Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I understand production of the 650 Raptor has restarted. Is this the model Cagiva will be focusing on for the immediate future? Yes, that's true - but we're also working on a 125 to enable our dealers to have an entry-level model in their showrooms. We can't only manufacture bikes with 650 to 1000cc engines - we have to allow our customers to drop down in capacity, if not in quality or styling. Cagiva now has a great opportunity to establish a strong individual identity for the marque by creating a family of varied models of all types in a way that MY Agusta can never do, given its sporting traditions. It's like the difference between Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. But the current 125cc Cagiva Mito is a two-stroke. Can you expect to continue selling such a bike after 2007, when the much stricter Euro J emission rules come into force? We haven't yet given up the idea of doing so, because there's a strong possibility we can meet Euro 3 with the existing motorcycle. But in the longer term, we recognize that the future must be with a four-stroke engine. Is it true, therefore, that you've been exploring with MZ the possibility of purchasing their RTl25 four-valve four-stroke engine for a future such small-capacity Cagiva range? I'd rather not say who it is we've been talking to, but I also wouldn't rule out the idea of developing such an engine ourselves, which could have significant benefits in the Asian market. It could of course be manufactured in Malaysia, which would also reduce costs in its European application in a range of Cagiva models. You previously announced before the Proton takeover that you intended to mark Cagiva's 25th birthday with the manufacture of 25 replicas of John Kocinski's 1994 500cc V-four Grand Prix racer. What's happened to this project? Is it still going ahead? Yes. We had already manufactured a quantity of parts for their assembly, but then had to put the project to one side while we concentrated 100 percent on bUilding up street bike and off-road production. But now that this is going well, we can return to the GP replicas which, I assure those who expressed their faith in our company and their esteem for Cagiva's glorious racing history by ordering one, will definitely be built. Massimo Tamburini has become an equity-holder in the reborn MV Agusta company - but not your other star progettista at CRC/Cagiva Research Center, Miguel Galluzzi [creator of the Ducati Monster and ST2 during Cagiva's ownership, then of all Suzuki-powered Cagivas and many Husqvarna models]. Does this presuppose a change in the structure of CRC? Tamburini is a special case. I promised him a very long time ago that one day he would be a partner in every sense of the word, on the shareholding roster as well as in the creation of the products that have made this company the envy of the world - and that promise has been kept. It doesn't concern anyone else except him and me. Those products have been established as the F4 1000 superbike and the 750 Brutale naked street rod, but do you plan to expand the MV Agusta range in the future, perhaps with a 1000cc Brutale or a 600cc supersport MV? Not in the immediate future, at least. Before anything else, we want to invest more work in developing the F4 Mille, because for the first time ever, a European manufacturer is competing directly with the Japanese in the most prestigious, high-performance, volume-production sector of world motorcycling: the 1000cc four-cylinder sportbike market. Having equaled their benchmark in some areas, and exceeded it in others, we mustn't allow ourselves to be overtaken by them, so will be concentrating on this aspect of R&D above all. When a person decides to purchase an Italian motorcycle, in the case of an MY Agusta he's acquiring a product which incorporates the ultimate expression of technological excellence presently available in the marketplace, and it's been many, many years since this last happened with a European product - not since the days of Norton and Triumph 40 years ago. We may decide to follow the same path with a 600cc four-cylinder supersport, to extend the MY Agusta range downwards a little in performance and price in order to attract a younger customer without sacrificing the marque's sporting traditions and exclusiVity - but not anytime soon. By deliberately limiting MY Agusta production, as I just explained, we don't really have the capacity to integrate such a model in our lineup because our present models are back-ordered for the foreseeable future. But this may change - just not yet. In the case of the Brutale, it's possible that one day in the future it may increase slightly in capacity, but without necessarily going to a full 1000cc. But this, in any case, won't happen anytime soon, not only for the reasons I just explained, but also because in 750cc form it's already so enjoyable and so much fun to ride. You can gas it up wide open in the gears and revel in the satisfaction you get from riding it really hard - whereas if we give it too much performance, which it certainly does not lack already, it risks becoming not only less enjoyable but also perhaps a bit dangerous, all for the sake of numbers. That's not the way that MY Agusta develops bikes. You know I couldn't finish this discussion without asking you about racing! Do you have any plans to return MV Agusta officially to the world of competition it once excelled in? [Laughs.] I'd have been disappointed if you hadn't! MY Agusta's destiny must inevitably be to return to competition - but it must be done in strict accordance with the traditions of the marque and with the respect that its unrivalled history of success on the racetrack brings with it. Last