Primo Felotti
Metal master
At a dinner in 2003, Primo told Paul of how, in circa 1953, he formed a curvaceous tank in aluminium to present to the MV Agusta board for consideration. Fitted only to the 1954 MV Agusta 175 Sport and Super Sport models, the tank was christened the ‘Disco Volante’, as it looked like a UFO. Paul acquired Primo’s last disco tank, formed by him in aluminium circa 2009 at 85 years of age. Personally signed, it was left unpainted to show the smoothed hammer marks of a master. I purchased and translated the book Primo Felotti – A Life of Racing – Memories of a Lattoniere. Lattoniere translates from Italian to ‘tinsmith’. If you were to read about early MV Agusta motorcycles, acknowledgements include the Agusta family, Magni, Remor (engineers), Agostini, Mike Hailwood, John Surtees (racers), Giugiaro (designer) but not of the guys who hand-profiled the beautiful fairings, tanks and panels. Primo was one of these littlereferenced guys.
Childhood to apprentice
Born in Telgate near Bergamo in 1924, Primo started an apprenticeship just before turning 14 in the Lattoniere department where 200 workers formed panels for Agusta aircraft. Primo describes
the noise as deafening and it took a month of constant headaches before he could get to sleep at night. He was mentored by Mr Luigi Chinello, a superb craftsman. Life took Primo many places but in 1949 he managed to return to Agusta (now MV Agusta) making motorcycles, as aircraft manufacture was forbidden post-war. Starting with panels for the GLS 51 and CGT 51 scooters, his exceptional skill had him promoted to head lattoniere of the race department for the 1952 Italian and World Championships. His responsibilities included all the panels, tanks and fairings for the 125, 150, 175, 350 and 500cc race machines. ‚
Count Domenico’s lucky charm
Primo cites the day his life changed in 1953 at the Italian Championship race in Faenza. Scrutineers disqualified Carlo Ubbiali’s MV 125 for a tail piece they said was 2cm too high. Count Domenico Agusta summoned Primo to fix it quickly.
He completed the change with 20 seconds to spare and Ubbiali went on to win. Meanwhile rain fell before the 500cc race. There was little hope for MV rider Masetti against Liberati (Gilera) who was unbeaten. Count Domenico asked Primo to sit with him during the race. Liberati was 25 seconds ahead of Masetti with ten laps to go when the Gilera began to misfire. Primo noted the vent in the Gilera’s fairing was directing the rain onto the magneto, whereas his fairing vent was higher. On the last lap Masetti reached Liberati and overtook him for victory. The elated Count turned to Primo, asked his name and christened him his ‘lucky charm’, demanding he accompany the race team on the World Championship circuit. Primo includes many stories from the Championship experience.
One good story was from the 1958 Monza round. Primo was finishing a new, more streamlined fairing design during practice. Degner on an MZ was one second a lap quicker in both the 125 and 250 class which didn’t impress Count Domenico. Primo presented his new fairing and the Count ordered it mounted immediately. By the second lap, Degner’s time was matched. The Count summoned Primo to his Cadillac and they hurried back to the factory to build another for the 250. Primo worked alone all night to make the 8am truck to Monza. The 250 was also a revelation and Ubbiali went on to beat Degner on the last lap in both the 125 and 250 races.
Agusta-Bell
When aircraft manufacturing resumed in Italy Agusta invested heavily in helicopters. Motorcycles were secondary and in 1961 the MV race team was trimmed back to just the 500 class. Primo’s main role became helicopters. In 1966 he was responsible for the panels, jigs and manufacturing training for building the Agusta-Bell 206. Subsequently he did the same for other helicopter models and a significant portion of the book covers this part of his working life. Count Domenico passed away in 1971 and he was the sole reason that motorcycles existed at Agusta. The race department did continue half-heartedly and Primo left in 1973 to work full-time with helicopters. He did however work weekends and nights at home to hand-make the tanks and panels for the last three MV Agusta models – the 750 America, the 350 Ipotesi (Giugiaro designed) and the 125 Sport. For this work he was offered 700,000 Lire but only accepted 400,000. He recounted this story to Cagiva engineer Azzalin who replied he was mad for accepting such a meagre sum. Primo agreed but said that he loved this type of work so much that the satisfaction of seeing the birth of an MV bike, built entirely with his hands, was to him the most precious compensation. Production of motorcycles at MV ended with these models in 1977, the last sold in 1980.
