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1951 Lambretta 250 ohc v - twin .....

Not put into production ... but thought to be a warning shot aimed at motorcycle manufacturers in Italy ..... saying if you enter the scooter market and try to pinch sales from us , we can just as easily enter the motorcycle market and pinch sales from you .......
 
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1967 and this neatly dressed pleasant looking young man is actually motorcycle leaping , canyon jumping , serial womanising , bar room fighting , baseball bat wielding , bone breaking ( not just his own ) , all -American legend Evel Knievel .......
 
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No Laverda involvement ......but read this and just bear in mind this was a 1973 round of the FIM Formula 750 World Championship ... !! ....

Hopefully things have moved on since then and clowns are no longer in charge of the Circus ......This was also the year when Jarno Saarinen and Renzo Pasolini were killed at Monza ....another circuit where profit counted over rider safety ......the race continued for another two laps after this fatal colllision before being stopped , officials in the race control room refusing to listen to pleas for the race to be stopped , and threatening to call the police to eject those who were trying to make them see sense ....

A couple of weeks later another race was due to be held , and the Monza organisers were asked to station an ambulance at the Curve Grande where the Saarinen / Pasolini fatal accident had occurred ..... this request was refused , and more fatalities occured at the same spot later that day ......

As a result Kenny Roberts and several other top riders attempted to set up the World Series Grand Prix Championship , in an effort to take GP motorcycle racing out of the hands of the FIM , and place it in the hands a more responsible organisation , but this never happened ......
 
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They were certainly dangerous days, and track safety was very much an after thought.
I will always remember the Charlie Williams’ anecdote of racing at Macau back in the day. The organisers would tie mattresses from the local barracks to the Armco to offer a bit of protection to the bike riders who crashed. However, there were complaints from the riders there weren’t enough. They were then informed by the organisers they had found around another 30 mattresses, and asked where did they want them. Kiwi Graeme Crosby was quick to respond with, ‘if you strap them to the front of each bike we will at least have a chance of hitting one if we crash.’ 🤣
 
Just read through the TT F1 article...

Stated valve sizes are a load of bullshit, a bore of more than 80mm would be required to accomodate them!

AfaIk, 34mm exhaust was paired with 40.5mm inlet (same as 1000SFC and RGS Corsa), about the largest that fits safely in the head. Any bigger, the valves will tangle with the P1 cams that were used in the TT F1. Even with these sizes, set-up and revs(!) are critical.

Sometime around 1983, when I was hell-bent to fit "Jota" exhaust valves, Cico confided to me these were the sizes used in the '70s works triples. The 40.5 were available as a racing option at the time.

piet
 
sfcpiet said:
Just read through the TT F1 article...

Stated valve sizes are a load of bullshit, a bore of more than 80mm would be required to accomodate them!

AfaIk, 34mm exhaust was paired with 40.5mm inlet (same as 1000SFC and RGS Corsa), about the largest that fits safely in the head. Any bigger, the valves will tangle with the P1 cams that were used in the TT F1. Even with these sizes, set-up and revs(!) are critical.

Sometime around 1983, when I was hell-bent to fit "Jota" exhaust valves, Cico confided to me these were the sizes used in the '70s works triples. The 40.5 were available as a racing option at the time.

piet
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I wouldn`t be surprised that when the article was being prepared for publication , the sub editor or whoever , when reading the notes scribbled down by Alan Cathcart during his conversation with Massimo Laverda ( this was 1983 remember ) , mis-read the 34 and took it as being 39 ......just my theory / possible explanation ....... always a possibility with these old articles that were compiled over a cup of coffee , with a cigarette , on an old fashioned keyboard ..... ! .......
 
rocketonarail said:
1973 Imola 1000 ........ not quite able to grab an overall win ...... Gallinas SFC features in a nice colour photo on the cover of the Marnix / Tim Isles book .
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…but they were up there with the highly experimental works racers, Brettoni/Loigo 3rd in first leg, Gallina/Nicola 2nd in second leg. Gallina’s SFC snapped the single row cam chain in the first leg. See Brettoni flat out in picture.

Marnix
 

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MarnixSFC said:
…but they were up there with the highly experimental works racers, Brettoni/Loigo 3rd in first leg, Gallina/Nicola 2nd in second leg. Gallina’s SFC snapped the single row cam chain in the first leg. See Brettoni flat out in picture.

Marnix
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Nice clear view of generator replacing dynamo ..... I think I read somewhere that the extra weight on the end of the crank was the cause of some failures ... ? .....

BTW it looks like in the pic that the rear wheel bearings are about go .... ! .... just the angle I guess .... haven`t seen many pics of an SFC being ridden WFO like that ...... good stuff .
 
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