‘Would an MV by any other name be as sweet?
What’s in a name? Shakespeare had it that a renamed rose would smell the same. But he was writing for an audience of people. A species now extinct. The modern world is populated by Consumers rather than People. Brand names are everything.
The name in question echoes down the years. MV Agusta. Back before consumers, the all-Italian red bikes won 18 titles in 19 years, from 1956 to 1974. The riders were legends: Surtees, Hocking, Hailwood, Agostini, Read.
The bikes were gorgeous: fourcylinder and latterly three-cylinder howlers. Dominance made MVs iconic.
Well, now, they’re back. MV Agusta are joining Moto2, with the Italian Forward Racing team. But is this just more brand engineering? Will they have anything to do with the old fire engines? Well, yes and no. And there is another question. Does it really matter? Meccanica Verghera Agusta started building utilitarian motorcycles in Verghera outside Milan after World War Two; moving to racing domination within two decades.
Linked to the Agusta helicopter company, MV ran into hard times, and a government rescue package ended motorcycle production soon after they left racing, smashed by the two-strokes, in 1976.
In 1991 the Cagiva-owning Castiglionis bought the name, and production started again, some 20 miles north, at Varese. There followed some fine bikes but a chequered financial path.
By last year, the name needed rescuing again. This time with an injection of Russian cash, from one Timur Sardarov. He is son of Rashid Sardarov, famously photographed next to a shot white rhino.
His son, however, seems to have a better attitude to extinction, and has not only saved MV, but commissioned a self-built chassis to take one of the Triumph triples scheduled for Moto2 next year. A real MV?
Well, more so than the totally spurious Brough Superior that ran at the British GP a couple of years back. And maybe a bit more so also than the Norton, whose return to racing entailed an Aprilia engine in a Spondon chassis.
And anyone remember the MotoGP Kawasakis, that were renamed Hayate?
But anyway, what’s in a name? Not much, if you follow Dorna’s twitter feed. They managed to spell it “MV Augusta”.
‘MV Agusta are back and joining Moto3’