Report From Italy
REPORT FROM ITALY
CARLO PERELLI
PASO LIKES AMERICAN LADY
“I never imagined that it was so steady, so maneuverable, so fast. And what tremendous acceleration!” These were the impressions of Renzo Pasolini about the new “alloy” 750 Harley-Davidson on which he competed for the first time at the new Misano autodrome near Riccione. He was the first non-Yankee to straddle the USA Twin.
“At first the American lady seems big, heavy and old-fashioned,” said Paso, “but it is a false impression coming from the large enclosure and the antique engine layout. As a matter of fact, when we put the bike on the Aermacchi racing department scale we were astonished to find out that the weight only was 330 lb. while the powermill reveals some modern, fine engineering and is churning out 78-80 bhp.”
Ago’s great rival has been offered a Harley-Davidson works ride and he is going to have his first taste of American racing at the Ontario meeting.
“I hope not to be squarely trounced by the local boys,” Paso said, “because it’s in the cards that I’ll also ride for Harley-Davidson at Daytona and other places; but if I start badly....”
Renzo got two works Harleys in July and spent some time refitting them to his size. Then he put a Ceriani anchor on the front end, (“The works double disc still wasn’t ready when they shipped me the bikes.”). Finally he had his first H-D experience on the Modena autodrome, (“Much to my astonishment, I broke my Benelli 500 fourcylinder lap record easily in spite of the fact that the Twin wasn’t properly geared.”).
“The only trouble on many European circuits,” said Paso, “is that H-D only has a four-speed gearbox. Anyway, with its nearly unbelievable pulling power, spreading from 2000 to 8000, better than on a roadster and allowing more concentration on the actual racing, with limited weight, with lots of bhp, with plenty of confidence in leaning it over to the limit, the American battle iron is surely capable of doing great things. Unfortunately, at Misano I had to retire with a broken primary drive chain, but while I was in the race I easily managed to lead Mandracci (Daytona Suzuki) and Gallina (Daytona Honda), although I was unable to engage top because my ratios were too long! I’m really fond of this H-D.”
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SAARINEN TROUNCES AGO TWICE
This year Ago had a harder time than usual, both at home and abroad. It was the “Flying Finn,” Jarno Saarinen, who gave him the greatest problem, first with the 350 Yamaha and later with the 350 and 500 Benellis.
The first contact by Saarinin with the Benelli on the Modena track had been far from happy. Never before riding a four-stroke, the Finn had some handling difficulties and finished the testing session with a terrific crash, luckily without scratches to himself but damaging to the Pesaro Four seriously.
But Jarno’s second outing with the Benelli on the Pesaro circuit was sensational indeed. Remembering the lesson from Modena and relying on still improved mounts, he trounced Ago in the 500 and he pressed him so hotly in the 350 that Ago’s MV Four expired midway. To finish with, Jarno produced the classic hat trick, this time on his watercooled 250 Yamaha, just beating Paso (Aermacchi) to the finish line after a race-long battle. No wonder he had to be protected from the wild enthusiasm of the 40,000 crowd by a strong contingent of policemen!
This was the first time in five years that Ago has been beaten in the 500 class. Jarno won at record speeds in all classes, but the quick succession of world championship and international events may have forced the MV racing department to lapse a bit in preparation of the machines for Pesaro.
On the contrary, the Benelli Four, built along previous lines but completely renovated inside and out, enjoyed a long and careful period of preparation under the enthusiastic pressure of new chief De Tomaso, of sports and racing car fame.
HIRO DIRT BIKE ENGINES
Until recently, Italian builders of competition “dirt” bikes were Sachs “slaves.” No other high-performance 125 engine was offered for their mounts.
But now things are changing. We have already reported about the 125 Aspes and now there’s the Hiro 125. This latter also has been designed and built with competition-only in mind. It has been thoroughly tested on specially developed bikes. It is produced in a new factory near Milan and comes in two versions, for scrambles and ISDT-type trials.
The Hiro features very pleasant and functional lines and includes such excellent features as four transfers, extractable six-speed gearbox units (with the possibility of quickly removing and changing the single gears), dry multiplate clutch, electronic ignition, “passing through” selector shaft to offer gearbox control either from the right or the left, kick-starting also with gears engaged, ample finning for the crankcase, and high-positioned chain sprocket to enable a low engine mounting point in the frame.
Very sturdy, the Hiro is fed by a 2 7 mm Dellorto concentric and has straight cut primary drive gears on the right. Bore and stroke dimensions are 54x54 and the compression ratio is 11:1. Power output is 20 bhp at 8400 rpm for the ISDT-type trials version and 21 bhp at 9000 rpm for the scrambles version. It is manufactured by Eurocross, via Raffaello Sanzio 1, Milan, Italy.
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FOR DIRT RIDERS
One of the most damned things for off-road riders is taking off and refitting the tires on the rim. To crown the whole bloody affair it is often found upon inflating the tube that during the “fight” with the tire the levers have “pinched” the tube itself and so everything must be started over.
An Italian scrambles rider has recently invented a tool, called Rupi, which makes the task much easier. Briefly, it consists of two parallel levers, hinged at the bottom, where there is a groove which goes inside the rim edge.
By actuating the levers, the job of refitting the tires becomes easy and there is no worry about pinching the tube. The device is available from Ruggero Upiglio, via Ettore Paladini 9, Milan, Italy. m
