Showing posts with label Giacomo Agostini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giacomo Agostini. Show all posts

28 February 2021

Domenico Agusta - entrepreneur

Sicilian count who founded MV Agusta motorcycle company

Domenico Agusta founded MV Agusta in 1945
Domenico Agusta founded
MV Agusta in 1945
Count Domenico Agusta, who founded the all-conquering MV Agusta motorcycle company in 1945, was born on this day in 1907 in Palermo.

Originally set up as a means of keeping the family’s aeronautical company in business after aircraft production in Italy was banned as part of the post World War II peace treaty with the Allies, MV Agusta became such a giant of motorcycle racing that their bikes claimed 38 MotoGP world titles in the space of 22 years as well as 34 victories in the prestigious Isle of Man Tourist Trophy.

MV Agusta made world champions of eight different riders, including two of the greatest Italians in motorcycle racing history, Giacomo Agostini and Carlo Ubbiali. Agostini won 13 of his record 15 world titles riding for MV Agusta.

Domenico Agusta was the son of Giovanni Agusta and hailed from a Sicilian family with aristocratic roots.  Both father and son exercised their right to use the title of count.

Agusta senior designed and built his first aeroplane in 1907, the year of Domenico’s birth.  After serving as a volunteer in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12, Giovanni moved the family north, where he believed there would be greater opportunities to develop his aviation business.  They settled in Cascina Costa, a village near the Lombardy town of Samarate, close to where the aeronautical pioneer Gianni Caproni had established an airfield on the site of what is now Milan Malpensa international airport.

Domenico quickly became interested in flying and at 19 he was among the first to serve in the Regia Aeronautica, Italy’s new autonomous aviation armed force, based at Malpensa.

Giacomo Agostino leads Britain's Phil Read in a 350cc race in 1971
Giacomo Agostino leads Britain's Phil Read
in a 350cc race in 1971
His father had set up a company manufacturing aeroplanes but it was in only its fifth year when he died, in 1927, at the age of just 48. Domenico, the eldest of four brothers, suddenly found himself effectively in charge of the business, alongside his mother, Giuseppina.

For the next 12 years, the company had full order books.  However, all that changed in the aftermath of the Second World War.  The Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 outlawed the manufacture of aircraft in Italy, sounding the death knell for businesses such as Agusta.

Thankfully, Count Domenico had already turned his thoughts towards diversifying and had proposed motorcycle production as a new line of business, anticipating that a country impoverished by war would have a need for the inexpensive means of transport that motorcycles could provide. By August 1943, in a workshop at Verghera, another village near Samarate, he had developed a 98 cc single-cylinder two-stroke engine and in January 1945 he registered a new company, Meccanica Verghera Srl, for its manufacture.

He wanted to call the light motorcycle he unveiled at a dealership in Milan the following October the Vespa 98, only to find that the Vespa name - the Italian word for wasp - had already been claimed by another manufacturer, Enrico Piaggio, for his motor scooter.  He settled instead for calling it simply the MV98, going into mass production in 1946. 

The famous MV Agusta logo familiar to MotoGP fans for more than 20 years
The famous MV Agusta logo familiar
to MotoGP fans for almost 30 years
From the outset, Count Domenico wanted to be involved with motorcycle racing, which by then had been in existence as a sport since the early part of the century.  Like Enzo Ferrari in the world of four wheels, he saw success on the track translating into increased sales for the road, and increased sales as the means to fund success on the track.

It is thought the first victory by an MV98 came in October 1946 in a road race held at La Spezia in Liguria, ridden by Vincenzo Nincioni. By the following year, bigger engines were beginning to dominate and Agusta moved quickly to develop 125cc and 250cc machines to compete in two of the classifications that were becoming standard.  Franco Bertoni registered the marque’s first track victory in 1947 and won the 125cc Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1948.

Although Ubbiali would put MV Agusta firmly on the map, winning the 125cc world championship five years in a row between 1955 and 1960 and taking the 250cc title in three of those five years, it was an Englishman, Cecil Sandford, who had become MV’s first world champion, winning the 125cc crown in 1952. Three other British riders - Jon Surtees, Mike Hailwood and Phil Read - became major players in the company’s track success, winning 13 world titles between them, although their achievements would ultimately be put in the shade by Agostini.

The MV Agusta team took 37 constructors’ championships as well before retiring from racing in 1976, having clocked up 270 GP race victories.

