Moto Guzzi V8
| Moto Guzzi | |
|---|---|
 Moto Guzzi V8 with "eggshell panel" |
|
| Moto Guzzi V8 | |
| Manufacturer | Moto Guzzi |
| Production period | 1955 to 1957 |
| class | Racing motorcycle |
| Motor data | |
| Four-stroke engine , water-cooled eight-cylinder V-engine, DOHC with two valves hanging in the head operated by bucket tappets, oil sump lubrication, eight Dell'Orto carburetors with a diameter of 20 mm, 6 volt battery ignition | |
| Displacement (cm³) | 498.5 |
| Power (kW / PS ) | 53 (72) at 12,000 min -1 (1957) |
| Top speed ( km / h) | 275 (1957) |
| transmission | (6) 4/5 speed gearbox |
| drive | Chain |
| Brakes | front: double duplex drum brake / rear: drum brake |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 1,420 |
| Empty weight (kg) | 150 |
The Moto Guzzi V8 also Moto Guzzi Otto Cilindri was a racing motorcycle from the Italian manufacturer Moto Guzzi , which was used in the top class of the FIM for the motorcycle world championship . The Moto Guzzi V8 (1955–1957) is the only motorcycle with an eight-cylinder engine to ever take part in motorcycle races.
development
Giulio Cesare Carcano, race director and development engineer at Moto Guzzi, was looking for solutions to counteract the strong four-cylinder competition between Gilera and MV Agusta in the class up to 500 cm³. A multi-cylinder engine could achieve more power with the same displacement thanks to higher speeds. According to Carcano, the choice was limited to a six- or eight-cylinder engine, whereby a straight six-cylinder would have become too wide for transverse installation. The choice fell on a V8 engine with a 90 degree cylinder angle; the project, which began in 1954, had few role models in the motorcycle world. The Curtiss V8 (1906) was a motorcycle with a V8 airplane engine, designed only for speed records and the supercharged V8 two-stroke from Galbusera (1938) did not get beyond the development stage.
The first sketch of Carcano was finished in autumn 1954, and the first tests were carried out on the test bench in early 1955. Within a very short time, Moto Guzzi’s 12-man racing department succeeded in completing an unusual racing motorcycle.
technology
The eight-cylinder engine was mounted transversely in the frame in order not to let the frontal area of the motorcycle become too large with a width of 50 cm. The cylinder bank angle of the V-engine was 90 degrees. The engine housing was made of cast electrons and had a mount for the axle bearing of the rear swing arm. At first the crankshaft was mounted on roller bearings, later slide bearings were used because they generated less vibrations. The four camshafts were controlled by a central gear that also drove the water pump. The valves, inlet 23 mm and outlet 21 mm, were at an angle of 58 degrees to each other. Actuated by bucket tappets, the valves were held in place by two springs each. Eight nested 20 mm Dell'Orto carburetors created the mixture. Each of the eight cylinders had a breaker mounted in pairs on the left end of each intake camshaft. 10mm spark plugs fired 1-8-3-6-4-5-2-7 in sequence. In the first test runs, the engine already achieved 62 hp at a speed of 12,000 min −1 . At first a 6-speed gearbox was used, but this turned out to be unnecessary due to the power delivery of the engine; starting at 7,000 min -1 power was plentiful. Five gears were sufficient, with later models only four gears were used. The engine was built into a central tubular frame. While the rear wheel was guided in a conventional swing arm, Moto Guzzi used the tried and tested short swing arm on the front wheel in order to guide the "unimaginably thin tires" for today's terms. In the last stage of development (1957), the V8 reached a capacity of 78 horsepower at 14,000 min -1 and was one of the most powerful models in the 500-cc class.
Races
In 1955 the V8 was driven for the first time in training for the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps and the Nations Grand Prix in Monza ; the first race was in the following year. Bill Lomas achieved fifth place in the senior race of the Isle of Man TT in the motorcycle world championship in 1956 and the fastest race lap at the German Grand Prix on the Solitude racetrack in Stuttgart . On February 26, 1957, he set a speed record over 10 km with a V8 (narrow fairing) with a standing start at 243.572 km / h. In the 1957 season Dickie Dale reached fourth place at the Isle of Man TT and in Hockenheim . Even before the breakthrough in the half-liter class was achieved and after the “inevitable teething troubles of the eight-cylinder bullet”, Moto Guzzi officially withdrew from racing at the end of 1957.
Moto Guzzi V8
Engine of the V8
literature
- Mario Colombo: Moto Guzzi . 3. Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-613-01274-X .
- Siegfried Rauch: Famous racing motorcycles - 150 old and new racing machines for Grand Prix use . 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-87943-590-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Technical data according to Colombo, p. 374
- ↑ Colombo, p. 95
- ^ Erwin Tragatsch : All motorcycles from 1894 to today. ISBN 3-87943-410-7 , pp. 119/177
- ^ Rauch, p. 152
- ^ Rauch, p. 152
- ↑ Colombo, p. 387
- ^ Rauch, p. 152
- ↑ Colombo, p. 95
- ↑ Colombo, p. 91
- ^ Rauch, p. 153
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