Up until now, we saw and listened to Gabriele Gnani...
only in many interesting and technical videos....
on youtube, which we advise every fan to watch.
Now...
however, we had a chance to meet him.
We were surprised by the personality, the attitude...
and the congeniality of this self-taught genius.
Thank to his passion, his life-long efforts, and as he himself says...
to a few fortunate encounters...
he's become a prominent figure in the world of...
the competitive 2T engines.
The supreme refining of his 125cc...
and the great insight on every mechanical and flui-dynamical detail...
leave no doubt on the quality of the preparer.
But the availability through which he spoke about his many experiences...
and the modesty of when he talked about his many doubts...
and questions still unanswered, make this man great honour.
In fact, presumption and arrogance are the mark are the mark...
of a superficial knowledge, while the humility marks...
the science, the wisdom.
Today, we're with an illustrious guest.
We're all wearing masks, because...
they are essential.
We present to you...
Gabriele Gnani. Exceptional two-stroke pilot...
preparer...
a well respectable career.
Gabriele, tell us...
how did you start your adventure in the race world?
Well, let's say the adventure started...
long before the race world, when I was 13-14 years old, with the scooters.
It started on the streets.
And then, at one point...
I saw I liked it so much...
that I realized I wanted to race.
I didn't have the money, of course.
So it was a problem...
buying a race bike with no money.
They were quite expensiver, just like now.
The proportions are still the same.
So I decided that the only way to do this...
was build one myself.
Also because, in all honesty...
I used to work on my father's workshop, he was a smith.
I liked it...
I had played around with scooters since I was ten.
So I had a basic a rough idea...
about how to do this.
But I had no idea where I'd end up.
So little by little, I started building one...
of these bikes...
At the beginning...
I almost had no idea of what I was doing, and then...
You got the idea from what was already there...
watching other bikes.
I never had a bike.
So I just used my instincts. That's right.
Then, one instinct...
after the other...
it was how my adventure...
started.
Many years ago.
We haven't talked about this before, but Gabriele...
as you can see he still has his suit on...
he just came out of the circuit here in Vallelunga, he's still quite active.
Yes, I'm here today for some tests...
because in 15 days...
we'll have a race here...
in a month, sorry, we'll have a race here.
So, this year, taking into account the lack of training...
because of this virus, and...
because of the race...
will be here in Vallelunga, we decided to come here today...
so I can get some training.
This is the second seasonal outing...
and I'm also testing the circuit...
on which I'll race.
Nothing better than this.
One thing:
one thing is the passion; you are...
you started in your father's workshop...
that's where you've learned.
But one thing is the technique, the workshop...
another thing is the extreme passion for tuning, which is...
something different. Did you always have it...
or did it come simply by fixing bikes?
I started racing...
with a bike that wasn't built by me.
Because, like...
I was building a 50cc for myself.
I built...
a race 50cc for myself.
However...
I came to know a person, at that time...
a great friend...
Angelo Zanetti, a blind person.
He had a race 50cc...
that he made available for me...
for the first year.
While I started by...
building a 50cc by myself...
he anticipated my will...
and my times.
I wanted to build this 50cc, because...
the military service was in between.
So I was serving in the military, I was building...
the 50cc, but I would've never made it...
for that season.
So this friend of mine, Angelo Zanetti...
borrowed me this 50cc, already finished...
and I debuted on that.
Do you remember the year?
1983.
First official race.
I was 19.
A huge disappointment, I decided not to race anymore.
You didn't get a good result?
Not at all.
First of all, I never tried...
a bike on a circuit. It's not like how it is now...
you can get lots of training now.
It wasn't like this back then.
So...
You couldn't do anything. So I just went there...
You drove on the streets like everyone!
It's another thing entirely!
So I went there, on a friday...
I expected to do great...
I was convinced I'd fly off!
at one point, on friday night...
all the others started to arrive.
I saw then that I was indeed flying, but much slower than the others!
The others were indeed much faster than me.
So bottome line...
on saturday morning we had the official test runs...
also on the afternoon...
My time was the 21st.
Only 20 could get in. So I was...
out. Just for one position.
I realized I was embarassing...
What I wanted to do was...
with my dear friend Angelo...
We go back (not at home)...
There was a rule that...
you had to have 2 reserves. I was the first reserve.
I was supposed to stay ready, in case...
someone else...
couldn't race.
But it's certainly not a great feeling...
to sit on the bench.
So...
I stayed there. During the night, I slept in...
this small motel with my friend Angelo. We didn't have a camper, of course.
So I remember perfectly...
like it was yesterday...
I cried the whole night.
My dream was shattered.
Completely crumbled.
I said: "Angelo, look...
this is not for me. I'm sorry for all...
you did for me...
but this place is not for me.
These people are flying...
I'm giving up." And he said "No man, what are you talking about?"
I was very upset. Completely dressed...
on my bed.
I slept completely dressed.
Actually I didn't sleep, I cried the whole night.
Anyways... He was saying "No...
look, I knew this was going to happen"
And I said "Then you're an idiot! Why...
didn't you tell me earlier?"
My parents almost threw me out of the house, they didn't want me racing.
I was like, my family was ruined...
a disaster!
Look, I'm ruined! So we go back home...
on sunday morning.
None of the other pilots had a diarrhea or something...
so I went back home.
I decided that that would be my first and last race.
So the scooter I was building back home...
everything, I gave up everything.
I was gonna scrap everything. Didn't give a s**t.
I came back to my old hobby I had...
10 years before: fishing. I used to fish...
when I was 10.
I grab my carbon fishing rod and go fishing.
At one point though...
when I started cooling off...
at one point I say "Damn...
maybe I should blame myself a little...
but there's definitely some way for improvement."
Since I had...
the shift...
on the right.
And I'm used to have it on the left.
I messed up so many times in the circuit...
I said: "If...
if the shift had been in the right side, MAYBE...
I could have...
maybe gotten second to last.
It would've been better than getting last!
But we also need to have respect for the last and...
the second to last!
And my friend Angelo, on the phone every day:
"Come on, have you calmed down? Let's try again!" "No Angelo...
I'm not trying again!"
15 days later...
he manages to get a "yes" out of me...
and so: second chance! But I tell him "Look, Angelo...
listen to me:
if it happens again, that'd be the end of it"
"Alright, alright"
We go back to Magione, there were 2 races there.
And...
same circuit...
a month later. The bike had...
the shift on the other side.
I couldn't make any test, because you couldn't...
back then.
The trials start...
and heck, my time is the 11th.
I was...
over the moon.
I was so happy.
I a person who wants to fight to win..
but I also know that sometimes I need to settle.
I also get last sometimes, you know.
So, 11th time.
At one point, the actual race starts.
I run the whole race...
fighting for the 5th...
and the 6th place.
So basically, the only difference was...
the side of the shift. 
 