Meanwhile, after the ban on aircraft manufacture in Italy was lifted in 1950, Count Domenico had begun to build helicopters under licence for Bell, the American company, before entering into similar arrangements with Sikorsky, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas.   He also moved into automobile production, acquiring the OSCA-Maserati company from the Maserati brothers in 1963.

Like his father, Count Domenico died relatively young, passing away in his apartment on Milan’s Piazza Sant’Erasmo in 1971 at the age of 63, having a few days earlier suffered a heart attack.

Helicopters on display outside the MV Agusta museum in Cascina Costa
Helicopters on display outside the MV Agusta
museum in Cascina Costa
Travel tip:

The headquarters of MV Agusta is nowadays in Varese but Samarate retains its link with the family through Leonardo Helicopters, which is based, like the original Agusta aviation company set up by Giovanni Agusta, in Cascina Costa.  Leonardo was formerly known as AgustaWestland. A town of 16,500 inhabitants approximately 40km (25 miles) northwest of Milan and 25km (16 miles) south of Varese, it is only a short distance from the perimeter of Milan Malpensa airport.  Motorcycle fans will be keen to visit the Agusta Museum in Via Giovanni Agusta in Cascina Costa, which has an impressive collection of motorcycles and helicopters for a modest entry price.

Raphael's The Marriage of the Virgin in the Brera gallery
Raphael's The Marriage of the
Virgin
in the Brera gallery
Travel tip:

Count Domenico Agusta’s apartment in Milan was close to the Brera quarter, which is one of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, situated a short distance from the Castello Sforza and the Parco Sempione. Famous for its Bohemian atmosphere, it is home to the Brera Academy of fine arts and the city’s largest art gallery Milan, the Pinacoteca di Brera, which includes works by Andrea Mantegna, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Raphael, Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Piero della Francesca and other painters of the Renaissance, as well as more modern works. The surrounding streets contain many popular restaurants. 

Also on this day:

1740 (Feb 29): The death of music and art patron Pietro Ottoboni

1915: The birth of juice and jam maker Karl Zuegg

1940: The birth of racing driver Mario Andretti

1942: The birth of footballer and coach Dino Zoff


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22 September 2017

Carlo Ubbiali - motorcycle world champion

Racer from Bergamo won nine GP titles


(This article was written in 2017; sadly, Ubbiali passed away in 2020 at the age of 90)

Carlo Ubbiali, who preceded Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi as Italy’s first great motorcycling world champion, was born on this day in 1929 in Bergamo.

Ubbiali, racing a bike equipped with subsequently outlawed 'dustbin' fairing, in action at his peak in the 1950s
Ubbiali, racing a bike equipped with subsequently outlawed
'dustbin' fairing, in action at his peak in the 1950s
Between 1951 and 1960, he won nine Grand Prix titles, in the 250cc and 125cc categories, setting a record for the most world championships that was equalled by Britain’s Mike Hailwood in 1967 but not surpassed until Agostini won the 10th of his 15 world titles in 1971.

Ubbiali is the second oldest surviving Grand Prix champion after Britain’s Cecil Sandford, who was his teammate in the 1950s. Ubbiali’s compatriot Agostini, who came from nearby Lovere, in Bergamo province, is 75.

Ubbiali won a total of 39 Grand Prix races, all bar two of them for the MV Agusta team.  Three times – in 1956, 1959 and 1960 – he was world champion in 125cc and 250cc classes, and on no fewer than five occasions, including both categories in 1956, he won the title with the maximum number of points possible under the scoring system.

He was also a five-times winner at the prestigious Isle of Man TT festival and six-times Italian champion.

Even at the age of 71, pictured here riding in a MV Agusta reunion event, Ubbiali had not lost his skills
Even at the age of 71, pictured here riding in a MV Agusta
reunion event, Ubbiali had not lost his skills
Unlike many of his contemporaries in a sport that was even more dangerous in his era than it is today, Ubbiali retired in 1960 without ever having suffered a major crash.

During his active years, motorcycle Grand Prix races claimed 34 fatalities in competition. He had just lost his brother, Maurizio, and was also planning a wedding when he decided to call time, reasoning that motorcycle racing was not a suitable career for a prospective husband and father.

Ubbiali was familiar with bikes from an early age, thanks to his father, who sold and maintained motorcycles from his workshop/showroom in Bergamo.

