Gilera 500 four-cylinder
The Gilera 500 four-cylinder was a racing motorcycle from the Italian manufacturer Gilera , which was used very successfully in the top class of the FIM for the motorcycle world championship from 1949 to 1964 . The four-cylinder engine installed transversely by Gilera is the model for all series-production four-cylinder engines in motorcycle construction.
Beginnings
OPRA, GBR and CNA
The forerunner of all transversely installed four-cylinders came from an initiative by the Italian engineers Pietro Remor and Carlo Gianini in 1923. The prototype developed as a racing engine had a displacement of 490 cm³ with a bore and a stroke of 51 × 60 mm as well as 2 valves per cylinder, an overhead camshaft that was driven by gear wheels. The motorsport enthusiast Count Giovanni Bonmartini founded the company OPRA (Officine di Precisione Romane Automobilistiche) with the two designers in 1926 . The engine was intended to drive a racing motorcycle that initially bore the name of the company's founder GRB (Gianini-Remor-Bonmartini). In 1928, the engine delivers 28 hp at 6000 min -1 , a water-cooled version 32 hp at 6,500 min -1 . When faced with financial difficulties, the OPRA project was taken over by the CNA (Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica), which is also owned by Count Bonmartini .
Rondine
In 1934 a completely new version of the engine was developed under the direction of the technical director of the CNA, Carlo Gianini. Pietro Remor and Piero Taruffi were also involved in the construction. The four-cylinder water-cooled engine, built into the motorcycle frame at an angle of 45 degrees , had dry sump lubrication , two overhead camshafts operated by spur gears and a Roots blower for charging the engine. This engine, (German: Schwalbe) in the racing motorcycle with the name "Rondine" installed, made initially 75 and later 90 hp at 9,000 rpm -1 . In 1935 Taruffi won the "Rondine" for the first time at the European championship run, the Tripoli Grand Prix, on the Autodromo della Mellaha circuit , with an average speed of 158.9 km / h. On the Autostrada Firenze-Mare , Taruffi proved that the Rondine had the potential to become an absolute world record machine by completing the flying kilometer at 150 mph.
"This first four-cylinder racing engine - installed transversely to the direction of travel and inclined 45 degrees forward - is the progenitor of all modern four models."
Gilera rondine
After the count (after an accident) sold the company CNA to Giovanni Battista Caproni at the end of 1935, who showed no real interest due to his aviation ambitions, Taruffi arranged the resale in 1936. The lucky owner of the four-cylinder was Giuseppe Gilera, who was always interested in motorsport. This was from the Rondine , the "Gilera Rondine", the (full) by the speed record for motorcycles was on 21 October 1937 274.181 km / h over the flying kilometer (with Piero Taruffi as a driver) famous. In 1939 Dorino Serafini was on the (undisguised) four-cylinder Gilera against the strong competition of the BMW 500 compressor motorcycle European champion in the class up to 500 cc; The Gilera 500 four-cylinder was thus the fastest racing motorcycle in the world.
Redesign
World Championship
After the Second World War , the FIM banned the use of supercharged engines for international racing, so the four-cylinder had to be revised. Pietro Remor (he switched to MV Agusta at the end of 1949 ) used the experience of the pre-war machine and constructed an air-cooled four-cylinder engine with two overhead camshafts, which was installed in the motorcycle frame at an angle of 30 degrees forward. The first racing motorcycles were delivered with a trapezoidal fork as the front wheel guide and friction damper on the rear wheel; from the 1951 season with telescopic fork at the front and two spring struts at the rear. The wheelbase of the 20-inch machine with tires was 1490 mm. In 1954 the engine was redesigned and equipped with a five-speed gearbox and in 1955 the Gilera was equipped with full aluminum cladding. In 1956 the motorcycle was fitted with 19-inch tires, had a wheelbase of 1450 mm and 200 mm duo-duplex drum brakes .
