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Home , 1983 Dutch TT, Barry Sheene, Daytona 200, Formula 750, Kenny Roberts, Motorcycle racing

In the late 1960s, Lino Dainese made an epic trip from to on a Vespa . Once in London, he came across some of the first 500cc and fell in love with them. From that moment, he was inspired to create his own company in the world of motorcycles.

And by 1972, he had realised this dream, founding Dainese in Molvena, Italy.

Dainese’s aim was to help motorcycle riders embrace speed, movement and freedom, but with added safety and protection. Since this time, Dainese has helped those involved in wider action sports such as skiing, , mountain biking and equestrianism achieve the very same.

To mark this fortieth anniversary of innovation, Dainese has created a series of four digital magazines to celebrate the legendary people, places and products that have helped change their world.

Alongside this, each issue will explore a different decade of Dainese’s history, telling the stories of those who truly made their mark and influenced the next generation.

As you will discover, legends are created everywhere.

e d i t o r w o r d s p u b l i s h e d b y Ed Andrews Shelley Jones, Michael fordham The Church of London 71a Leonard Street s u b e d i t o r i m a g e s London, EC2A 4QS, uk Shelley jones Robert M ball, matteo cavadini, anna dunn, Edisport-Motociclismo, www.thechurchoflondon.com c r e a t i v e d i r e c t o r bjorn lie, Milagro, Tim Zimmerman Rob Longworth The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinions of d e s i g n e r their authors and not necessarily those fabrizio festa of the publishers or editorial team. Words ED ANDREWS & PHOTOGRAPHY matteo cavadini