He competed for the first time in the Coppa di Bergamo in 1946, alongside brothers Maurizio and Franco, and won, although it was a triumph tainted by tragedy.  Following the post-race celebrations, two family friends were killed in an accident on their way home.

Ubbiali’s relationship with MV Agusta began in 1948, when his father obtained the rights to sell the bikes from his showroom. The company – Meccanica Verghera Agusta – was a new and ambitious enterprise set up in a small town northwest of Milan, as a postwar offshoot of the Agusta aviation company.

Carlo Ubbiali, pictured in 2010
Carlo Ubbiali, pictured in 2010
Invited to take part in some trial races for MV Agusta, Ubbiali impressed enough that, after finishing second in a race to mark the re-opening of the Monza circuit – badly damaged during the Second World War – he earned a place on their team in the inaugural GP world championship in 1949, making his debut in the Swiss GP

In the same year he won the gold medal at the prestigious International Six-Day Time Trial, on that occasion held in Wales.

Soon in demand, he accepted an offer to ride for FB-Mondial, which was the most successful manufacturer at the time and after scoring his first race victory in the Ulster GP of 1950 Ubbiali was crowned 125cc world champion for the first time in 1951, winning a five-race series.  It was a reflection of how Italy dominated motorcycle racing at the time that 12 of the 17 riders who took part were Italian.

Beaten to the 1952 title by Sandford, he accepted MV Agusta’s offer to join the Englishman in their garage the following year, beginning a relationship with the team that would yield eight world titles in six seasons between 1955 and 1960.

Ubbiali’s racing style earned him the nickname “The Fox” on the basis that he was a cunning tactician, content to bide his time in a race while he studied the behaviour and tactics of his opponents, before attacking in the final stages.

In an era that was much less politically correct than today, he was also known as Il Cinesino - “The Little Chinaman” – on account of nothing more than his physical appearance, quite small and with almond shaped eyes.

Nine times a winner of what was then called the Nations Grand Prix on his home circuit at Monza, he finished his career there by winning in both the 125cc and 250cc categories, which gave him the title in both classes for the second year running.

After his retirement, he took over the running of his father’s business in Bergamo and continued to attend motorcycle events in consultancy roles.  He was also instrumental, through his friendship with Count Domenico Agusta, the company’s co-owner, in securing a place for a then 21-year-old Agostini on the MV Agusta team,

Ubbiali was indicted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2001.

Bergamo's Piazza Vecchia is a beautiful square
Travel tip:

Bergamo, situated 40km (25 miles) northeast of Milan, is in a way two cities in one.  Its historic heart, perched on a ridge, is the Città Alta, which boasts many examples of magnificent architecture of the 12th century onwards; spreading out below is the vast expanse of the Città Bassa, more modern but with an elegance of its own.  The old, upper city is surrounded by impressively forbidding walls, built by the Venetians in the 16th century and granted UNESCO Heritage Site status in 2017. The Città Alta, with the beautiful Piazza Vecchia at its core, is small and can be explored easily on foot; the Città Bassa and suburbs cover a broad area of around 500,000 residents.

Motorcycles on display at Museo Agusto
Motorcycles on display at Museo Agusto
Travel tip:

Examples of MV Agusta’s historic motorcycles can be seen at the fascinating Museo Agusta at the company’s original headquarters in Cascina Costa, a district of Samarate, about 45km (28 miles) northwest of Milan. Agusta was formerly a aviation company manufacturing helicopters and continued to do so until it disappeared in a merger in 2000. The motorcycle manufacturing offshoot is now based in Varese.  The museum is open on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons and both in the morning and afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, with an entrance fee of just €2.50 (€1.50 concessions).






17 May 2017

Luca Cadalora - motorcycle world champion

Modena rider won titles in 125cc and 250cc categories


Luca Cadalora in action in 1993
Luca Cadalora in action in 1993
Luca Cadalora, the motorcycle racer who was three times a world champion, was born on this day in 1963 in Modena, Emilia Romagna.

Currently working as coach to Italy’s seven-times world champion Valentino Rossi, Cadalora began his professional motorcycle racing career in 1984, riding an MBA in the 125cc world championship.

He picked up a respectable 27 points to finish eighth in his debut season, his best performance a second place in the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, but had a very disappointing second season, finishing only three races to collect a meagre four points.