Yes.
So, I fought the whole race against...
Di Giovanni.
Which is still now a dear friend of mine.
Clearly he had a tremendous amount of experience...
he had been racing for a long time. So he placed 5th and I placed 6th.
But that's alright! That was...
my beginning. My attitude...
there, went over the moon.
And from there, my adventure began.
After that...
I always started on the first row. First time, second time...
third time at worst.
So it was basically a matter of experience?
Yes. 
 
Or also maybe a matter of...
being young. When the expectations...
clash against reality.
When they confront the reality, a change is needed. 
 
Sure.
You need to adapt, hang in there...
use your brain, because that's also essential.
That year, I placed 5th in the Italian championship...
so what wasn't bad at all!
I was very happy, of course.
Unfortunately... I mean, I had...
a great start.
In the meanwhile, after the first race...
I still hadn't thrown away the first engine I was building...
so I also concentrated on that, I couldn't wait...
to finish it. 
 
So on the first bike you built, you also built the engine?
Back at the time?
You didn't get a prebuilt one?
 
Absolutely not, actually I started from there.
The engine was the most important thing. I didn't care...
at all about the chassis.
The engine is the engine. That's where I started from.
Unfortunately, that winter...
While I was in the military, I was racing AND building the engine.
At the Cervia Aeronautics...
I was also working there, panting wooden models.
So you also had the chance...
there were machines there?
I was in service, and I also was a firefighter...
so I was serving in a fire-truck. Me and the driver...
instead of reading...
comic books, what you could find around there...
I was using sandpaper on the wood to create my models.
It didn't change thins that much.
It's not like if a plane would crash...
I was going to let it burn, you know...
but since I spent whole days sitting on a Perlini, like this...
and you can't get out of the truck...
but as long as you're inside you can do whatever you want. You could get out just to pee or something, of course...
but most of the time I was working with my sandpaper.
But there was so much dust in there...
you could barely see. That's where I...
finished all my models.
Models to be cast?
Models to be cast?
After that, I went...
to the foundry. No, wait, I also had the problem of the smeltering.
We're reconnecting to that matter...
When I went to the smelter...
the cost was exorbitant.
That was another problem...
very difficult to solve, of course.
At the time it was 500.000₤...
it's not stuff you easily forget.
He asked me that sum...
at this foundry in Forlì, plus 35.000₤ per hour...
based on how long it would take.
In the end, it was a work worth...
800-900.000₤, even a million.
Of course, I didn't have that kind of money.
If I asked my dad for that money, he would've killed me.
So yeah, that was a problem.
And so..
I decided to...
let's wait a little, and see what happens. Then...
I came to know there was a foundry in Cotignola...
where I still go to this day, and where I still have a dear friend.
I went there to ask for...
an estimate.
Wait, hold on a second, not so easy.
I went there with my scooter.
From Cotignola to my town, it definitely wasn't a short ride.
I think it's 40km.
So with a 3 gears scooter...
you can imagine.
What scooter did you have? A Garelli?
No no, it was something I built with different parts.
A mix, let's say. So, I went to this foundry...
I heard about.
As soon as I go there...
I see these huge, 500 meters long sheds.
Where the hell am I?
This is a factory!
You got scared!
I still have goosebumps!
I'll always remember that feeling.
So I found these huge sheds: where am I?
If the other guy wante a million the poor guy from there...
how am I able to afford the stuff from here?
They're not even speaking to me.
It's a real factory here.
I turn my scooter around and go back home.
After a few kilometers...
Around 4km...
I changed my mind, I decided...
It was worth it to ask, at least.
I turn the scooter around once more, and go back to the foundry.
I place the scooter on a gate...
I approach what looked...
like an office, I ring the bell...
a man shows up.
In very professional work coat...
he even had a tie...
a technician.
More like a holy technician!
At one point...
he was a little surprised, I was 18 at the time...
or 19.
So...
I had all my models under my arms.
I tell him: "I need a casting". He answers "Well, we're a foundry!"
"You're definitely in the right place!"
"Yeah, but I'd like to know...
how much it would cost."
He says "Let's speak inside"
So I put everything on the table.
He takes a look and says:
"Look, I'm not sure."
I already knew what he was going to say.
The usual 500k plus labour...
and so on.
He doesn't state a sum, though.
He just had a face...
such a look...
He convinced me to leave the stuff...
and leave.
He said "Excuse me kid, how did you here?"
"Where are you from?" 
"From Bertinolo"
"Bertinolo? And what are you driving?"
"Look, I have... that scooter over there".
"A scooter???"
"That's what I have, Mr. Morini"
"I see"
"So...
it should be ready in a week."
So I left and went back home.
While riding home I think I cried.
I thought "What the hell did I just do?"
This guy is going to suck my wallet dry. What will I do when I get back?
I'm ruined! This is the biggest screw-up of my life.
Also to make those models...
it took you such a long time, right?
 
