Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1251702
VOLUME 57 ISSUE 21 MAY 27, 2020 P107 has organized the book well, with around 40 percent of the pages each devoted to production and racing (including both on- and off-road), and the remaining 20 percent to early chapters setting the scene. These include a profile of founding father Alfonso Morini, a summary of Bologna's rich contribution to motorcycle history since the early '20s, and a history of the Moto Morini company from its foundation in 1937 up to the present day, and its purchase in 2018 by its present owner, Chinese manufacturer Zhongneng. Perhaps surprisingly, there's much more detail about the various shenani- gans which Alfonso Morini went through in starting the company just before WW2, and his daughter Gabriella's tenure after he passed away in 1969, before the quite unreasonable behavior of the trade unions forced her to sell the company to the Castiglioni brothers in 1987 (whereupon most Morini workers lost their jobs), than of the revival of the company in 2003 under the Berti family. The three Berti brothers' reasons for invest- ing in restarting Moto Morini, and how they revived the company are not covered, and nor is the story of how, after it was rescued from bankruptcy in 2012 by himself and a partner, Ruggeromassimo Jan- nuzzelli rebuilt the firm to the point at which it could be sold to the Chinese, and its future guaranteed. But the several chapters on both road bikes and racing are de- tailed and informative, especially hi-cam pushrod 3½ engine, as well as the current Corsaro 1200 range's 1187cc 87° V-twin Corsa- Corta motor, with its one-piece crankcase and ultra-short-stroke engine dimensions which para- doxically deliver heaps of torque. A modest but truly gifted engineer whose succession of innovative designs created during a career leading from Ferrari to Morini, then Piaggio and back to Morini again, Lambertini's achievements are well covered in this book. Moto Morini was until now, even by Italian standards, never more than a small, though admit- tedly prestigious, family concern, whose products' sporting flair brought it widespread respect as an underdog capable of defeating much larger and more prestigious marques, and hence achieve commercial success. Wim Raey- maekers' magnificent book tells a story that's been long overdue telling—and only someone truly passionate for the brand could have succeeded in creating such a complete and exquisitely-pre- sented title. But now with the job of writing it finished, he's planning to restore his 3½ to bring back his first Moto Morini, which has meanwhile evolved to a family heirloom, to its former glory! CN Sempre Piú Forte – The complete history of Moto Morini By Wim Raeymaekers Price: $86 Pages: 544 Published by Wim Raeymaekers www.morinibook.com coverage of the quixotic campaign by Tarquinio Provini on the lone 38 bhp Morini single, running to an astronomical 14,000 rpm, in the 1963 250GP World Cham- pionship against the might of Honda. Provini was only bested by Jim Redman on the four-cylinder Japanese bike by just two points, each of them winning four races in the nine-round series, with the Morini team missing the ninth race after being refused entry to Communist East Germany, on the grounds of inadequate paper- work! Raeymaekers also covers Morini's effectiveness as a training ground for future stars, which saw it produce future world champions like Umberto Masetti, Provini and Giacomo Agostini, before losing them to bigger, richer factories like Gilera and MV Agusta. There's also interesting cover- age of the Moto Morini prototypes that never reached production, like the 350 Turbo, the supercharged 125cc four-stroke and the liquid- cooled 720cc V-twin which was inherited by the Castiglionis, and outperformed the equivalent Duca- ti 750/900 desmodue V-twin en- gines in direct comparative tests, whereupon it was "disappeared" by Ducati factory management, for fear it would replace their desmo V-twins—as it should have done. This was the work of arguably the greatest man in Moto Morini's his- tory, its chief engineer for two key periods, Ing. Franco Lambertini. He was the designer of the Heron- headed 72° V-twin air-cooled