night I was reading Giacomo Agostini's latest book, at the end of which there's a list of all the race victories he earned in his illustrious career, almost all of them on MYs, all over the world, on every type of circuit, against motorcycles and riders from every nation. This is MY Agusta's destiny, to return to racing only when it is capable of winning at the highest level - and indeed, we've already returned to competition: My first Grand Prix victory is called the F4 1000, a bike that we've presented bearing a famous badge, which is a great product acknowledged as such by customers all over the world. Now we must build on this, and the obvious direction is to take part in the World Superbike Championship. I must thank the many, many teams which have contacted me about racing MYs in World Superbike. Like them, I believe we have a bike which is capable of defeating all its rivals on the racetrack, as well as in the showroom. Teuchert's two victories in the German Superbike series last year, on a bike very closely derived from standard, underlined this. But the truth is it's better to wait until we have created the structure within the factory to undertake this task successfully, because MY Agusta can only return when it's ready to win. We're engaged in doing this right now and will complete the task by the end of 2005 so that. for 2006, we will be ready to make a serious attempt to win the World Championship - perhaps not with a full factory team based here in Yarese, but with bikes developed by us and entrusted to either one or two teams to race on our behalf, who will be much more organized in terms of racetrack presence than we. This means that for 2005 we are already building two motorcycles which will act as speCific development vehicles for a superbike race version of the F4 Mille and will undergo an intensive testing program aimed at getting them ready to compete at the highest level in 2006. At the end of the year, at the Milan Show in November, we will introduce a limited-edition F4 1000 Corsa, which will be built in street form in only 150 examples, sufficient to homologate it for World Superbike racing. The factory race version of this model will compete with official support in 2006, but there will also be a kit available for any private teams who wish to race with it themselves, either at the World level or in National series. As far as test riders are concerned, I'm sure Teuchert will be involved and also the young Italian [Vittorio] lannuzzo, who will be racing an F4 Mille for a private team in the Superstock World Cup series this year. He already has good experience of racing a four-cylinder superbike and will be a good asset for us in helping develop the new race bike. But, I tell you, the name of MY Agusta exerts so much fascination, it's quite pOSSible even Valentino Rossi might test an F4 Mille superbike one day! I guess anything's possible, judging by the way he turned up and tested [Michael] Schumacher's F I Ferrari last year without telling anyone at Yamaha first - and anyway, you have very good personal relations with them, back from when they collaborated with Cagiva in the 500cc GP days! But now, tell us, after all that's happened in the past few years, the highs and lows, how does Claudio Castiglioni feel now that he's lost overall control of what is arguably the world's most illustrious motorcycle manufacturer but has gained a new Malaysian partner which has left him still running the shop? Relieved? Frustrated? Excited? Hopeful? Or, maybe, all of the above? Just first and foremost, a lot calmer and more peaceful! It's as if for the past four years, I've been lost in a dark forest peopled with snakes and other venomous creatures, going round and round in circles, fending off one attack after another, without ever finding the way out. But now, eventually, I'm out of the woods - though how I ever managed to get out alive, I don't really know. But I'm still in one piece, and what's more, I've emerged without even being injured! I'm by nature an optimist, and that's both helped and hurt me through the past four difficult years, because I always expect the best of people, and when they let you down, it's a double blow. But at the end of it all, I'm also very content. because I'm a substantial shareholder in a world-class company, which is certain to become even stronger and more successful in the future and in which my role will be to do the things I enjoy, and which I believe I'm good at. I couldn't continue to be involved in a company which didn't have a fresh and completely open approach to new models, because I've always been convinced. and now I believe it even more, that a company stands or falls by the quality of its products. These represent the only element which makes it great, even more so than a favorable PR image or a glorious past. What matters is not how many World Championships you won in the past 20 years, or which movie star is riding your bike - which you probably gave them free of charge or maybe even paid them to ride, anyway' What matters is how good the product is. There are historic marques which have developed models and launched them in the marketplace which have absolutely no significance, no reason to exist, and that's a mistake we have never made with MY Agusta, and never will. Our products are what we stand by - now, and in the future. So, tired but satisfied? Indeed I am - tired but content, still with my hands on the handlebars of the company, and full of ideas which I want to start working on - after a short rest to take a breath. Ideas are what matter. People who have them first always win out in the end! eN CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 9, 2005 41

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