Yeah, but it didn't cost me anything!
The models don't cost anything, it's just wood!
I didn't even use the Swiss pine...
I didn't even know what it was.
It was just...
basic wood I took from home.
The best I could find .
The one that cracks when it dries.
Only later I knew you're supposed to use Swiss pine. Now even...
the Swiss pine doesn't get used anymore.
Who knew all this?
So, I showed him all these models, and...
the guy tells me:
"This is fine, we can do all this"
He then convinces me to leave, and so I leave.
That week was obviously a nightmare.
I couldn't sleep. Thinking...
about the mistake I did.
And of course, the amount he would've asked. So...
I decide to call him a week later.
"I'd like to speak with Mr. Augusto Morini"
"Who am I speaking with?" "I'm the guy from etc..."
He gets on the line...
he remembers of course.
"Hello, I'm that kid from a week ago..."
"Ah yes!"
"It's all ready! But you know what?
You can't come with the scooter, because since I was there...
I didn't make one piece for each.
I made 4 or 5 for each.
You're gonna use them sooner or later"
"WHAT? What do you mean 4-5 each?"
"Why yes, sure, since I was there"
"Take a car, or a van."
"A van???"
"Dear God!"
"I'm ruined!"
I think it's better if I go there...
with my scooter first.
To see what's what.
I take my scooter...
and leave.
I took all the money I had. All...
the money I had, it was...
200.000...
250.000₤.
So yeah, that was all I had.
Maybe a few thousands less.
About 250k, anyway.
I take all of it and go there.
So this guys comes up...
always impeccable.
He already had white hair, like now. Augusto Morini...
hasn't changed in 40 years.
He had this smile...
and this relaxed...
although distinct look.
"Come here!" He calls his employee and ask him to go take ...
that pallet there.
The guy comes back with a ton of stuff.
My knees were getting weak, in the meanwhile.
"Excuse me..." "Take a look, we did this and that..."
"Yeah yeah, but that's not the problem!"
I didn't know how to tell him I didn't have the money!
So I finally manage to ask "Excuse me, but how much is...
all of this?"
He tells me a sum that...
he probably spoke out quite clearly.
But I didn't really catch that.
I don't know. I had him repeat that 5 times.
At the 5th time, he...
even said: "look, if it's too much... "
Maybe he was under the impression I was trying to suggest something.
Like I wanted him to say it again because it was too much.
"Look, if it's too much...
we can even do less!"
"No, Mr. Morini, I really don't understand".
"Look, it's 35k"
"35k??? How is it 35k?"
 
"35k? How? For what?"
"Look, I wanted to do you a favour"
"Just pay me the...
aluminium bars...
and we're good"
I still couldn't believe that.
So I tell him "Look sir, I...
want to pay you 100.000₤"
"Absolutely not!" He didn't want it.
I paid immediately. He didn't want...
those 100k. He...
simply asked for the 35k. 
 
That's a nice thing because...
your talent met this opportunity, offered...
by a nice person. 
 
A very nice person, yes.
So...
So he told me to come with a car.
I tell him "Mr. Morini, at least for tonight...
1 of each I have to bring them home."
I remember taking one of each type.
To bring on the scooter.
I had the goosebumps, I was so excited to use them.
It was such a beautiful feeling.
I took one for each..
and after a few days I went back with a car and some friends of mine...
I didn't, at the time...
I didn't have my driving license.
I was busy with bikes and the...
racing business...
 
So, I went back there...
and that's the foundry where I go to this day.
I keep going to them.
Mr. Morini is still impeccable.
He has his sons with him, I saw them growing up, they're about my age.
They were kids when I first...
went there.
Now they're like, the owners of the foundry.
Their dad, Augusto, is like...
80...
years. So yeah, he should indeed take...
a break.
Ok so...
for the people who are watching us...
We talked about these things now, and it's clear...
how much passionate you were.
But starting from this...
and going to build a bike and a race engine...
there's lots of theory of know. So, first the brain and then the hands.
So there is this theoretical training...
which has an empirical aspect...
but also a study behind it.
How did this study start?
Where did you get that knowledge? 
 
From mistakes.
There's nothing better than mistakes.
Don't ever think I've never made any mistake.
You learn more from the mistakes than from the books.
The book says...
The book is a compass.
That's it.
But the north, for example.
The north is huge on this compass. You can't find it that easily.
Also because...
the book...
it's not a holy truth.
A book is made by people.
A book simply is...
the knowledge of other humans.
 
