Flat track Laverda

I remember when they were building that wall of death for Guy's record attempt. He said in an interview that his target was 100mph. I did some sums and figured that at 100mph in the 37.5m diameter wall they were building, he'd be pulling nearly 11G. That's beyond the limit of human endurance, even with special training and wearing a G-suit.

I couldn't believe that nobody had worked out the G-force and advised him what a sensible target speed was for that 37.5m diameter wall, or what diameter of wall he'd need to have a chance at 100mph. So I found the contact details for his agent and sent an email say it would be unwise for him to attempt that sort of speed in the wall they were building. He'd almost certainly lose consciousness, something that's preferably avoided while at speed on a motorcycle. I never got a reply.

In the end he managed 78.15mph, which on that wall was 6.6G. That's not a bad effort when you consider that he was just sitting on a bike with nothing like a jet fighter seat to support his body and not wearing a G-suit. The average person would have blacked out at around 4G in the few seconds it would take to complete 1 lap. He evidently has a high level of fitness, but I reckon he probably felt close to blacking out because he backed off pretty quickly.
 
KLEINDORF said:
Lads: Back about 1998 or so I attended the last AMA mile dirt track at Del Mar (north of San Diego).
There was a demonstration of TWO TZ750 trackers ridden by Jay Springsteen and Scott Parker. Since
I wasn't at Indy in 1975 to see Kenny Roberts win,watching those two legends came pretty damn close.
Both of those guys were not parading but balls out and the sound and spectacle was unbelievable. But,
back on topic,for real Italian stand up and be counted racing try a Benelli 650 as a dirt tracker. Back in the
early 70's a guy connected to Cosmopolitan Motors bravely attempted to race one so kudos to anyone
trying the same with a 750SF.
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I've built a roadrace Benelli 650 twin. Not too bad a motor once you realise some little peculiarities and arrange work-arounds for the worst bits.
Liike most of the flat-trackers it would have been in a specialised frame made by one of the recognised experts.
Probably no better - or worse - than a late unit Triumph for the job.
 
The ice racing that I spoke of Tippe was not speedway, in fact far from it, a track of many corners including right's, but out of neccessity predominately left, but with incline and declines as well, very common in ski territories of Italy and France, byt not very well publicised, they do cars as well as go carts, not just bikes, Riva Valdobia was the track for Ice quake, worth looking up. they take place in ski type chelet areas where you are a few kilometres from the ski lifts, the accomodation is very cheap at the right time of year, but you have to dress for -12c and be sure your bike will run or even start at those temps, tyre spikes are vital as are guards. Tom was UK agent for "Coldcutter" spikes from the US
CLEM
 
CLEMTOG said:
The ice racing that I spoke of Tippe was not speedway, in fact far from it, a track of many corners including right's, but out of neccessity predominately left, but with incline and declines as well, very common in ski territories of Italy and France, byt not very well publicised, they do cars as well as go carts, not just bikes, Riva Valdobia was the track for Ice quake, worth looking up. they take place in ski type chelet areas where you are a few kilometres from the ski lifts, the accomodation is very cheap at the right time of year, but you have to dress for -12c and be sure your bike will run or even start at those temps, tyre spikes are vital as are guards. Tom was UK agent for "Coldcutter" spikes from the US
CLEM
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Sounds like heaps of fun. It is very popular here out in the country for people to mark out a road race type layout on a frozen lake, run a blade in front of a tractor or something to get the snow away, and they run everything that has wheels around it, on tyres usually home made with tek screws through from the inside. Besides cars there are RR bikes as well as go-carts, motocross bikes etc. There are sanctioned national championships, but also plenty of "illegal" weekend gatherings at out of the way lakes. People here are used to starting freezing cold engines. I went to an ice speedway meeting once, it looked pretty brutal with the track all chopped up after a while, bikes really hard to keep on line.
 
GregT said:
I've built a roadrace Benelli 650 twin. Not too bad a motor once you realise some little peculiarities and arrange work-arounds for the worst bits.
Liike most of the flat-trackers it would have been in a specialised frame made by one of the recognised experts.
Probably no better - or worse - than a late unit Triumph for the job.
Click to expand...
One of my customers was praising the Benelli 500 twin he got recently. He told me they are built in China?? 50mm forks ….

Under AU$10k
1644706245811.jpeg
 
chrisk said:
One of my customers was praising the Benelli 500 twin he got recently. He told me they are built in China?? 50mm forks ….
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Benelli is owned by a Chinese company, Qianjiang Motor Group. When QJ bought Benelli, they retained the Italian workforce and kept production going at the Italian factory in Pesaro, on the Adriatic coast (near where Valentino Rossi grew up). The 500cc Benellis are still designed and made at the Pesaro factory. There would be some management input from China, but the bikes are still very much Italian.

Some of the smaller bikes and scooters branded Benelli are made in China.
 
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