec.
With the bike getting lighter because of fuel consumption, Agostini reported slightly better handling and tried to counterattack. He equalized the fastest lap recorded by both Spaggiari and Smart, gaining a few seconds on the Ducati0, but then he lost them in a longer refueling (four-stroke bikes only stopped once for that operation) and finally on the 42nd of 64 laps he freewheeled to the pits with a silent engine. “It is our very first experience in this kind of racing,” said racing chief Arturo Magni,” and we are not unhappy about it.” He refused, in the best MV tradition, to give some data on the bike, only specifying that the weight could not be reduced under the figure of 385 lb.
With two laps to go and no peril in sight, the Ducati pit crew signalled Spaggiari and Smart “the best of you may win.” Spaggiari, 39-year-old Italian veteran, in one of the best rides of his career, overtook his English teammate in the winding part of the course at the last lap, but then his engine started spluttering for lack of fuel and much to his despair he had to watch Smart go ahead to take-the checkered flag first! Soon after the finishing line, Smart’s bike also started coughing for the same reason.... The Ducati people made strict consumption calculations indeed!
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After Ago’s disappearance, 3rd place was firmly held by Walter Villa on a nearly standard Triumph Trident entered by the Italian importer, a surprising performance considering the participation of the semi-works “Threes” of Cooper, Tait, Pickrell and Jefferies, plus the Players-Norton of Williams, Read and Rutter, and the works Moto Guzzi straddled by Mandracci, Findlay and Brambilla Vittorio as well as the works Suzuki.
But the bikes coming from England (including the Gus Kuhn Nortons and the Boyers Triumphs) didn’t put on a good show. Cooper retired with carburetor troubles. Tait was sidelined by a broken rear hub. Williams was a late starter and then disappeared with a broken valve. Rutter was handicapped by a failing clutch. Like at Daytona, Reed was best, although his right hand> was aching from a crash in practice. Clearly underpowered for such an event (although “steadier” than Ago’s MV), the works Moto Guzzis survived the whole distance, finishing 8th, 10th and 11th while the two other Ducatis disappeared but not for mechanical troubles—Dunscombe crashed, suffering a broken collarbone (the only race accident); and Giuliano had to stop for a sudden physical indisposition.
The “strokers” failed on the Imola track: 4th fastest in practice, ex-world champion Simmonds retired right at the first lap with his special framed Kawasaki Three owing to gearbox troubles. Bertarelli stopped for ignition troubles on his Suzuki. First “stroker” rider, in 16th place and five laps down on the winner, was Frenchman Offenstadt on his special frame Kawasaki, followed by American Ron Grant on a 500 Suzuki. Lap times for both were slightly inferior to Ago’s record set up in 1970 with the 500 MV Three.
As for the prizes, Smart enjoyed his 29th birthday by taking home the prize money plus the bike, a nice souvenir from Ducati.
Of the three Americans who crossed the ocean to compete at Imola, best placing was done by Grant. Don Emde, not at all happy with his Gus Kuhn Norton right from practice, lost no less than four laps at the start for combined ignition and clutch troubles, then again suffered misfiring during the race. He finished 20th with 49 laps. Cliff Carr, on a magnesium wheeled Kawasaki, was eliminated early with ignition troubles.
IMOLA RESULTS
1. Smart (Ducati) 66 laps. 2. Spaggiari (Ducati). 3. W. Villa (Triumph). 4. Read (Norton). 5. Pickrell (Triumph). 6. Jefferies (Triumph). 7. Williams (Honda). 8. Brambilla V. (Guzzi). 9. Brettoni (Laverda). 10. Findlay (Guzzi). 11. ^landracci (Guzzi). 12. Smith (Honda). |f3. Daehne (BMW). 14. Anelli (Honda). 15. Oxford (BSA).
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HOPIS ARE COMING
The Aspes “Hopi” (from the name of an Indian tribe), introduced at the Milan Show, is the first all-Italian 125 MX bike to appear successfully in competition.
It comes from a young and dynamic firm based at Gallarate, near the MV works, and it has been designed by an enthusiastic team of specialists with competition-use only in mind. A separate factory has been organized to build the engine, employing only racing mechanics, yet the “Hopi” costs in Italy only $900 with the five-speed gearbox and slightly more with the six-speed.
The orthodox two-stroke engine is fed by a 29mm “concentric.” Ignition is electronic. Fuel is delivered through four or five transfer ports according to> individual needs. Other interesting fea tures are the horizontally split crank case, with deep finning around the crankshaft chamber, the straight cut primary gears on the right, the dry clutch with diaphragm spring also on the right, the extremely wide (31 cm) head-cylinder with light alloy finning, the thick iron barrel, the sturdy crank shaft incorporating light alloy bob weights and the light alloy (ergal) hand made roller cages fOr the big and small con rod ends.
With 12.5: 1 compression ratio and 25:1 gas-oil mixture, the "Hopi" enjoys 20 bhp at the rear wheel at 8500 rpm, with good pulling coming in already from 5000 rpm. The sturdy and classic designed frame has adjustable conic roller bearings at the steering head and silent block bushes for the rear swinging arm. The front fork is manufactured by Aspes while the rear shocks come from Girling. Tires are 2.5 1-21 front and 3.50-18 rear. Weight is 187 lb.
SENSATION FROM PESARO
Little new has appeared on the roads from Benelli since the Pesaro firm was taken over one year ago by the Fordowned De Tomaso car factory. How ever, well-informed sources report sensa tional programs taking shape in the form of a 750 six-cylinder as well as a 350 and 500 four-cylinder, all fourstrokes. We are anxiously awaiting them.
LAVERDA WINS MARATHON
First of the 1972 Italian marathons for strictly production machines, the Modena "500 kms" was run in pouring rain. It again proved a complete success for the SF-C 750 Laverda, recently described by CW, which finished 1st, 2nd and 4th. Another Laverda was sidelined in a crash while leading and it was the only retiree out of eight starters. Only decent shows from other bikes came from Honda 750 (in 3rd place) and a Kawasaki 750 (in 6th place). Moto Guzzis suffered gearbox and valve troubles and all disappeared; Ducatis proved not fast and plagued by ignition troubles. Some Moto Guzzis were trying out new rain-type tires specially developed by the French Michelin factory. They offered good grip but wore out too quickly; in fact a rear wheel change was requested at approximately 250 miles. [Ô]
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