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Featured in the October 2024 issue of Road Racing:
Everyone loves the simplicity of a David and Goliath story or even the complexity. In the 1930s and 1940s Moto Guzzi produced both 250cc and 500cc single cylinder machines. The 250cc single was so successful it won the 250cc World Championship from 1949 to 1952! Racing died out after 1952, leaving Guzzi down the championship standings.
In 1953 the 250’s bore and stroke were enlarged from 68mm x 68mm to 72mm x 80mm as a SOHC 320cc race bike to compete in the 350cc World Championship. That same year the engine became DOHC, bore and stroke 75mm x 79mm, for 348cc. This configuration was very successful with Fergus Anderson winning the 1953 350cc World Championship, with Enrico Lorenzetti finishing second on the same machine. Continued development by a brilliant engineer named Giulio Carcano led to Moto Guzzi Singles winning the 350cc World Championship from 1953 to 1957. So what made this seemingly ancient machine so successful?
“Historic Racing Examples: 1957 Moto Guzzi 350,” by Mick O’Field
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