In 1949 , right at the first world championship, Nello Pagani was runner-up in the 500 cm³ class with the four-speed Gilera , Umberto Masetti became world champion in 1950 , Umberto Masetti became world champion again in 1952 , and in the same year Gilera won the design championship. Geoff Duke won three times in a row for Gilera the world championship title in the premier class from 1953 to 1955 ; In 1956 he had a handicap due to a serious fall and was unable to defend his title. 1957 was again Libero Liberati on Gilera world champion. In 1957, Bob McIntyre was the first to drive the Isle of Man TT with the Gilera at an average of more than 100 miles per hour .
At the end of 1957, Gilera, like Moto Guzzi and Mondial, officially retired from racing. This marked the beginning of the era of MV Agusta , which not only took over the design engineers from Gilera, but also developed the concept further and thus confirmed the correctness of the design of four-cylinder engines. In 1963 , John Hartle won the last race on a Gilera 500 four-cylinder after Geoff Duke founded his private racing team ( Scuderia Duke ) that year and took over the Gilera material. In 1964 , the Argentine Benedicto Caldarella achieved second place at Gilera in Monza and drove the fastest lap of the race. After 15 years and 34 World Cup victories, the international era of the Gilera 500 four-cylinder came to an end.
| 1948-1951 | 1954 | 1956-1963 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Displacement | 492.69 cm³ | 499.49 cc | 499.49 cc |
| Bore × stroke | 52 × 58 mm | 52 x 58.8 mm | 52 x 58.8 mm |
| compression | 10: 1 | 13: 1 | |
| Performance / at | 50 PS 9,100 min -1 |
65 PS 10,400 min -1 |
70 PS 10,500 min -1 |
| Weight | 125 kg | 150 kg | |
|
Top speed in km / h |
205 | 240 | 260 |
Sidecar and tarf
The engine of the four-cylinder Gilera was also successfully used for world championship races of the sidecars. Eight victories in the sidecar class, as well as four vice world championships from 1949 to 1952 (three times Ercole Frigerio and once Albino Milani ), showed the potential of the engine. In 1954, the Gilera four-cylinder was used by Piero Taruffi for the Tarf record-breaking vehicle. The Swiss Florian Camathias won a team race with a Gilera four-cylinder engine for the last time in 1964 .
literature
- S. Ewald, G. Murrer: Encyclopedia of the motorcycle . Novara 1996, German edition by Weltbild Verlag 1999, ISBN 3-86047-142-2 .
- LJK Setright: The Guinness Book of Motorcycling. Facts and Feats. 1982, ISBN 0-85112-255-8 .
- Mick Walker: Gilera. The Complete Story. The Crowood Press, 2000, ISBN 1-86126-333-3 .
Web links
References and comments
- ^ S. Ewald, G. Murrer: Enzyklopädie des Motorrads , p. 206.
- ↑ Mick Walker: Gilera. P. 7.
- ↑ Mick Walker: Gilera. P. 8, 42.
- ↑ a b Helmut Krackowizer: Milestones in motorcycle history . Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 1st edition 1987, ISBN 3-613-01141-7 , p. 116
- ↑ Mick Walker: Gilera. , P. 83
- ↑ This meant the record in the class up to 500 cm³; Ernst Jakob Henne held the absolute record back then with 256.046 km / h in a BMW WR 750 .
- ^ S. Ewald, G. Murrer: Enzyklopädie des Motorrads , p. 206.
- ^ LJK Setright: The Guinness Book of Motorcycling. P. 185.
- ^ S. Ewald, G. Murrer: Enzyklopädie des Motorrads , p. 207.
- ^ LJK Setright: The Guinness Book of Motorcycling. P. 103.
- ^ LJK Setright: The Guinness Book of Motorcycling. P. 103.
- ^ Siegfried Rauch: Famous racing motorcycles. 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-87943-590-1 , p. 74
- ↑ Technical data, cf. Mick Walker: Gilera.