April 21, 2004

Last Sunday, I returned from a quick trip to Italy. Though I was there for business, and though the weather isn’t the greatest at this time of year, I still had a blast. The machine I was there to inspect turned out magnificently, and my hosts were gracious, especially Emanuele. He was a bit younger than I, with a Russian wife and four lovely children, and rides a BMW K75 for enjoyment. When he learned that I was a moto-enthusiast, he asked if there was anything in particular that I wanted to do or see while in Italy. The Italian rounds of WSB and Moto-GP were still several weeks off, so the best I could come up with was to visit the Moto-Guzzi factory and museum in Mandello di Lario on the shore of Lake Como. Alas, they were closed due to financial problems; it seems that Sr. Beggio of Aprilia was caught a bit flat-footed by the collapse of the scooter market in Italy when a new helmet law was enacted. Sigh. But

wait! Emanuele e-mails the P.R. Direttore, explaining that he had a Very Important Purchaser of his equipment visiting from the USA, and arranges for an appointment at 10:00 a.m. Friday. It appears that M-G will open up just for us! Well, at least the museum. And the wind tunnel. And the manufacturing areas… (What, no gift shop?)

We arrive at the appointed time, and are soon greeted by our “tour guide”, a little old man with a cane. He is introduced as Inginere Todero, and he has been working for M-G for sixty-five years! 82 years old, hired on in 1939. Perhaps this was the museum, personified? We start the tour, moving from the first Guzzi(1919) through the early years, Ing. Todero rattling off the usual information in a matter-of-fact way, until we reach 1939. He becomes more animated, and the details of each bike, whether it was racing, street, off-road, army, police: they spilled forth in a torrent; he knew it all. Since we were all engineers, there couldn’t be too much detail. Emanuele tried to translate for my benefit, but soon gave up when he realized that someone speaking “engineer” was well-understood anyway…

The racing bikes were all there, from the first horizontal single with 4 hairspring-closed valves, hand oil pump, double overhead cams, and unit crankcase construction, (can you say “sofisticato”? I know you could…), through the mighty 500 cc V-8, all the way to the present BOTT racers raced by men such as “Doctor John” Wittner and Ron McGill. Twins, triples, fours, blown and unblown, speed record holders, GP champions; an unbelievable assortment. How could there be more?

There was: the wind tunnel. A 140 mph full-scale wind tunnel that you can “ride” in on a bike. There is a large dial at the front end that the rider can see; it reads out the force on the bike from wind drag. The rider can see what effect elbows, knees and head position have on speed and stability. (Loud enough to wake the dead, he said, and not run much anymore due to close neighbors…)

This tour had to end sometime, but as we were leaving, I noticed some peculiar marks on the driveway. They were instantly recognizable to any hooligan; Inginere Todero just grinned…..

Charlie Smallman