Well, it refers to physics laws.
There's math.
But there are books...
like...
A race bike, a Formula 1 car...
isn't built by following books.
How slow would that be?
So...
be careful, because books are written by people.
It's a...
it's something to consider. You can do better than the book does.
Math and physics are not up to debate.
That's true.
However, we can discuss about all the rest.
It's like the books about technical engineering...
were a map...
that roughly tells you where to dig.
That's that I mean.
But if you apply the book to a Formula 1...
it'll weigh 4x times...
at best.
Yeah, you have the safety coefficients.
That's for sure.
So...
it'll weigh 4 times more and has half the power...
compared to the book. So you need to get other books...
And this great interest...
towards the two-stroke, was it there from the beginning or...
there was a particular reason that got you...
into this engine?
It was there from the beginning.
When I used to work with my dad...
he was a smith, and I...
started with him when I was...
10 years old, drilling holes...
after school. I helped him...
in basic stuff. So I knew how to use...
the tools. I wasn't allowed to...
when I was 5-6 years old of course.
In fact...
this finger here is the only...
weird one. All these are fractures from racing...
this here was a fracture caused by a belt on a grinding wheel...
that I wasn't allowed to...
turn on.
So I just used to pull it...
then I'd run to the other side...
and use this wheel.
At that time I used to make small knives. It was a passion of mine.
Since my father taught me to forge them...
with the foundry. So I used to...
to forge these small swords and knives.
Blades. But I needed to sharpen them.
So I...
pulled the belt, however...
by pulling harder and harder to give more inertia to the wheel...
at one point...
I pulled way to hard...
and my finger got cut in two.
Ouch!
 
 When I told my father...
it was a summer afternoon...
around 2PM...
I went in the house, my mother was there, she was a housewife...
I remember it was so hot.
She was taking a nap on the couch...
after lunch. I woke her up...
and showed here my bleeding finger...
with half of it that was missing.
The poor woman, what a mess. We went to my father...
and I even took some slaps...
with my finger dangling. Then they immediately brought me to the hospital...
they reattached my finger and so on.
 
Let's say I had my...
misadventures. One evening...
I remember, while working on some models...
for 80cc engines, so years later...
at around 2-3AM...
I caught my wheel under a cutter spinning at 2000...
I mangled the whole hand.
I left by myself with my car...
of course, I had a driving license at the time, so I didn't wake anyone up....
I tightened a rag on it...
and went to the hospital...
with the hand in that state. They asked me how in the world I managed to get that...
especially at that time. I had my pockets full of wooden chips...
 
so I told them what happened, they stitched me up and sent me home.
So, let's back to the castings.
Those castings were never...
finished. I mean, they were finished...
but the engines weren't. Because...
Never turned on. Because the Federation, that year...
had the great idea of moving the class from 50cc...
to 80cc.
So all the work was for nothing!
Absolutely nothing.
It was all left there. Finished and working.
Never mounted.
Maybe one day, before I die...
I'll build them. But it's the only engine...
I never finished building.
Unfortunately the Federation made this change.
So...
an 80cc as I could've done it...
wouldn't be accepted. From those castings.
Everything was in 50 size.
So I started from scratch...
and re-did all the models...
to make an 80cc...
some 80cc.
At that time...
this friend of mine, Angelo Zanetti...
you see, we were late for the production...
of an 80cc engine, and the season..
was about to start.
At one point...
Angelo...
bought me an engine.
He could afford it...
economically, he was alright. He bought me...
a bike from a Lusuardi Claudio from Bologna.
A guy that used to race. Just...
a pilot.
He used to run in the world championship in the 50cc class.
He then stopped racing, started building 80cc engines...
and he built...
5 or 6 of them. One of those..
was bought by me and Angelo. In order...
to start racing as I did the year before with the 50cc.
He borrowed me his...
He brought me this Lusuardi.
This Lusuardi...
I knew a Lusuardi...
from Motorsprint...
you see? As I knew...
Stefano Fingari. I had poster of all of them...
in my side of the workshop, where I worked.
 
So we go there...
the work was rushed...
and I surely had a bad feeling about that bike.
So it didn't behave well in the circuit?
Well, he delivered the bike...
two days before the race.
I went there at the last minute, there wasn't much more he could've done.
The whole setup...
I didn't see any of that.
And at his place, when I went one time...
there was nothing to see. I've never saw it before.
I only wante one thing though: I wanted the chassis...
 
to be monocoque. The one from the Bultaco 50.
The aluminium monocoque with the two holes...
I don't know if you've ever seen. It was beautiful.
He used to make 80 engines...
from square aluminium tube, and I hated it.
He said "no problem".
The day I supposed to pick it up...
I caught a very bad fever.
The race was the week after that. Someone had to go and pick it up.
So, my father and Angelo take off
because in the meanwhile my father came over...
we made up. 
 
He probably...
noticed you had an authentic passion.
Yeah, we went back to be father and son.
They leave, and go to Modena to take this bike.
They come back home, and I obviously...
wanted it inside the house. I wanted to see it.
I noticed then a terrible thing.
The chassis was wrong? 
 
No...
it was the right one. But it had a cruciform gearbox.
Which I hated. Coming from...
well, I was also a scooter mechanic...
for quite some time, so I hated...
the Vespas, the Sachs with cruciform gearbox.
I hated all the engines featuring that gearbox.
I liked...
gearboxes with frontal grafts. In fact...
my 80cc...
the ones from back then...
You noticed it had a cruciform gearbox because there was an external preselector?
I noticed because I saw the mess on the outside.
What is this? It was the cruciform gearbox.
The selector was on the outside...
My balls dropped.
I said: "we're ruined! How the hell will I drive this?"
In fact, we start...
racing.
In the first race it didn't even have the paint on.
But still, the gearbox was the major issue.
It was a mess.
I had to shift 3-4 gears.
The gears were slipping, right? 
 
Yeah, a mess.
It was made poorly.
Not inherently because of the cruciform. 
 
You've started using them on...
your current engines.
 
Yeah, that was another thing entirely.
So, at one point...
 
this gearbox had been a problem...
for a year. I had to use it for a year.
So yeah, it was a problem.
When the year ended...
I had to finish my engines...
my 80cc engines. I prepare the thermal...
prepare the crankshaft. I had already decided how to do it.
I get to the gearbox.
So what gearbox should we use here?
 