Cagiva
Primo was invited by ex-MV racer
Gilberto Milani to meet with the
Castiglioni brothers in 1981. They,
‘Cagiva’, were racing in the 250 class. They had a 500cc racer reaching completion that needed bodywork. Primo said he still wanted to end his time at Agusta but pledged that he would start with Cagiva the day after he left. He then said, “I don’t work for Agusta on Saturdays so I will build the fairings then”. He worked for Cagiva on Saturdays for three years, also making bodywork for their successful Motocross racers. On Primo’s last day at Agusta in 1983 his co-workers presented him with an aluminium plaque with attached hammer and all their signatures. Ten days later Primo entered the Cagiva Race Department at Shirianna and for four years faired 4-cylinder race bikes for the likes of Virginio Ferrari and Marco Luccinelli.
After the races in September 1988, Primo returned to his workshop to see a stripped-down Ducati 1000. The Director of Works, Azzalin, asked Primo if he would be interested in making a 50-litre tank for the proposed Paris-Dakar machine. It took him a week and measured exactly 50 litres and more impressively Primo kept the centre of gravity low. Azzalin put 500,000 Lire into Primo’s wallet then asked him for a 2-litre reserve tank. Primo incorporated quick release fixings and fuel couplings from his racing experiences. Next came a sump guard, a dual head light front fairing and mudguards in which he added compartments for spare tubes, water, tyre levers etc. They couldn’t believe how everything fit so precisely without drawings or moulds. Primo then prepared three other bikes by the end of December. The Cagiva Elefant 1000 won many stages and was christened the “Empress of
LEFT Primo working at Cagiva.
BELOW Primo’s going away present 24 October 2015.
Africa”. Primo travelled with the rally describing the good times, and the sad like rider Marinoni’s fatality. Primo built Paris-Dakar Cagivas until the end of 1994, retiring at the age of 70. He quoted these heartfelt words: “With the Castiglioni brothers I spent beautiful years, almost like those passed with Mr Domenico and with the whole family Agusta. Those, in the racing world, were the most beautiful years of my life”.
Hammering on
Primo turned work into a hobby, firstly restoring his old MV 125 followed by 14 others and he still retains around half of them. He built MV’s to order for enthusiasts. He wrote that one machine went all the way to Australia, photographs of which can be seen on world-renowned photographer Phil Aynsley’s website and in the OBA Continental Classic magazine. The Castiglionis acquired the MV Agusta brand in 1992. Primo was a special guest at the new F4 launch in 1998 and given the honour to remove the cover. In 2010 at the F3, Claudio Castiglioni was very ill but he again insisted on Primo removing the cover. Primo was extremely saddened when Claudio passed away in 2011. In September 2011, Primo was invited to perform the first lap at the “Revocation of the Gallarate
Circuit” event. He prepared his most beautiful MV350 for this. Before the off, the announcer divulged that Primo was 87 years old, to the applause of the crowd. On the second lap he gave it a bit more throttle which sadly led to a fall. He was taken to hospital where they found three broken ribs and a damaged knee which angered him as it ended his goal of riding until he was 90.
Primo will be 100 years old in 2024. He has already left the motorcycling and helicopter community with a fantastic legacy. I wish him many more healthy years, and in that time I wish he could fill the gaps left in his book, specifically his contribution to each of the road and race MV’s, Cagiva models and also the ‘reported’ contribution he made to Arturo
Magni’s creations.