4 5 So Nicky, what are your priorities have any big friends I race against. It’s just kinda right now? MotoGP. My priorities hard to be too buddy-buddy with the guy that are getting on that podium as you are on the line with on Sunday. […] There soon as possible. are some rivalries that people don’t let out, especially between team mates. Other ones You’ve been in MotoGP for are just fuelled by nonsense, like me and Dani a decade now. How important is [Pedrosa]. People think that we hate each other, this experience when it comes to but we’ve moved on from those days. racing? Experience is a big help. As the years go on, you pick up little Did riding a bike change for you when you tricks here and there that help you became professional? No, riding a bike is still on race day. They don’t necessarily pretty much the same. Things change – the bike, help you to do one good lap but you the set-ups, the technology – but the whole ‘two so realise what helps you go the tyres and a throttle’ I guess has never changed. distance. It’s coming up to a decade [of racing] now but I love it as much Like a lot of other racers including as ever; it’s flown by. It doesn’t feel and , your family background is in like a decade at all. . What is it about the sport that appeals to generation after generation? It’s just Where do you enjoy racing the in your blood. There’s a lot of heritage definitely. most? I enjoy racing all [the When you have parents that race, a lot of tricks, tracks] but of course I like racing what-to-dos and what-not-to-dos get passed down. the American rounds. Those are really special; Laguna Seca [in What role has your family played in your California] for the track and Indy career? A huge role. There’s no way I would [Indianapolis] is my home race. I have ever made it without them. My mum and also like the Italian races as they are dad, they gave up everything to give me and my home races for [Ducati]. Mugello is brothers the opportunity [to race], and even my a great track and Misano has an sisters gave up a lot. Even now, I still get a lot of awesome atmosphere. support from them. My big brother, Tommy, he kinda taught me how to ride and helped make What sort of pre-season training do you have to put in? The winter training the whole show go. I’m definitely very thankful to him. Hayden’s first race came in 1985 at a local minibike dirt event when months get more and more physical every year. The bikes get better so we Even after a decade competing in he was just three years old. As his experience grew, however, he was soon start riding them harder and, with all the electronics, we are able to brake Which racers have you looked up to? I’ve looked up to a lot. Some of the competing alongside his older siblings Tommy and Jenny at the American later and open the throttle earlier. The tyres also get better so you are able real old-school guys I’m not familiar with but the guys I’ve seen race, I MotoGP, former World Champion Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Amateur National Dirt Track events to lean ’em further. It definitely gets more and more physical so training is admired and studied them. I was a big Bubba Shobert fan. He was a dirt is as passionate across the US. Under Earl’s guidance, the brothers started to race at the a big part of it. I get serious. I like to ride different forms of flat track when track racer I looked up to. As far as , I’d say . He Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) events in Texas I can and also do strength training and cardio. was kinda the guy who opened up the gates for American riders when he about motorcycle racing as ever. in the late 1980s. In 1993, Hayden continued to road race in the WERA came to Europe to chase the World Championships. Him and Gary Nixon, series and in 1997, on his sixteenth birthday, he turned pro to race in both Does the new technology make it easier to race or does it just create whole both some pretty big heroes of mine. the AMA SuperSport 600 and 750 classes. new challenges? A little bit of both. Sometime the technology makes things like spring. The start of racing season. It’s showtime!” says Nicky After becoming the youngest AMA Superbike Champion ever, winning easier but it’s a lot more work for the team. The team have grown a lot in And a lot of people look up to you. Does that put a lot of responsibility on Hayden excitedly in his warm Kentucky accent. the race in 2002, he graduated to MotoGP in 2003, riding the last couple of years because you just need more guys. Before you had you? Yeah, I have a responsibility to my fans and my sponsors to be a pro It’s spring 2012, the start of the MotoGP season is getting close, and for the much-admired team. He finished the season in fifth one or two computer guys, ’cause there was only so much stuff they could and not to be some knucklehead going off at weekends, getting in trouble it’s clear that Hayden is keen to get back and race after the long winter place with two podium finishes and was named Rookie of the Year. And in change. Now they can change so much more. I’m enjoying learning about and stuff. But I’d be more worried about my mum than my sponsors. She’d break of testing and training. He’s just spent the day visiting Dainese’s 2006, Hayden rose up to become the World Champion after a season-long the electronics, but sometimes it doesn’t make the bike any more fun to ride. come down on me hardest! But I want to be a role model and be somebody headquarters in Vicenza, Italy, to check out his new custom-fitted gear battle with team mate Valentino Rossi. “If my house was on fire, the World for the kids to look up to because this sport’s been really good to me. and shoot some videos. But sponsor duties aside, Hayden is all about Championship trophy would be the possession that probably means the What’s the atmosphere in your team like? We have an awesome team. Even being on a bike. “That’s what I know, what I do. I don’t even have a reason most to me. But I don’t really need the trophy. I’ve just got a spot for it in last season when we struggled it was amazing when everyone kept their chin Finally, what do you love about motorcycles? Pretty much everything. I love why. I just wake up in the morning, that’s what I think about,” he enthuses. my heart,” says Hayden of his accomplishment. up. There wasn’t any finger pointing, and guys just got on with the job. They the team work, the fans and I love riding a bike. People say, ‘You must love This instinctive passion and talent for motorcycle racing is understandable A period of adjustment followed this victory with Hayden moving to work extremely hard on the bike. If you ride for our team, you’ve got to be to go out on the street and the open road?’ Yeah, you know, that’s cool, but considering his background. Hailing from Owensboro, Kentucky, Hayden new bike sponsor Ducati in 2009 and having to adapt to a new machine. prepared to do a lot of work because our guys work like crazy after-hours. I like riding fast, riding the limit. I mean, when I’m at home riding with my was born in 1981 into a family of motorcycle lovers. His parents Earl and Rose However, the thirty-year-old is now relishing the upcoming season in brothers, we have stop watches and I like trying to get the most out of a raced dirt track and were soon putting Hayden to the test alongside his four MotoGP thanks to new regulations allowing 1000cc bikes, which suit his How are relationships with other MotoGP riders? My relationships are bike. It’s hard for me to ride along at thirty-five [mph] on a street and be a siblings on a small track at their family home. “I can’t remember the first time riding style perfectly. As the days count down, one thing’s for sure: the rider good. I don’t really have any big beef with any [other riders] but I don’t good boy, because I wanna wring that bike’s neck! I rode a bike,” he says with a laugh. “It’s too long ago.” they call The Kentucky Kid is raring to go!

6 7 Motor Ranch near my home town of Tavullia Valentino Rossi represents a dream come true. Since the tells us beginning of my all about career, I’ve always wanted a private track his very where I can practice. own racing This track is a mix track. of racing disciplines. It has the basic features of a flat track but it extends beyond the typical oval with a series of mixed fast bends, with Words different heights where it’s possible to improve the Valentino rossi technique of powersliding with the front lever brake and throttle control in low grip conditions. PHOTOGRAPHY You could say that with Motor Ranch, we’ve invented c/o Milagro a new motorcycle discipline that’s fast, technical and fun. But most of it, it’s very useful for me to keep fit and improve my control on the motorbike.