His switch to the Garelli team, the dominant force at the time in the 125cc class, catapulted him to fame.

Cadalora and team-mate Fausto Gresini, his fellow Italian, battled it out for the title through the season, each finishing with four wins. Cadalora took the upper hand by winning four of the first seven races and it was his consistency over the campaign that clinched the title. He failed to complete only one of 11 races and finished in the top four in the other 10, finishing runner-up in his last three to pip Gresini by 114 points to 109.

Cadalora is now coach to  Valentino Rossi
Cadalora is now coach to
Valentino Rossi
That success earned him a promotion to the 250cc class with Giacomo Agostini's Marlboro Yamaha factory racing team in 1986.  Again he was competitive consistently, improving year by year, finishing seventh, sixth, fifth and third for Agostini.

But again it was a switch of team that made the difference.  With five GP wins under his belt, he switched to the Rothmans Honda factory racing team in 1991.

Winning an impressive eight races, he roared to his first 250cc world championship aboard an Erv Kanemoto-tuned Honda NSR250, collecting 237 points.  This time his closest rival was the German Helmut Bradl, who won five races, but fell 17 points short of his rival.

Cadalora successfully defended his title with Honda in 1992, claiming his third world championship.  Bradl failed to win a single GP this time and Cadalora won by a much wider margin, beating the Italian Loris Reggiani, riding for Aprilia, by 44 points.

In 1993 he graduated to the blue riband 500cc division as Wayne Rainey's team mate in the Kenny Roberts-Yamaha team.

Seven-times world MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi teamed up with Cadalora in 2016
Seven-times world MotoGP champion Valentino
Rossi teamed up with Cadalora in 2016
In three seasons on the Roberts Yamaha, he displayed flashes of brilliance and usual consistency, winning two GPs in each of those seasons and finishing as high as second to Mick Doohan in 1994.

Cadalora rejoined Kanemoto for the 1996 season racing a Honda NSR500. Despite lacking any major sponsors, he still managed to finish the season in third place aboard the Kanemoto-Honda.

For the 1997 season, he was contracted as official Yamaha rider in the new Promotor Racing team backed by an Austrian businessman.   After only a handful of races, however, the team collapsed due to financial problems. WCM rescued the team with the help of a Red Bull sponsorship and Cadalora ended the season in sixth place.

At the beginning of the 1998 season, WCM and Cadalora lost Yamaha official support. He returned to the Rainey-Yamaha works team for a few races to replace an injured Jean-Michel Bayle, then helped develop the new MuZ race bike.

Cadalora finished his career with Kenny Roberts' Modenas team in 2000, retiring with 34 Grand Prix victories in his three classes.

In 2016, Cadalora returned to the top level of motorcycle racing as trackside coach to Valentino Rossi, the all-time great among Italian riders, helping him finish second in the MotoGP class for the third year running as he strives to equal his compatriot, Giacomo Agostini’s record of eight world titles in the 500cc/Moto GP category.

He has signed on for a second year, with Rossi leading the field after the first four races.

Modena's cathedral is on Piazza Grande at the heart of the city
Modena's cathedral is on Piazza Grande
at the heart of the city
Travel tip:

Cadalora’s home city of Modena is one of Italy’s most pedestrian-friendly cities, its historic centre off limits to traffic except for residents, commercial operators and tourists staying at city centre hotels with special permits. The centre is walkable, with most of the main sights enclosed within the former city walls.  The cobbled Piazza Grande is the heart of the city and is where visitors can find the city’s cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta and consecrated in 1184, and the 86-metre tall Ghirlandia Tower.

Travel tip:

During his two 250cc world title seasons,  Cadalora won the Italian GP both years, the second time at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany. The Mugello is a historic region in northern Tuscany, which takes its name from the Mugello river. Located north of Florence, the region was occupied by the Etruscans, who have left many archeological traces, and subsequently colonised by the Romans. The towns of Borgo San Lorenzo, Scarperia and San Piero a Sieve are part of the Mugello.


More reading:


The 15 world titles of Giacomo Agostini

How Valentino Rossi joined the all-time greats





16 February 2017

Valentino Rossi - motorcycle world champion

Rider from Urbino among his sport's all-time greats



Valentino Rossi is still chasing his 10th world championship title at the age of 38
Valentino Rossi is still chasing his 10th world
championship title at the age of 38
Valentino Rossi, the motorcycle racer whose seven 500cc or MotoGP world titles have established him as one of the sport's all-time greats, was born on this day in 1979 in Urbino.

