MotoBi Sport Special

Founded in 1949 by Giuseppe Benelli, who had a falling out with his motorcycle manufacturing family, Moto 'B' Pesaro (later shortened to MotoBi) had innovative designs from the start. Their first motorcycle, the 98B, had distinctive egg shaped crankcases and a forward facing horizontal barrel, to take on as much cooling air flow as possible. This design, which became known as the ‘power egg,’ was indicative of the MotoBi marque and the primary reason I chose to draw this Sport Special.

The first four-stroke MotoBi engines were designed by Piero Prampolini and christened the Catria. First available in 1955 in 125cc and 175cc configurations, the design beat the similar format 175cc Aermacchi Chimera to market by 12 months. Two years later, Giuseppe died and MotoBi struggled financially, so his family reunited with Benelli in 1961 to keep the MotoBi name alive.

Later developments of the Catria lead to a 250cc version called the Sports Special in 1966, which provided a thrilling 90mphplus in road trim. The version sketched here is the little sister to that machine, being of 175cc; the only difference is red livery rather than the yellow used on the 250cc. This sporty four-stroke machine had racing roots thanks to Primo Zanzani, who had been working in the MotoBi race shop since 1957. Zanzani, a self-taught tuning wizard, was responsible for pepping up the MotoBi four-strokes making them competitive in road racing in Italy and the USA. Major success for MotoBi was found in the Italian 250cc Junior Championships, where MotoBi machines won 16 championships and the Junior title three years running from 1966 to 1969.

While MotoBi did see fame in Italy and some success in the USA, where their machines were commonly branded as Benelli, this 175cc would have been a dream machine for younger riders, impressed by the successful Italian road racers of the time.