Making it all over, like I did...
before with the 50cc I never used...
was too much work. And also very expensive.
If I could've found...
already existing that I could use...
and modify just a few ratios, it would've been optimal.
So I buy:
a Gilera gearbox.
I bought it in Bologna, a full Gilera Gearbox, 125cc.
I went to the TM...
and I bought another one. I went...
to the poor Villa, Francesco Villa...
and I bought another one.
I had a few De Liro gearboxes, 125cc...
TGM. Hero engine 125.
I take a look at this stuff...
I didn't like it. They looked like...
they were fit for tractors.
Compared...
to what could've been a cruciform gearbox. Then...
I start to have some doubts.
Maybe, I thought...
if we make a cruciform gearbox...
but well made...
maybe it'd work?
It was a decision...
that took me weeks.
Because it could've...
compromised my career.
 
 
It was a decision...
a very difficult decision.
Then I said: "I hope I won't regret this"
And I took off with a cruciform gearbox.
The much hated gearbox.
There's a saying, you know, if you dislike a woman...
that'll be the one you marry.
It happened to me! He who rejects, accepts.
So I went with that...
and I'm very happy I did.
Any other engine, of any capacity...
it'll have that gearbox. It's simply the best.
However...
it seems easy, but it isn't.
If I made bikes...
to sell them...
I would never dream of putting a cruciform gearbox.
It's very delicate.
If I made bikes in order to sell them...
kart, sprint, cross...
whatever, I wouldn't dream ot it.
A cruciform gearbox...
needs to be made from scratch.
Only then...
you can get a feel...
for the bevel from 0 to 35...
or the 0.8 radius...
You can get a feel for that.
You can get a feel for that.
You shifts gears incorrectly...
and you break everything.
I'll never switch.
However...
regarding your growth...
in this field, there was a phase of...
internship in a workshop, then...
you worked as a mechanic, for a while.
 
Well, I was a smith that made a bike.
 
Yeah, but you said...
that you've been in a few workshops.
 
No, I was in MY workshop!
Then my friends started bringing me their scooters...
and I fixed them.
But I had to switch jobs, because...
my friends became my clients, and I couldn't get paid! Therefore...
I barely earned anything. So it wasn't such a good thing...
being a scooter mechanic.
But we could say that...
all I learned to do with my hands...
I learned it by being a smith.
From when I was 6...
when I was forging my knives.
I still use the same forge...
to make my conrods, my gears...
my cruciforms...
the same forge from my dad's.
I'm still using that material.
And I learned to use it in that time.
Sure.
The way you learn when you're 6, when you mess up...
you'll surely remember.
That was my school.
So, in this tale, we arrived at the...
80.
And when did you decide to change to...
the 125?
 
Well, I...
got...
 
Because this racing of yours never stopped, right?
Never. However...
only occasionally, no more than 20 days...
for a few broken bones and such, you know. Unfortunately...
it happens.
Let's say that the 80...
had gone on for many years, until...
the last year, when I placed 5th...
in the world championship. 
 
It was in the '90, right?
It was the '89.
I placed 5th in the world championship.
I had to stop at...
at Brno. No, actually at Brno I...
I didn't qualify. I had to stop in...
Holland because I had a bad incident. Broke both my feet...
and a shoulder. So I got no points.
At Brno...
I didn't qualify because...
I just got back and was hurting pretty bad.
Anyway, end of the story, I placed 5th...
end of the championship. But if things had gone differently...
I could've placed 3rd.
I would've liked that, of course.
That year...
 
You were pretty competitive that year.
Yeah.
 
Did you bank already at that time?
I had an idraulic Scheng,,,
that was the bomb. My friend...
Borri used to tell me:
 
... take that into account. And I...
took into account, until he gave me a better one.
But that's an old story.
At that time I had 32.5 horsepower.
It was an 80, it seems quite decent.
That was fast.
There were no mappable ignitions...
no special fuel.
Lots of stuff we didn't have.
They were much simpler, for the setup as well.
Look, I'm convinced that...
if I made that 80 right now...
I think we could easily do...
very easily...
36/37...
horsepower. 
 
Thanks to all the knowledge you gained?
Yeah, you know why? 
 
With today's mapping as well, right?
With the knowledge I have now, if I made it again...
I would surely gain 5 horsepower more.
5 horsepower more because...
last year I worked on...
a 50cc of a friend of mine, as a favour...
back then, people that ran the world championship...
the fast guys...
on the 50, they had 16 horsepower.
But they were the guys with...
Eugenio Lazzarini, Stefan Dörflinger...
the official ones.
They had 16. Concerning this 50cc here...
which wasn't very...
well made...
we managed to get...
20.5 horsepower. With such an ease...
you can't imagine.
Only 3 days of test benching...
to try a few measurements: 20.5.
Then we ran out of time and I had to give it to him, he had a race.
So, wow...
this 50...
you know how much can be remade?
If we change the mechanics entirely?
Was that Minarelli based? 
 
Tomos, a Slovenian brand.
If you remake that engine from the ground up, done properly...
and I mean properly...
in my opinion...
you can get 23 horsepower. Even 24.
17k RPM. 
 
Yeah, absolutely.
So you see the ratio. And if I work on a 80...
I can get...
the specific power is tremendous.
In the range of 440 horsepower per liter, as...
a 125, in the end.
 