8 9 Freeride mountain biker Paul ‘Bass’ Basagoitia is going deeper into the old backcountry to find some brand-new challenges.

Back in 2004, Paul Basagoitia – then a seventeen-year-old Like a true pioneer, Basagoitia takes inspiration from lots “nobody kid” from Minden, Nevada – entered the slopestyle of different places. He explains: “Whoever is trying to push contest at the first-ever Crankworx mountain bike competition mountain biking in the right direction inspires me; people in Whistler, , on a borrowed bike. He won. who spend a lot of time up in the mountains, building their It’s a moment that will go down in mountain biking history own stuff. I don’t want to copy what BMX guys are doing. […] and established Basagoitia as a rider to be reckoned with. But, Travis Pastrana is one of those guys who’s always thinking according to the twenty-five-year-old, he was just in the right place outside of the box and he’s definitely not afraid to take at the right time. “I don’t think it’s ever going to happen again,” chances. [...] Travis Rice as well. He can do all the slopestyle Basagoitia says thoughtfully about his meteoric rise to global events, but he enjoys where snowboarding started and freeride mountain biking (FMB) fame. “Our sport is so established that’s in the backcountry. He’s pushing the scene there, and now and there are so many heavy-hitters. I think it’s a lot harder to I respect that a lot because I’m trying to relate to that as get recognition, but at the same time we have a professional FMB much as possible in my sport.” World Tour now, so if you do well then you’re going to get known.” In fact, Basagoitia’s been filming for a new mountain bike Basagoitia started racing BMX at just six years old and film,Where The Trail Ends, which he believes is “as close as progressed up the ranks – winning championships and it can be” to Travis Rice’s 2011 big-budget snow epic The nationals – until he was fourteen. “I was getting bored of Art Of Flight. “It’s gonna be based out in the backcountry racing BMX,” explains Basagoitia, “and my friend Cameron and it’s definitely going to be on the same level asThe Art [Zink] was like, ‘I think you should jump on a mountain bike, it Of Flight,” he says. “I spent three days with [the crew] so I’m fits your style a lot better.’ I was sceptical but three weeks later pretty stoked to see how the final project comes out. They I was entering Crankworx. And I had no idea about mountain had the Cineflex camera, the Phantom, the REDs; you name biking! I was like, ‘Sure, why not?’.” it, they had it. It’s the full deal.” Since then Basagoitia has wowed judges and spectators at After a couple of difficult years with injuries, Paul competitions like the District Ride and the Red Bull Basagoitia has had time to reflect on his whirlwind career Rampage, but now he’s trying to get back to the core of his sport. and he’s now ready to take the next step. “I just want to “When I started mountain biking it was all about dirt jumping,” he continue what I’m doing and try to progress my riding says, “but then, as I got more into it, I took a step back and thought as much as possible up in the mountains,” he says. “Not about where a mountain bike should be: in the mountains. I love necessarily trying to learn the biggest tricks, but just spending time up in Utah in the natural terrain.” bringing those tricks into the big mountains.” Words SHELLEY JONES & PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Zimmerman

