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/128007
2000 Benelli Tornado 900 By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kel Edge ~ c> 8l :i ~ gj g' « 12 e n e l li is back. Mo re ' th a n a decade after production finally ceased of motorcycles bearing the his toric Benelli family name finally ceased (see sidebar), another of the lost le g en d s of Italian motorcycling has joined its fo rmer race-track rival, MV Ag usta, in hitting the comeback trail. Benelli will do so with a radical-looking, in novatively engineered , th ree-cylind er superbike contender - the Torna do 900 that is set to rival the MV F4 for stylebike supremacy, as we ll as competition success, in the new millenium. Now ow ned by It al y' s influential Merloni. fam ily, proprieto rs of the Indesit a nd Aris to n domestic-appliance e mp ire, Bene lli's reviva l bega n thr ee yea rs ago w it h the develo pmen t of a range of good-selling scooters made at its all-new base, in Pesaro (close to the original h o m e of Bene lli) . But since acqu iring the Benelli name in 1996, 31yea r-old company boss And rea Mer loni, a former Su perspo rt racer and current ow ner of the Ga ttalo ne World Superbike V ~ team for w h ich Pier-France s co C hi li ro de until las t season, ha s mad e no sec ret of his desire to bu ild his own ran ge of motorcycles and go racing wi th the resul ts. Hence the arrival of the Tor nad o 900, d eveloped entirely in-house at Bene lli on th e back of the company's fas t-growing scooter p ro d u ction - up from 18,000 in '98 to the factory's breakeve n figure of 30,000 units in 1999, says Merlo ni. At a gli tzy launch 'in a hill top villa _overlooki ng the Ad riatic coast, alongsi de th e s tre tc h of public roa d over which the great [a rno Saa rinen defea ted Giaco mo Agostini's MV to win his one and on ly race abo ard the 500cc Benelli fou r back in 1972, th e To rn a d o was introd uced on Ju ly 21. A selection of Italian high society, and hand ful of gove rnmen t min ister s, as well as for mer Bene lli Gra nd Pri x sta rs like Kel Carru thers, Phil Read, Dorino Serafini an d Roberto Gal lina attended the ceremony . Styled by Benelli's Br it is h desig ner Adrian Morto n, who formerly worked alongsi de Ducati's Pie rre Terblanche and Cagiva 's Massimo Ta m bu r in i at CRe, and p a in ted in the traditiona l Benelli silver and green livery, on w hich in 1969 Aus s ie Ca r ru t he rs wo n t he firm 's last wo rld titl e in th e 250cc GP class, the Tornad o boasts not only d ramati c looks, but lead in g-ed ge engi neering as well. An d, like the MV Agusta F4, the Benelli is set to spawn a who le range of mod els bas ed on th e sa me engine design , from 750cc to l l 00cc in capacity, with a naked road ster and spo rt tourer next on the list. T he m an h ead in g u p th e team • responsible fo r crea ti ng th e To rna do (w hose nam e recalls th e final m od e l produced by the family concern befor e the De Tom aso takeover in 1972, a 650cc pus hrod twin which was the Italian idea of ho w a Britis h bike sho u ld be), is Benelli technica l d irector Riccard o Rosa. The form er Alfa Romeo a nd Ferrari Fl race engi neer joined Ben elli in January o f 1997 after n ot on ly ha ving helped Edd ie Lawson and John 'Kocinski turn th e Cagiva 500 into a G P-w inning motorcy cl e, b ut also ha vi n g been responsi ble for d evelop ment of the MV Agus ta F4 engi ne. Exactly two yea rs after starting wo rk on the To rnado 900 engi ne, in July of The innovative Benelli Tornado 900 was unveiled on J uly 21, in Italy. '97, Rosa a nd h is seve n- ma n d es ign team have produced wha t in the metal promises to be one of the most inn ovative superbikes of the mod ern era - and thefirst to take advantage of the 900cc thr ee-cylinder superbike category. It's a mot orcycl e that bris tles wit h im aginative desig n features a nd or iginal thoug ht. But, why a triple? "We mad e a very careful analysis of the various options before com mit ting funds to such a ma jor investmen t," says ' And rea Merloni, "and for severa l rea so ns the triple stood out. You can make a sma ll, compact engi ne wi th good aerody namics, it sou nds grea t - and nobod y else makes one for superbike racing, at least no t yet! A nd Ros a ' s te am co nvinced us tha t, compared to a 750cc four or a 1000cc twin, the tripl e was also the most effective choice for World Superbike, in which we plan to debu t the Tornado 900 in 200 1, presu ming th at all