No, you can get...
even more than that. These...
are at 53.5 horsepower...
so...
So when did you start with the 125?
In the 1990, when they stopped...
doing the 80.
I moved to the 125...
by expanding an 80...
since you know...
I didn't have a precise idea...
so I refitted a 80, just bigger...
and that's where I started, as everyone else.
At that point everyone was on the same level...
everyone had to adapt.
So you realize you have a frame that is too small...
the power is too high for that frame...
there was a number of problem...
So, then, the bike grew up around the engine...
Yeah...
the engine grew up. Back then...
I had...
when...
when the stars aligned...
with the moon...
I managed to get 40 horsepower.
Because usually...
I'd get 39. 38.5/39.
Which was quite high.
Compared to the 80.
 
Because I remember...
running in the world championship at Brno...
during the climb in that circuit before...
the straightaway, I used to cross the official Japanese bikes.
So they had less horsepower than me.
So back then, that was the horsepower we had.
I used to test on Borghi & Saveri...
 
the Borghi...
I have to thank many people...
as long as I live.
The Borghi & Saveri - actually...
Saveri wasn't there anymore - Giampaolo Borghi...
he was...
a great guy.
You see, I went there...
with a friend...
the one that made gears for me...
so I went there with this...
friend of mine, he knew Paolo Borghi...
to ask for...
an estimate on this test bench...
it was a eddy current, not idraulic...
- as I told you I had an idraulic Sheng...
A test bench I bought used at the...
Lancia Martini in Turin - idraulic as well.
How did that work?
 
With a turbine...
spinning against another inside of the bank.
So basically...
the water gets squeezed between these two...
The closer they get...
the harder it gets. The more distant they get...
it's like a magnetic field...
but instead of having a magnet, you have water. They're still around...
This kind is also...
the most precise, the inertial ones...
 
The inertial ones don't even count.
 
The braked dynanometer, whether it uses eddy current...
or water, it doesn't matter.
You need a brake though. A brake...
a brake that unloads...
on a 716 arm.
It's a simple scale.
 
 
This brake here...
was quite slow in usage...
I didn't have all I needed...
just the brake.
So this friend of mine, Silvano Nanni, told me...
"Why don't we go at Borghi?"
 
I tell him no...
it was too expensive. He insisted.
So we went.
We get there...
 
The cost estimate was...
like 100 million...
because that's the cost.
We told him we couldn't...
afford it.
He asked me what I had. I told him we had a Scheng.
 
He said that what I had was great...
not only the stuff he made.
 
Keep that, it's great.
 
But you didn't like that, the idraulic one, right?
Yeah, I wasn't comfortable with it, because...
I couldn't test it as much as I wanted...
it took a lot of time.
There was a modification...
I wanted to do, in order...
to make it faster. This friend of mine told me...
"Let's go speak to him". So I wouldn't have to do modify it.
"Let's speak to Borghi"
So we had this problem.
I get back home, 10 days later...
I see a truck in front of my house...
with a test bench!
This guy must have misunderstood me!
I call immediately my friend...
"Silvano, they sent me the bench!"
"The courier...
had to unload it here!"
I don't get it!
This is very expensive, let's go there.
This happened...
tens of years ago. So we take off...
and get there. "Mr Borghi, there must have been a mistake. "
"No boy!"
 
 
"I didn't sell it to you!"
"I'm just borrowing it to you!"
"What do you mean?"
 
"I'm lending it to you. You start getting comfortable with it...
maybe one day...
I'll need it back.
"Are you sure?" 
 
"I'm sure, you can assemble it"
So I start mounting.
And that's how I went from a Scheng to a Borghi & Saveri with eddy current.
Of course, I upgraded it so many times...
starting from the scale, also the charging cells...
computers and so on.
Always from Borghi, always on loan.
So yeah, I have many people to thank.
It's also true that I...
helped Borghi. He thinks...
I'm very good.
I modified my bench. So...
You gave him a few tips?
He says I'm extremely good.
When he needs to test...
new electronics for his benches, he sends all his engineers at my place.
The assemble everything at my place...
and I tell him which one is better.
Let's say there are 3 types, they assemble...
the first type, second type, third type. Then I...
evaluate each type.
And how do you do that?
It's a matter...
of feeling. 
 
So when you accelerate...
Well, they all work well enough.
But there usually is one...
that...
that thing you don't find in books.
You just see it.
Yeah, you just see it.
Because, on the book...
You see, they're all made by engineers, they're all made by the book.
But there's the oine that works better.
And you need a good ear to feel it. And...
you need to hold the brake in your hand. So brake...
and ear. Only then you can say...
this one is better. Also, other times I took my bikes...
and brought them to him.
One thing came to mind.
In this story you're telling...
there are some episodes...
that tell this interlacing of collaborations...
between people that...
produced positive results. It's so nice to hear this...
especially in a time like this, when you feel...
you're surrounded by sharks. Everyone seems to care...
only about their interest and immediate gain.
It's sad and sleazy...
and bad for everyone. Collaboration, instead...
is good for everyone. It's a wealth...
you share, and it's such a wonderful thing.
 
That's true.
There is another guy...
who changed my life.
The Late Steri Giannino.
Owner of the GMG.
I...
before I started racing...
before I made my first 50cc, when I was...
preparing the crankshaft for that street Minarelli...
so I didn't think about racing yet.
P6? 
 
P6, that's right.
I was 14.
I modified an engine.
But the Minarelli's crankshaft sucked, so...
I needed to make a new one.
So I sat at the lathe...
remade the whole crankshaft. I knew...
I needed carburizing steel...
Now...
we have many options, but back then that's what we had.
It was all the same for me.
Back then there was no availability for special pieces...
ready for use.
Back then, the carburizing steel...
the standard one, was better than the one...
we have now. In time...
it wasn't improved. In fact...
sometimes it's worse. It's cheaper than iron.
So, maybe, it was better back then. Anyway...
this friend brings me in Bologna...
at GMG. I find its address.
 
