A tribute to Luigi Taveri

This year on the 19th, 20th and 21st of June, it’s the Swiss rider Luigi Taveri who will be put in the spotlights. Taveri became three times champion in the 125cc category and succeeded in scoring points in all categories, even the sidecar category.

Luigi Taveri – who now is 79 years old – started his racing career on the age of eighteen, in his brothers’ side-car. He got bitten by the virus of motorcycle racing and not very much later, he turned to the solo categories. In 1953, Taveri received his international license and a year later, he participated at the Grand Prix races for the first time. This was the beginning of an important GP career that lasted until 1966.

In 1955 he was recruited as a factory rider by the Italian company MV Agusta, and ever since then until the end of his career in 1966, Taveri was one of the top riders in the light categories. He remained with MV till 1958, then he passed over to Ducati. In 1959 he initially started with the East-German MZ but during the season he returned to Ducati. In 1960 he was once again with MV. All those years, he was always one of the top riders, but he never actually succeeded in winning a world title. He was disillusioned and decided to stop racing at the end of that year.

The 1961 season indeed started without Taveri. His wife Tilde however knew he was unhappy with that situation, and that all he wanted to do was to race. She made contact with Honda. Honda was interested, but could only offer him a bike from 1960. They promised him that when he got good results, they would put recent factory material to his disposal. Taveri became Honda’s top rider in the 50 and 125cc categories, and in 1962, 1964 and 1966 he became world champion in the 125cc category. In 1966 he missed out on the 50cc title. The disappointment of not getting ‘a double’ was enormous, and he lacked the fire to continue in the GP in 1967. As a way of appreciation, Honda gave him a 125cc five cylinder and a 250cc four cylinder. Taveri also participated at some national hill climbs in Switzerland, but then decided to put an end to his career. He’s always been a very welcome guest at the various classic events and was always present at the GP parades of the Bikers’ Classics at Francorchamps.

Taveri is unique in several ways. He has earned points in every championship he started and in which a title was to be won in those days : from the 50cc category to the sidecar championship (as a passenger)! He rode with different motorcycles : Honda, MV-Agusta, Norton, Moto-Guzzi, Kreidler, Ducati and MZ. The organisers of the Bikers’ Classics have done the utmost to have as many motorcycles as possible with which Taveri has raced during his long career. You will be able to admire them at the Bikers’ Classics on the 19th, 20th and 21st of June in Francorchamps.

A unique Honda 50 cc replica

The Dutchman Nico Claasen will show his replica of a 50cc Honda twin during the Bikers’ Classics. A motorcycle just like the one Luigi Taveri raced with in the sixties. The unique engine is not yet finished, but it can already be mounted into a display standard and can be showed. He also has a replica of the 50cc of Taveri, based on a Honda Dream 50cc. This monocylinder has two exhausts and the complete bike is just a “copy-paste” of Taveri’s original racer.

To the question how he made his bike, Claasen answers : “I collected all kinds of pictures and started scaling them, then I designed the engine. Based on that design, I made the moulds. I then started working on the cast parts. Last year, I went to Motegi in Japan (home of Honda’s museum) and I’ve seen the original twin there. I was able to make some pictures and take some measurements. My replica comes very close to the original one.”

He hopes to be able to ride the first metres with the motorcycle next year.