Only his fellow Italian, Giacomo Agostini, the eight-times world champion, has more 500cc or MotoGP titles than Rossi, whose total of 88 race victories in the premier classification is the most by any rider.

Across all engine sizes, he has been a world champion nine times, behind only Agostini (15) and Spain's Ángel Nieto, who specialised in 50cc and 125cc classes.  Britain's Mike Hailwood and Italy's 1950s star Carlo Ubbiali also won nine world titles each.

Still competing at the highest level even at 38 years old, Rossi has not won the world title since 2009 but he has been runner-up for the last three seasons and will attempt to reclaim the crown from Spain's Marc Márquez when the 2017 season begins next month.

The two riders represent the dominant manufacturers in MotoGP, Marquez riding for Honda and Rossi, for whom this will be his 18th season in the class, for their Japanese rivals Yamaha.

Valentino Rossi in action on the Yamaha YXR-M1 on which he won the 2005 MotoGP world title
Valentino Rossi in action on the Yamaha YXR-M1
on which he won the 2005 MotoGP world title
Rossi came from a motorcycling family, his father Graziano having competed on the grand prix circuit himself between 1977 and 1982. He won three races in the 250cc category in 1979, when he finished third in the overall classification.

When Valentino was still a child, the family moved to Tavullia, a small town between Urbino and Pesaro, on the Adriatic coast

Graziano's career was ended by an accident and Valentino's mother, Stefania, concerned for her son's safety, encouraged him to race on four wheels rather than two and his first love was karting.

However, after trying out in mini-motos it quickly became clear where his talent would take him after he was regional champion in 1992 at the age of 13.

The next few years saw him quickly rise through the ranks of road racing. After winning the Italian 125cc championship in 1995, when he also finished third in the 125cc European championship, he was given a ride in the world championship the following year.

Rossi (centre) in action on his way to winning the 2009 MotoGP world title
Rossi (centre) in action on his way to winning
the 2009 MotoGP world title
By 1997 he was world champion, the youngest in history in the 125cc class, storming to 11 race victories for Aprilia.  Moving up to 250cc class, it took Rossi only two seasons to conquer the world at that level too, winning the title in 1999, again for Aprilia.

The pattern continued when he joined forces with Honda in the 500cc class. Runner-up in his first season, he again won the world title at just the second attempt, in 2001 becoming the final 500cc world champion before the launch of MotoGP in 2002.

By then without doubt the best rider on the planet, Rossi proceeded to win the first four MotoGP world titles, making history after his second win for Honda in 2003 by retaining the crown after his switch to Yamaha in 2004, the first rider in the history of the sport to win back-to-back premier class races for different manufacturers.

By winning nine out of 16 races, he gave Yamaha their first title for 12 years, fully justifying their decision to break the bank in order to get their man, signing him up on two-year contract reportedly worth $12 million. The money was too much for Honda and ended the romantic notion that Rossi might join the Italian team, Ducati.

Rossi dominated the 2005 season as well, this time winning 11 races and helping Yamaha celebrate their 50th anniversary by winning the manufacturers' and team titles.

Rossi signing autographs during the 2015 season
Rossi signing autographs during the 2015 season
In 2011, Rossi did eventually satisfy the Italian fans by joining Ducati, by which time he had two more world titles under his belt in the 500cc/MotoGP class, bringing his total to seven. But his two seasons with the Bologna-based team were barren ones, yielding not one race victory and only three finishes on the podium.

He returned to Yamaha for the 2012 season and though he has yet to clinch the 10th world title he craves, his three runner-up positions suggest he is still very much a contender.

Rossi, who tested for the Ferrari Formula One team in 2006 before deciding he would stick with two wheels, is one of the world's highest paid sportsmen.  Fiercely protective of his private life, Rossi lived for a time in Milan before moving to London, where the high concentration of wealthy celebrities enabled him to live without quite the same level of attention as at home.

Nowadays, he is back in Italy, living in a secluded property not far from his family.  Although he has had a number of relationships, he remains single, the one constant love of his life being the Internazionale football team.

Awarded an honorary degree by the University of Urbino in 2005, he is said to enjoy his nickname on the circuit of il Dottore - the Doctor.

