
Here’s another lovely vintage motorcycle pic of the day, showing two historic figures in Italian motorcycle racing: Renzo Pasolini and Giancarlo Cecchini. Pasolini was a genius bike rider until the infamous Monza crash, and Cecchini was equally as clever with motorcycle engines.
With computers now ruling the pit lane garages, we forget the brains that used to go into finding just the right kind of set-up for a bike. In this picture Renzo and Giancarlo are giving all their attention to the 250 Benelli’s four-stroke, four-cylinder engine. The picture was taken back in 1969.
The motorcycle debuted in 1962 in a victorious race by Silvio Grassetti at Cesenatico, and was reinvented by the great Tarquinio Provini in 1964. At the end of 1969 changes to FIM regulations meant the Benelli motorcycle could no longer race as it was. The brand still had the upper hand, though, winning with its ‘bialbero’ that first appeared in 1950 with Dario Ambrosini, with Australian rider Kel Carruthers on board.
Source | Motoblog.it
Italy has always loved motorcycle racing and its riders and this video from an Italian show called Sfide titled “Waiting for Valentino Rossi” features Renzo “Paso” Pasolini and his rivalry with the superstar racer of that time Giacomo “Ago” Agostini. Two different racing styles and a rivalry that divided many Italian fans in those days as the Rossi –Biaggi rivalry would do in the future.
For those older racing fans this will be a bittersweet walk down memory lane and for you young guns, its a big piece of racing history.
Last week marked the anniversary of the death of Renzo Pasolini and Jarno Saarinen. Today, thanks to the precious note from our reader giorgiogasss, we give you this video of Pasolini’s last round from Rai program “Sfide”
Monza, May 20 1973, Grand Prix of Nations, Italy loses a champion…his name is Renzo Pasolini.