I
MOTOGIRO D’ ITALIA – THE
“SPAGHETTI CANNONBALL RUN”
These new firms started to enter the Motogiro to prove
n 2013, the president of my motorcycle club presented a
program to us on his adventures at the Motogiro d’ Italia. I am their skills and with their bikes adding to the entry list the
a pushover so the hook was set to add this to my motorcycle Motogiro became one of the most important sporting events
in the Italian calendar. By 1954, fifty different manufacturers
bucket list and I finally got around to it this past May.
The Motogiro d’ Italia is a classic name in Italian motorsports. were involved and the race had grown to an eight stage race
The first race was run as the Giro Motociclistico d’Italia. It covering over 3,414 km on public roads. It also had capacity
was a competition for road legal motorcycles run over long classes of 75 cc, 100cc, 125cc, and 175cc and the event was
distances, on public roads that were closed for the occasion. seen as a great opportunity to prove the reliability and speed
As the motorcycle version of the Mille Miglia it became known of the bikes that were most popular at the time. The 500-km
as Italy’s premier long distance road race. The Motogiro has days of racing flat out over the poor roads of the time and on
been running since 1914 with a few years of down time in the small bikes were real tests of endurance and skill and the
early 1940’s due to a little local political problem called World riders in the races became national heroes.
War II, and for another period after two catastrophic racing
In the aftermath of the massive Mercedes crash at Le
event accidents resulted in banning all road racing in Italy.
Mans and the deaths of several spectators in the equally
In the years following the end of the Second World War, Italy popular Mille Miglia, the Italian government moved to ban
was trying to re-establish its economy. The most affordable all motorsport on public roads in 1957. Italian’s, being
form of transport for an average worker was a 100cc or 125 cc devoted racing fans were not easily deterred and the
single cylinder motorcycle and, like Germany, engineering firms Motogiro was eventually resurrected in 1969 as a time
from the hi-tech armaments and aero industries were looking for G&