UPDATE: Some 28 years since his first competitive rides, Rossi finally retired from the pursuit of glory on two wheels at the end of the 2021 MotoGP season. He now races sports cars in the GT World Challenge series, in which he notched his first victory at Misano on the Adriatic coast of Italy in 2023, driving a BMW M4 GT3. In his personal life, he became a father in 2022 when his partner, Francesca Sofia Novello, gave birth to their daughter, Giulietta.

The ducal palace in Urbino
The ducal palace in Urbino
Travel tip:

Urbino, a relatively small hill town in Le Marche, is an important place in the cultural history of Italy. Enclosed within defensive walls, it has been granted UNESCO World Heritage status for representing 'a pinnacle of Renaissance art and architecture,' The principal tourist site is the palace built there by the military leader Duke Federico da Montefeltro, who maintained a court in Urbino in the 15th century. The palace houses the National Gallery of Le Marche.  From Piazza della Repubblica at the centre of Urbino, the Via Vittorio Veneto leads to the Ducal Palace, while in the opposite direction, the Via Raffaello leads past the house where the great Renaissance painter and architect Raphael was born.

Hotels in Urbino by Booking.com

The Teatro Rossini in Pesaro, the  birthplace of the opera composer
The Teatro Rossini in Pesaro, the
birthplace of the opera composer
Travel tip:

Pesaro is a thriving holiday resort with many of the characteristics of seaside towns on the Adriatic coast, boasting a long, sandy beach lined with innumerable hotels. It is popular with Italian visitors in particular, with foreign tourists more likely to chose Rimini, 40km (25 miles) up the coast. Pesaro also has a significant cultural tradition, mainly due to it being the birthplace of the great opera composer, Gioachino Rossini, whose memory is honoured with an opera festival staged in August every year.





1970: The birth of footballer Angelo Peruzzi

(Picture credits: Main Rossi picture by Hanson K Joseph; 2005 Yamaha by ozzzie; 2009 action by Robert Scoble; Rossi signing by Uppsalo; ducal palace by Il conte di Luna; Teatro Rossini by Accurimbono; all via Wikimedia Commons)

20 January 2017

Marco Simoncelli - motorcycle world champion

Young rider whose career ended in tragedy



Marco Simonelli in 2010, busy signing  autographs for his many fans
Marco Simoncelli in 2010, busy signing
autographs for his many fans
The motorcycle racer Marco Simoncelli, who was part of an illustrious roll call of Italian world champions headed by Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi, was born on this day in 1987 in Cattolica on the Adriatic coast.

Simoncelli, who was European 125cc champion in 2002 in only his second year of senior competition, became 250cc world champion in 2008 when he won six races riding for Gilera.

He had dreams of emulating Rossi, winner of the 250cc world title in 1999, in going on to be a force in the premier MotoGP category, in which the latter has been world champion seven times, just one fewer than Agostini's record eight titles.

But after stepping up to MotoGP in 2010, Simoncelli suffered a fatal crash at the Malaysian Grand Prix in October the following year, killed at the age of just 24.  On only the second lap of the Sepang circuit, he lost control of his Honda at a corner and appeared to be heading for the gravel run-off area but suddenly veered back across the congested track.

With the bike almost on its side, Simoncelli was struck by two other competitors.  One of them, with chilling irony, was Rossi, who was entirely blameless but unable to prevent his front wheel from striking his compatriot's head.

Simoncelli salutes his victory in Japan in 2008 on the way to the 250cc world title
Simoncelli salutes his victory in Japan in
2008 on the way to the 250cc world title
Although born in Cattolica, Simoncelli's home town was really Coriano, which is situated about halfway between the coast and the Republic of San Marino.

His parents, Paolo and Rossella, ran an ice cream parlour.  Paolo was a fan of all motor sports but loved motorcycles in particular and when Marco took an interest his father was only too keen to indulge his son, buying him his first 50cc 'pocket bike' - a scaled down racing motorcycle, which he would ride in the fields near the family home.

Marco began to ride competitively at the age of nine and was Italian Minimoto champion two years running in 1999 and 2000, graduating to 125cc class in 2001 and becoming Italian champion in that category at the first attempt.  He began to compete in world championship races in 2002 and won his first GP in Spain in 2004.

