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2012 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este : Classically Inclined!
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The greatest classic car event in the world? Many would say so, insists Adil Jal Darukhanawala after being privy to the 2012 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este
CLASSIC TWO-WHEELED MASTERPIECES!
In his opening address at the second edition of the Concorso E Mostra Di Motociclette held on the grounds of the Villa Erba, Hendrik von Kuenheim, bossman at BMW Motorrad made a most profound statement. He said that about 50 years ago, in Italy precisely, it was often mentioned that motorcycles were the masterpieces of engineers who remain young at heart and many including yours truly can obviously identify with this statement. It was precisely this thought that got BMW to add a motorcycle section to the concours and some of the greatest bikes in the world made for a fantastic turnout!
BMW, which made its mark with motorcycles, has been fortunate that it has examples of every one of its series produced motorcycles since inception in its collection coupled to some of its greatest racing motorcycles and some rare prototypes, which the world never got to see. As such ushering in a motorcycle concours was a well thought out plan. Collectors, enthusiasts and the public gave this event a big thumbs up, for giving the bikers the space and the respect without being put in the shade by the car-wallahs. To see some of the greatest machines within handshaking distance was only bettered by each and every one of them being fired up and ridden past the packed viewers’ gallery! Moto heaven it sure was!
FAB ITALIAN FOUR!
For many who revere the fabulous inline four-cylinder 350cc and 500cc Grand Prix bikes from Gilera and MV Agusta in the 1950s, then this bike should delight them! Carlo Gianini and Pietro Remor wanted to make a four-cylinder racing bike as far back as 1923 and four years later such a bike saw the light of day. However it was not until the duo further developed the bike whose manufacturing was entrusted by them to the Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica did it make a name for itself. With forward sloping cylinders, water-cooling and a supercharged engine, it set numerous speed records and won a host of races all over Europe.
This in turn attracted the venerable firm of Gilera who saw in it the basis to challenge its Moto Guzzi rival on the racetracks. And so it proved, the bike now renamed the Gilera 500 Rondine took the 1939 European Championship for Gilera with Dorino Serafini riding the bike to glory. This is the very bike of Serafini, which won the Best of Show this year.
The history doesn’t end here though. After WW II, the engine was further revamped and with supercharging banned, the new naturally-aspirated Gilera fours were a force to be reckoned with. Pietro Remor however was spirited away to MV Agusta where he developed a very similar machine and this run of success, which essentially started in the mid-1960s, was to go on all the way into the early 1970s on the classic race circuits of the world!
SLIDESHOW: Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta
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