Report From Italy
REPORT FROM ITALY
CARLO PERELLI
VILLAS ON THEIR OWN
After many years of brilliant technical cooperation with Italian and foreign firms, particularly Mondial and Montesa, brothers Francesco and Walter Villa, winners of six 125-cc Italian Senior Championships and dozens of events at home and abroad, have now set out on their own. Their's is a manufacturing program with special appeal to private riders, both road racers and scramblers.
The Villas have developed both 125-cc grand prix formula and 175/250-cc motocross models, which will be built in batches of 20 in their new workshop. This facility is on the outskirts of Modena, their native town. The machines will be sold directly by the Villas from their headquarters at via Pistoia 5, Vaciglio, Modena, Italy.
The 125 racer already has made a brilliant debut on the Czechoslovakian circuit of Piestany, as there were no races in Italy in the period when the first machine was readied. Walter rode it to a clear victory against a horde of Czechoslovakian and East German lightweights.
This compact mount is particularly elegant in the lines of its tank, frame and fairing. The designers/builders/riders have sought the best compromise between simplicity, sturdiness and high performance, the three qualities mostly required by the privateers. Indeed, the Villas seem to have achieved their goal.
The power unit is a single-cylinder, water cooled, rotating disc two-stroke, that develops 28 bhp at 11,000 rpm, and assures a top speed of 124 mph, which is a direct function of the limited weight of 176 lb. with the bike in full racing trim.
The light alloy, slightly inclined cylinder has a bore of 56 mm, while the stroke is much shorter at 50 mm. The compression ratio is 15:1. The disc valve, the 29-mm carburetor, and the separate rubber-mounted float chamber are on the right side. On the left are the gear primary drive, a multi-plate clutch, and the generator for the battery and coil ignition. A seven-speed gearbox is built in-unit, and is pedal controlled from the right.
The double cradle tubular frame is fitted with Ceriani suspension components. The rear brake is a disc-type Campagnolo, mechanically operated and judged by the Villas to have excellent performance with minimum weight. The front brake, for the moment, is a double cam Oldani, but soon the brothers will fit a four-leading-shoe type of their own manufacture, which also will be sold separately. Tires aie 2.50-18 front and rear.
The scrambles model, unlike the 125 road racer, is fitted with an orthodox, air cooled two-stroke engine, which so far has proved the best for rough going. The light alloy cylinder and head are amply finned. The 175, built also in trials version (with five-speed gearbox instead of the four fitted to the others) has a single exhaust port, while the 250 has two.
Other main features are bore and stroke 60.2 by 60 for the 175, and 72.5 by 60 for the 250. The 175 delivers 25 bhp at 9000 rpm, the 250 produces 35 at 8000. Compression ratio for both is 12:1. Spanish Amal concentric type carburetors, 32 mm and 35 mm, are fitted. As the crankcase is almost identical to that of the 125 racer, there is much the same inner parts layout. The difference is that ignition for the scramblers is by flywheel magneto, with external coil, keyed to the crankshaft right end.
Again, the frame is a tubular double cradle unit, particularly sturdy, with Ceriani suspension. Tires are 3.50-19 (or -21) front, and 4.00-18 rear.
SOVIET RALLY-WINNERS
Since their first participation in 1963, the Russians always have won the annual FIM Rally-except, of course, last year, when they organized the event at Moscow and therefore couldn't compete. The victory formula is based on the number of riders per kilometers covered from riders' homelands. So many Russian participants come from so far that it is extremely difficult to beat them.
So, again this year, Soviet riders gained top honors in the FIM Rally, held in the historical Italian town of Perugia. The event was perfectly organized by the Italian Federation.
In military style, the Russians came over 75 strong. They collected a fabulous number of points, 286,305, against 107,069 for Holland, and 95,852 for Czechoslovakia. Their mounts were the outdated 250and 350-cc single and Twin two-stroke Ish, the 175-cc two-stroke Single Kovrovetz, and the 750-cc BMW-like Irbit with sidecar. The Russians came with 13 of their latest scooter model, the 175-cc two-stroke Vostok, not daring, perhaps, to come with the Vespa-copy Viatka into the country where the modern scooter originated soon after World War II. With this equipe they also won the special scooter award.
Among the 840 participants from 15 countries were four athletic Canadians on thoroughly admired Har ley-Davidson Electra Glide 1200s.