Flamboyant, powerfully built and with his mop of hair worn in a distinctive Afro style, Simoncelli was an instantly recognisable figure who acquired an enthusiastic following of supporters, who knew him by his nickname of Sic or SuperSic.

Following the accident at Sepang, a devastated Rossi remained in Malaysia after other members of the MotoGP circus had left to prepare for the next race.  He accompanied Simoncelli's father and the rider's fiancée in returning the body to Italy and spent much of the following days with the family, of whom he was already a friend.

A huge crowd turned out for Simoncelli's funeral at the  church of Santa Maria Assunta in Coriano
A huge crowd turned out for Simoncelli's funeral at the
church of Santa Maria Assunta in Coriano
Italy was deeply moved by Simoncelli's death.  On the day of the accident, a minute's silence was held before every Serie A football match on the instruction of Gianni Petrucci, president of the Italian National Olympic Committee.  The players of AC Milan, the team he supported, wore black arm bands.

Petrucci was at the airport to receive Simoncelli's body as it was brought home before being transferred to Coriano, where it was placed in an open coffin in a theatre, alongside his 250cc world championship-winning Gilera and his MotoGP Honda, to allow thousands of fans to pay their respects.

At the Formula One motor racing grand prix in India the following week, several drivers had the number 58 - Simoncelli's racing number - painted on their helmets by way of a tribute, while at the MotoGP of Valencia, the final race of the season, the riders assembled for a lap in his honour, led on Simoncelli's bike by the American former world champion Kevin Schwantz, whom he idolised as a boy.

Valentino Rossi pictured at Simoncelli's funeral with one of the two motorcycles placed either side of the coffin
Valentino Rossi pictured at Simoncelli's funeral with one of
the two motorcycles placed either side of the coffin
His funeral at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta took place with a crowd estimated at 20,000 gathered outside.  The service itself was broadcast live on national television.

Subsequently, Paolo Simoncelli announced the formation of a racing team in honour of his son that would help young riders to achieve their dream of becoming world champion. A monument was erected in Coriano bearing his race number, 58.

Simoncelli was inducted to the MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2014 and in 2016 it was announced his number would be retired from all classes of Grand Prix racing and reinstated only at the discretion of his family.

Travel tip:

Coriano was once the site of one of seven castles grouped closely together in the area of Rimini province in which it stands, which in the 12th century was regarded as of such importance strategically that the armies of the Malatesta and Borgia families, and of the Venetian Republic, Spain and the Papal States, all went to war in a bid to win control.  Eight centuries later it was the scene of a deadly battle in the Second World War, which cost the lives of so many Allied soldiers that a British cemetery was established just outside the town.


The Church of Santa Maria Assunta dominates the town of Coriano
The Church of Santa Maria Assunta
dominates the town of Coriano
Travel tip:

The Coriano skyline is dominated by the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, which was built after the town had suffered heavy damage from bombing in the Second World War and consecrated in 1956.  It has a large dome and a bell tower that rises to 47m (154ft).  Nearby there is a museum, La Storia del Sic, in Via Garibaldi, which is dedicated to the memory of Marco Simoncelli.  In a garden behind the museum is the Simoncelli monument, part of which consists of an exhaust pipe enclosed in a cage which emits a three-metre flame for 58 seconds every Sunday evening.


More reading:


The record breaking career of Giacomo Agostini

Bruno Ruffo - Italy's first world champion on two wheels

Enrico Piaggio - creator of Italy's iconic Vespa scooter


Also on this day:



(Picture credits: Simoncelli top picture by Ranpie; Simoncelli on bike by Tomohiko Tanabe; Church of Santa Maria Assunta by Anna pazzaglia; via Wikimedia Commons)

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16 June 2016

Giacomo Agostini - world motorcycle champion

Lovere exhibition commemorates record-breaking career 


Photo of Giacomo Agostini
Giacomo Agostini
Giacomo Agostini, 15 times Grand Prix world motorcycling champion, celebrates his 74th birthday today.

Born on this day in 1942 in Brescia, Agostini moved with his family to the lakeside town of Lovere when he was 13 and his career is being commemorated with a month-long exhibition at the Accademia Tadini, which overlooks the picturesque Lago d'Iseo.

The exhibition is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Agostini's first world championship in 1966.