10 11 9.5 cm

12.5 cm

The first decade of dainese

illustration bjorn lie

12 13 ot only is he a true legend of 1970s motorcycle Triple bikes that he developed with the works team – who, incidentally, racing, Giacomo ’Ago’ Agostini may well be the had never raced with a homegrown Italian champion until Agostini. greatest racer who ever lived. His record certainly In many ways it was a match made in moto heaven – the aristocratic supports such a claim. Between 1966 and 1974, MV brand reflecting perfectly Agostini’s stylish approach and jaw- he dominated the scene with a total of 122 Grand dropping speed. MV Agusta’s dominance was the mechanical counterpoint Prix wins and fifteen World Championship titles to the rider’s intuition for apex, camber and flow. split between the 350cc and 500cc classes. And all this, But what were his greatest memories in the years patriotically creating of course, at a time when the great MV Agusta’s dominance? “My first victory in 1966 riding for MV Agusta shared the arena. But the thing about Ago that makes was very special,” he laughs, “because it was the first time I had become him resound through the history of MotoGP was not a World Champion. It did not seem real! But it was also very special just his quickness and ability to win races, it was the style in which he when in 1974 I left and went to Yamaha and I won my first race in Arizona. rode a motorcycle and the passion that he brought to the sport. If I had never even raced in America before that.” Hailwood was the no-nonsense, English gentleman of the track, Agostini Ten of Agostini’s wins came at the Isle of Man TT – though he was the new-wave hero - a kind of Marcello Mastroianni in leathers. The dramatically refused to compete in the Manx classic after the death of greatest racer? Perhaps. The most evocative? Certainly. a fellow rider there in the 1972 event. This initiated a wave of boycotts, “The ability to ride motorbikes fast is something you are born with,” which eventually saw the TT taken out of the GP calendar. “I felt fear, of Agostini tells me at home in Italy. “I believe God gave me this gift to race course,” he tells me of that period, “but it was a fear of not winning as well in motor-sports.” Agostini may be ageing gracefully into grey nowadays as the thought of possibly getting hurt. You always thought, ‘It will never but, at the age of seventy, the born racer is still riding – today on a Yamaha happen to me’,” he goes on. “But this attitude is, I believe, the driving Tmax. The sort of talent that Agostini demonstrated throughout his career force of the human race. The fear helped me have a long career.” emerges from an inspiring passion that doesn’t disappear over the years. In a life defined by the power, colour and drama of top-level motor “I have loved motorbikes my entire life”, he says, “and since I was a boy it racing, does the great Agostini have any regrets? “Motorbikes have given hasn’t changed. I have always had a deep passion for the two wheels.” me everything so it would not be right to want more,” he says, wisely. “I just Agostini’s golden age began in 1966, racing the beautiful MV Agusta wish I could still race MotoGP. I miss it so much.” For racing legend , the passion for two wheels never fades. Words Michael Fordham & PHOTOGRAPHY c/o Edisport - Motociclismo

15 Johan Cruyff 1950 – 2003 1947 -

Not only did Barry Sheene ride a motorbike like no one else, he became Football is the most popular sport in the world, so it takes an extremely one of the sport’s first true stars and helped bring motorcycle racing talented player to make a big impact. However, Dutch football legend to a mainstream audience. Johan Cruyff is one such player. Like many enduring icons, Barry Sheene’s talent and success Born in Amsterdam in 1947, the dextrous player joined the Ajax appeared when he was young. In 1970, at just twenty years old, he (Amsterdamsche Football Club) youth team when he was just ten years became the British 125cc champion. Stepping up to the world stage, old. He started playing in 1964, stunning fans and other players with his he would win the World Championship in 1973 and come incredible technical ability, speed, vision and accuracy. Cruyff mastered to dominate the sport with his fearless riding. He also pioneered the the roles of attacker, midfielder and defender, and won theBallon d’Or custom of racers having their own personal number by insisting he had the European Player Of The Year award in 1971. lucky number seven on his bike. Cruyff moved to Barcelona in 1973 and took their international However, in 1975, he suffered multiple injuries in a career-threatening game to the next level. He won the Ballon d’Or award again in 1973 and 280kph crash at the Daytona 200 in Daytona Beach, . But like then 1974, a record held by only three other players in history. But one a true champion, he defied the doctors and was back racing just a few of his biggest contributions to the game is the Cruyff turn, an inspired months later with metal plates in his knees, legs and wrist. Sheene went bluff move he pioneered of faking a kick forwards and instead dragging on to win the 500cc Grand Prix World Championships in both 1976 the ball backwards through the legs. and 1977 with five and six race wins, respectively. He continued to be a In 1999 he was nominated by the International Federation of Football formidable and exciting presence on the track with his twenty-eight-lap History and Statistics (IFFHS) as World Player Of The Century, which battle with Kenny Roberts at the 1979 British Grand Prix being hailed as he narrowly missed out on to Pelé. a classic moment in racing history. Since his retirement from professional football, Cruyff has inspired But it was Sheene’s charm and charisma off the bike, his flamboyant a new generation of players realise their full potential as manager playboy lifestyle and his good looks that won him hordes of adoring fans of clubs like Barcelona, Ajax and The Netherlands international the world over and made him the inspiring star of motorcycle racing for the teams. He also founded the Cruyff Institute, aiming to educate sports 1970s. As today’s superstar Valentino Rossi acknowledges, he people and prepare them for life after their sporting career. was the “coolest rider in history”.