OLDANI RETIRES
Annibale Oldani, maker of famous racing brakes, has retired. He was the first to specialize in this field, and soon after World War II his products started to earn well deserved fame. Oldani brakes have been used, at one time or another, by nearly every road racing star, plus an army of privateers and enthusiasts the world over. Although fitted as standard equipment on many production racers, including H-D Aermacchi, Ducati and Motobi, Oldani continued to work with only one assistant in his small, wooden hut on the outskirts of Milan. He was adamant that the quality of his carefully hand made brakes could suffer from "industrialization" of his firm. The last lot of Oldani brakes has just been released. Riders who want to secure them should hurry, before they are finished forever.
THE FINEST GILERA SPECIAL
Everywhere in Italy can be seen immaculately prepared high performance Gileras for scrambles competition. These are Frigerio Specials.
They are built by Luigi and Gianpiero Frigerio, sons of the last great Italian sidecar champion, Ercole Frigerio, the Gilera works rider who died on the Bremgarten circuit at Bern during the 1952 Swiss GP. The brothers are Gilera distributors for Treviglio, not far from Bergamo, which is the cradle of trial competition in Italy. Luigi and Gianpiero first entered the competition world at Bergamo, on their own highly tuned Gileras.
Success didn't escape them, but they preferred the mechanical side of motorcycling, and hence prepared Gileras for other riders. That was in 1962.
In the past four years, the Frigerios' reputation has grown to the extent that the leading (Continued on page 118) Gilera privateer now is their customer. Those who desire their attention must be prepared to wait, and pay handsomely for services rendered. Riders of the Frigerios' machinery find the wait and the money worthwhile, as the quite successful Frigerio Specials, officially Gilera approved, are finished with great craftsmanship to the smallest detail. They are functional, powerful and beautiful. They're fitted with top grade equipment, and are thoroughly bench and off-road tested before delivery.
Continued from page 117
Particularly interesting in the Frigerio line are the competition 175 Scrambler, and the 206 Trial, both fitted with special components, such as light alloy cylinder barrels, with square finning, the customer's choice of four-, five-, or six-speed gearboxes, straight cut primary drive gears (instead of standard Gilera helical gears), and heavy duty steel crankshafts and connecting rods.
The 175 Scrambler has proven quite successful in Italian events against more powerful two-stroke machinery, especially on twisting courses where engine flexibility and braking effectiveness are a great bonus. The 175 has dual flywheel magneto ignition with 10-mm spark plugs, and a 24-mm diameter carburetor. Bore and stroke are 60 by 61 mm; the compression ratio is 10.8:1. The powerplant develops 15 bhp at 9000 rpm. The machine is fitted with Ceriani suspension, and 3.50-19 front, and 4.00-18 rear tires. The bike's weight is 194 lb.
The 206, with greater pulling power from low rpm, also carries a 24-mm carburetor, dual magneto ignition, 10-mm plugs, and external coils. Bore and stroke are 65 by 62 mm. With a 9.2:1 compression ratio, the 206 engine develops 18 bhp at 8400 rpm. Tires are a 3.50-21 at the front, a 4.00-18 at the rear. Weight is 216 lb., which is almost 22 lb. less than the standard 125-cc Gilera trials model.
The Frigerios also manufacture seats, tanks, frames, exhaust systems, mudguards and handlebars. A visit to their workshop often is concluded by a short run on one of their mounts.
SUZUKI RECORDS
A great measure of progress in motorcycle engineering is evidenced by the results of Suzuki's long distance records set at Monza recently. Using a practically standard 250-cc "Super Six," a significant improvement in speed was made over the previous records, established in 1956 by a very sophisticated dohc Moto Guzzi.
The Japanese Twin was entered for the record attempt by Alan Kimber, enthusiastic British importer. The machine was ridden by Stuart Graham, Tommy Robb, Barry Smith and Martin Hodder. The four riders circled the Italian autodrome to conquer the 1000-km mark at 151.768 kmph (97.5 mph), the Six Hours at 151.319 kmph (94.0 mph), and the 12 Hours at 149.306 kmph (92.6 mph). Previous marks were, respectively, 144.916 kmph (89.9 mph), 146.600 kmph (91.0 mph) and 139.830 kmph (86.6 mph), set by the firm of Mandello del Lario.
Kimber's enterprise included an assault on the 24 Hours, but a broken oil pump cable resulted in engine seizure toward the 18th hour. Another Super Six, slightly overbored to 256 cc, and ridden by Hans Georg Anscheidt, Brian Ball, Eddie Crooks and Frank Whiteway, set the 24-hour record for the 350-cc class at 145.688 kmph (90.4 mph), thus smashing the record set in 1933 by a French team, using a four-stroke pushrod Single of Jonghi manufacture.