Riding for the Italian MV Agusta team, Agostini won the 500cc class seven times in a row from 1966 to 1972 and the 350cc class seven times in succession from 1968 to 1974, adding a further 500cc title on a Yamaha in 1975.

His total of 122 Grand Prix wins from 1965 to 1976 is the highest by any rider in the history of the sport, although his fellow Italian, 37-year-old Valentino Rossi, is now only eight behind on 114 following his victory in the Catalan GP on June 5.

Agostini, considered perhaps the greatest motorcycle racer of all time, was at the peak of his powers between 1967 and 1970.

In 1967, he won an epic duel with his former MV Agusta teammate, Britain's Mike Hailwood, who was riding for Honda.  They were tied on five race wins each going into the final GP of the season in Canada, where Hailwood won, with his rival second.  That meant they were tied on points and wins, but Agostini had a greater number of second place finishes and so he was crowned champion.

For the next three seasons, after Hailwood left motorcycle racing to race cars, Agostini dominated, winning every race in which he competed in 350cc and 500cc classes, equalling Hailwood's record for most wins in a single year in 1970 when he was first in 19 races.

Agostini also won 10 races at the Isle of Man TT, the most by any non-British rider. It might have been more but he decided to quit TT racing in 1972 after his close friend, Gilberto Parlotti, was killed during the event.

Photo of Giacomo Agostini in race action in 1969.
Giacomo Agostini (No 1) in action at Riccione in 1969.
His great rival Mike Hailwood is No 63.
The only Italian to win the prestigious Daytona 200 race in America - he was victorious in 1974 - Agostini retired in 1977 at the age of 35 after competing in the 1977 British GP at Silverstone.  He had a season driving in Formula One cars for Williams in 1980 but then switched to management, where he enjoyed more success.

As team manager for Marlboro Yamaha, he won three 500cc world titles with the Californian rider Eddie Lawson.  Agostini also managed for Cagiva and Honda before retiring in 1995.

The eldest of four brothers, Giacomo Agostini was only 11 when he rode a moped for the first time and knew immediately he wanted to race motorcycles.  His father Aurelio, a local government employee in Lovere, wanted him to become an accountant but allowed him to pursue his dream after seeking counsel from a lawyer who was a family friend.

The lawyer told him he thought sport would be good for Giacomo's character and only later did Aurelio find out that his friend had misunderstood him and believed Giacomo wanted to take up cycling.  His mother, Maria Vittoria, ensured that when he raced he always carried in his helmet a medal showing the image of Pope John XXIII, who hailed from Sotto il Monte, a small village which, like Lovere, is in the Lombardy province of Bergamo.

The exhibition at the Tadini Academy, which runs until July 3, is called Giacomo Agostini: The Golden Age.  Sponsored by a local furnace manufacturer, Forni Industriali Bendotti, as part of their 100th anniversary celebrations, the exhibition includes many mementos of his career, including the suits and helmets he wore in his first and last races.  For more details, visit www.accedemiatadini.it

Visitors can also admire - in Lovere's Piazza XIII Martiri - an artwork featuring one of Agostini's bikes by the Milan architect Mauro Piantelli entitled "Of the Brave and his Steed".

Travel tip:

Brescia is a town of great artistic and architectural importance with Roman remains and well-preserved Renaissance buildings. Next to the 17th century Duomo is an older cathedral, the unusually shaped Duomo Vecchio, also known as la Rotonda. The Santa Giulia Museo della Citta covers more than 3000 years of Brescia’s history, housed within the Benedictine Nunnery of San Salvatore and Santa Giulia in Via Musei.

Photo of the Palazzo Tadini in Lovere
Palazzo Tadini in Lovere is currently hosting an exhibition
dedicated to the career of Giacomo Agostini
Travel tip:

Lovere is the largest town on the western shore of Lago d’Iseo  and has wonderful views of the top of the lake with its dramatic backdrop of mountains. Art lovers will be interested in the classical Palazzo Tadini, which looks out over the lake from Via Tadini and is home to Accademia Tadini, one of the most important art galleries in Italy. The church of Santa Maria in Valvendra has some 16th century frescoes and the church of San Giorgio, which is built into a medieval tower, contains an important work by Palma il Giovane. You can take the boat from Lovere over to Pisogne on the eastern shore of the lake. The landing stage adjoins Piazza XIII Martiri.

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(Photo of Giacomo Agostini by Jack de Nijs CC BY-SA 3.0)

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