16 17 Muhammad Ali 1942 - 1943 -

Self-proclaimed as ‘The Greatest’, the world champion boxer formerly Back in 1964, Dieter Braun, a young man from Ulm, West Germany, known as Cassius Clay is renowned for his determination and self-belief. saw his first Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix. Throughout He rose to fame in the 1960s after winning gold in the 1960 Summer the season, he watched in awe as Mike Hailwood won seven of the Olympics and won his first heavyweight title fight against Sonny nine races in the 500cc class. Liston in 1964. But his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War after being Inspired by his new hero, a year later he took part in his first race drafted saw his boxing license revoked and career put on hold as he and won. Braun spent the next five years racing his way up the ranks, fought his prison sentence. In 1970, with his name cleared, he returned claiming titles and quickly becoming a fans’ favourite. In 1970, his to the ring and claimed a string of victories that would lead to another fearlessness finally paid off and he won the 125cc Grand Prix World Title. shot at the world title. But it was a year later that his name was really etched into the history But it was the legendary 1974 Rumble in the Jungle fight in Kinshasa, books. After Braun won the 1971 GDR Grand Prix at the Sachsenring Zaire, against George Foreman that would truly define Ali. Entering racing circuit in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, East Germany, the entire crowd the fight as an underdog against the younger and stronger world sang the West German national anthem in a rare and moving display of heavyweight champion Foreman, Ali used a new tactic to exhaust his solidarity with this racing hero. Clearly threatened by the gesture, the East opponent. This technique, to be known as rope-a-dope, saw Ali tuck up German authorities made the event invitation-only the next year. against the ropes, which prompted Foreman to throw punches that were Braun continued to race daringly with style and won the 250cc Grand either deflected or absorbed by the ropes, sapping all his energy. After Prix World Championship again in 1973, without any official factory gaining the advantage, in the eighth round, Ali knocked Foreman down support. Braun was at the top of his game in 1974 and became the to claim victory. first MotoGP racer to be sponsored by Dainese. This triumph over adversity left a cultural legacy far beyond In 1977, his career was tragically cut short after a terrible accident at boxing, inspiring books, movies and songs in years to come. Ali’s robes during the Austrian Grand Prix. Braun has described the and gloves from the fight are now on display at the National Museum The 1970s was a decade in which sporting legends were accident as the most disappointing moment in his life. But in those twelve of American History in Washington, DC. And his claim to be ‘The made: those monumental figures who transcended exciting years of racing, he had done more than enough to establish himself Greatest’? Well, it stuck. their sport and captured imaginations the world over. as one of the most legendary German riders of all time.

Words Ed andrews & Shelley jones illustrations Robert M ball

18 19 One of Dainese’s most important inventions came out of the 1970s: the back protector.

Back in the mid-1970s, riders who came off their bikes were motorbikes into skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking. offered little protection from injury with just a few reinforced But ever improving, by 1998, the rigid shells of the back layers of leather and soft padding around their knees and protector had been reshaped into an arched structure allowing elbows. Seeing that something needed to be done to help greater rigidity with the same weight. An ergonomic lumber racers in an increasingly fast and dangerous sport, Dainese joint was also added to allow for greater lateral movement of teamed up with legendary racer Barry Sheene in 1978 to the torso. But the most important addition was the new shock develop the first back protector for motorbike racing. absorber of aluminium honeycomb that was lighter than foam Taking inspiration from the shell of the lobster, the yet more rigid and also more breathable for rider comfort. first back protector, the Aragosta, was made using a series With that, the fourth generation of back protector, the of rigid shells, to allow movement, and soft padding for Wave, launched in 2003. This new wave back protector saw a comfort and to absorb small impacts. The idea worked and more ergonomic shape, perforated holes for breathability and was used by Sheene as well as fellow racers Kenny Roberts rigidity, and protection for the shoulders, too. This technology and , going on sale to the public in 1983. nowadays gives protection for the world’s best MotoGP Building on this success, Dainese opened their Dainese riders, including Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden. Safety Program research and development centre (now known The back protector may have come a long way in the as D-Tec) to improve rider safety in 1993. One of the results last forty years. But what of the future? Well, Dainese’s of this was a new generation of back protector, the BAP. intelligent D-air system that deploys an airbag in an Developers added a new layer of shock-absorbing material accident – and is able to reduce the force of an impact by up The Aragosta back protector developed from 1970s research. between the shell and the padding of the back protector to to seventy-five percent – is set to take the lead in the next distribute the force of an impact over a larger area of the body. generation of back protectors. Soon enough, this revolutionary protection was extended beyond Watch this space...

Words ED ANDREWs

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