They made the crankshafts for the MBA.
So...
that was way out of my league.
So we go to Bologna...
This happened BEFORE the casting story.
 
I was 14.
I get to Bologna, to this Giannino guy.
Owner of the GMG.
I tell him I needed to work on a conrod.
"A conrod?"
"We can't do a conrod"
 
"What do you mean?"
"All I see are conrods here!"
"Yeah, I can do as many...
as you want!"
"But not a single conrod"
I didn't get it!
I simply assumed...
he didn't want to make one.
So this guy tells me...
"That crankshaft, who did that for you?"
 
Because I...
I took the crankshaft...
in order to show him where to put the conrod.
 
So he could rectify the crankshaft.
So he sees this crankshaft...
and he says:
"Who did this here?"
"I did, I have a workshop"
"If you manage to make this, you can also make the conrod...
since it's easier!"
 
"What?"
"I can't make a conrod with a lathe!"
 
The conrod is long.
 
"No, look. I don't have time now...
I'm busy right now.
You come back saturday morning...
or afternoon, at the bar right here. "
"Which bar?" I ask him.
 
"There's a bar behind the factory"
"Just be there"
"On saturday, either morning or afternoon."
"Alright"
I thought this guys was a little weird.
I go home...
I asked my friend a ride with his car from my house...
on saturday...
I get back on saturday, and I found a church!
And under this church there was a bar. This guy...
he was actually pretty big, was at the bar playing cards.
So I take a seat next to him, after he said...
to come closer.
And while he was playing cards...
he started talking about...
that piece.
He said I would've needed a special hammer, in order to press it.
I said "no problem", "but so you know where to...
get one?" "I have one at home, my dad is a smith!"
"Oh, then you're good!"
So he told me...
what to do in detail.
Extensively.
I get back, and start working.
Since he explained it so well.
In time however I adjusted a few things...
on this procedure.
The basis was, of course, learned by him.
So I got home very happy, start working on it...
making conrods and so on. I bring them back to him to solder...
to temper and so on. After that...
every time I'd make conrods, I'd bring them to him...
so I could solder and temper them.
After his approval I'd use them.
Then one day I tell him "Sir... "
I always referred to him formally, since he was so distinct.
"Excuse me Mr Giannino...
 
now I have to work on some gears too! "
 
This is about what we were talking about before, the cruciform gearbox.
"Mr Giannino, I need to make some gears"
"What can we do?"
He tells me "a friend of mine is the number one of gears"
 
And he brought me...
to another guy.
Nanni Silvano...
who was...
one of the greatest people I ever knew.
I'm still very fond of him.
You know...
he came to Japan, with his luggage, to watch a world championship...
race.
In Japan, Suzuka!
This guy traveled from Bologna to Suzuka, watches the race, and gets back home!
He was crazy! It was like a 30 hour...
trip to get to Suzuka!
Nanni Silvano showed up there! "Hey, get me pass for the entrance!"
I brought him the pass.
He came thousands of times at Vallelunga, but that was...
Suzuka!
Anyways...
I get to this Nanni. This guy tells me...
"We have to make some calculations...
for this gears"
"Now I'm busy with my workshop. Come back one of these evenings."
"One of these evenings?"
"Yeah, come back at 9PM"
So, one night, after taking an appointment...
I get there at 9.
I already had a car...
so I was free to go as I pleased. I was already 19.
It was after...
the 80cc period, no, scratch that...
after the first castings of the 80cc...
the ones I used to make in the military.
So I show up...
I enter this...
office.
There was so much smoke I could barely see him.
This guy used to smoke so much, and the smell was terrible.
It was crazy, like smoke gas.
I started coughing too!
"Hold on a second, I have to finish this first, then we're going".
"Going? Going where?"
"Yeah, you're coming with me...
we'll talk in the meanwhile"
"Ah, ok."
So I follow him, and go to a garage...
belonging to another. It was actually a gambling club. People were playing.
 
So once more you sit next to a guy playing cards!
Oh no, these people weren't playing cards!
I don't know these games, really.
I don't know what games they were playing. And there so much smoke in that garage, too!
 
Even worse than before. Anyways...
in this garage...
I met other...
people that are still nowadays...
essential to me.
I met my rectifiers, I met everyone there!
They were all metalworkers and engineers?
Yeah, they were all there! That night was the night...
I came back home at 5AM.
My eyes were red because of the smoke.
 
But still, you brought home...
Yeah, my net was full!
I met everyone. I met the guy that taxied threads...
everyone.
Bavieri...
one year when in my 80cc I needed...
a couple of VP forks that just came out...
they costed...
1.7 millions.
Baffi, the rectifier, Bavieri...
they split the cost...
and gave me the money. "Buy those forks!"
Real friends!
Absolutely.
In friendship, just like that! Like giving you a candy!
No scam...
nothing.
I met them that night, with...
Nanni. Inside that gambling club.
I mean, it was just a garage were people would gather and play...
they were about 15--20 people...
but they all belonged to that field.
The rectifier, the lather...
And I spoke to Nanni, in the meanwhile, about the gearboxes...
how I made them, etc. He was peaceful and...
spoke with me. Then, after that...
I realized that during the day he was...
very busy. Phone calls at all times and so on, so he didn't have the time...
to talk to a random guys (which was me). So...
we talked out of the work hours. It's been...
it's been my salvation knowing all these...
people. 
 
Sure.
A series of lucky meetings.
 
In the end, they contributed to the beginning...
of your story. 
 
Absolutely. I...
met so many people...
good at their jobs that helped me...
in so many ways. I also met many...
idiots.
But you just leave them alone.
One thing: can you...
say that the bike we're seeing here descends...
from that 80? Because it's been...
an ongoing progress.
It descends from that 50, actually!
 
Those castings you see there...
they're from that Morini foundry! In the end...
we're still there.
All the castings you see up there, the engine, the cylinders...
everything that was cast here...
is from that man...
that back then told me "How did you get here with that scooter?"
It's still him.
The gears...
inside there were made by that...
Nanni guy, the same one...
playing and smoking so much that it was suffocating.
Just hanging out there.
All the technology, the crankshaft...
the conrods, all of it started with Giannino...
in that bar under the church that taught me...
how to do it.
So, it all started from there.
We could say that your talent...
met some characters...
that influenced its development.
It's typical...
in every story of success. In the end...
nobody can do everything by themselves.
If there's talent...
and the conditions, given also...
by the collaboration of certain people, the talent develops.
I never...
stopped thanking Nanni to this day.
In this period...
You still make him make them?
Yeah, actually...
Now, in my home...
I'm good...
for the...
The gears...
don't wear out. So, in my house, I have...
enough of them for the next 40 years!
No problem at all. But from time to time...
 
for this Covid here that...
forced us to stay at home...
I came up with a few ideas...
Normally, in my typical day...
I have my set of prefixed activities.
There's a lot of stuff you don't have time to think about.
So quite a few ideas came to my mind!
 
And so I thought of an adjustement...
for certain gears, something didn't add up.
I called Silvano, told him...
 
 
He disagreed.
I told him I was sure of it...
I could tell just by holding them. That's how it is, let's try!
So I went...
thursday to check on the first samples...
he made.
These new gears.
It's an unceasing development.
Nanni is always there...
now he's like 75, many years went by also for me.
I was 19 at the time, now I'm 56.
They were 40 at the time...
now they're 75.
Unfortunately time spares nobody.
But you're still riding on your bike!
 
Yeah!
Of course! I'm risking less!
When I was 20 I risked...
80 years, now I risk losing 44.
I'm 56, plus 44...
it's 100. 20 plus 80...
I have less to lose.
So, a 20 years old should be more scared to ride a bike, compared to a 56 years old.
 
For my insurance I'm worth less.
For a 20 years old kid, it's more expensive.
But for Gabriele Gnani...
is it more relevant the pilot...
or the tuner?
Hold on now.
This is something I haven't talked about.
With this lockdown
here...
along with that gear thing, I came up with another thing.
It's been some time...
5-6...
7 years maybe. In some dark periods...
we have some dark periods...
for a number of reasons...
you can stumble upon some very sad times.
And I...
would sit in one of these chairs...
I have Flavio above me...
he's a stuffed duck...
and a skeleton called Giovanni...
a lab skeleton, well made...
I took to see how we're made on the inside...
so I could see when I hurt myself...
if I could do anything to get better sooner - that's also very important...
to know
how that works.
So I sit there with Giovanni and Flavio...
and I speak with them.
I tell them we should buy a fishing shed...
I can't do this anymore. That kind of times.
So...
one of the questions was:
why should I keep doing this?
I mean, it's beautiful...
but the passion needs to start from something.
So...
I'm moving by inertia...
from the times of the 80cc, 125 and all of that...
So, am I moving by inertia...
 
I like the mechanics...
or I still like riding my bike?
In 5-6-7 years...
I've been asking myself this. I couldn't find...
an answer. It's hard.
With this lockdown...
I thought about it, because the only thing I was missing was...
to step on the gas. Because I felt bad...
it had been too long since I rode a bike.
You see, it's like when the temperature drops...
you don't need to get on the bike.
As soon as the winter ends, and the weather improves...
you feel like getting on the bike.
And you do it.
So you don't realize, it's been automatic for the last 36 years.
If you're prevented from...
doing this, like it's happened...
you start missing it...
you're in withdrawal, like you're a drug addict. And it's what I was missing.
I didn't feel...
the will...
for mechanics. I didn't feel...
the inertia...
 
So first the pilot, and then the tuner?
So what's moving me now is still what gave me that push...
in the 1983.
Although the tuning part is an important tool...
you have inside you, to satisfy the needs of the pilot, which is...
always you.
So you have your personal tuner, which is you!
Even the bike...
you made it tailored for your person.
Sure! I'm fitting there...
like...
 
 
I'm fitting in there...
A taller person wouldn't be comfortable!
Yeah, that was made for me.
Custom made on all aspects.
When I work on the aerodynamics...
I get in a spot where I have some mirrors...
huge mirrors, where...
I can see myself...
and adjust where it protrudes, until...
I reach the 80% of the shape.
Then I go down and start doing everything properly.
The first step involves a saw, by hand...
removing most of it and looking...
in the mirrors.
Then...
it's not only mechanical...
 
 
It's been a very nice chat, what we had.
We dwelled...
quite a lot. 
 
Yeah, that was...
the tip of the iceberg!
If I had to tell it all we'd stay here for years.
If we get the chance, we hope to meet again.
I would do this again, gladly.
Maybe we can talk about the bike!
Sure.
Today we mostly talker about the life.
Then we can get into detail...
tecnical detail. Something more...
mechanical, sure!
If you liked the video...
leave a thumbs up and share it with your friends!
Remember, Whiteone racing is not..
a workshop, but an amateur...
sports association, that works on engines...
only for sport purposes, and only...
for its associates.
