SHORT HISTORY OF BIMOTA "The lightness is the secret." Those Jon Ekerold won the 350cc world circuits hosted a nail-biting title- are the words of Massimo Tamburini, championship on a Bimota powered by points countdown. the original brains behind Bimota, a a Yamaha two-stroke engine. Bimota's commitment to race the small powerhouse of innovation. This It scaled another pinnacle of racing entire championship earned it second tiny operation has had a major impact when former Ducati engineer Federico place in the manufacturers' title on motorcycling since 1973. Martini joined Bimota and developed chase, sandwiched between Honda The company's name comes from the world's first beam-alloy frame. The and Yamaha. the abbreviation of the surnames of YB4 debuted in 1986 and won the 1987 Tardozzi came within a few points its founders, Valerio Bianchi, Giuseppe TT F1 championship. of beating the big Japanese factories Morri and Tamburini. Originally formed The following year Bimota backed for the title, but he crashed in New as Bi.Mo.Ta. in 1966, to specialise in this up in spectacular style by Zealand and Honda's Fred Merkel took hydraulics and metalwork, it morphed winning the first World Superbike the championship. Tardozzi finished into specialised motorcycle parts Championship race. It embraced this third behind Yamaha's Fabrizio production in 1973. new series more than any other maker, Pirovano with Mertens fourth, ahead Tamburini led a group of supporters competing at all rounds with a two- of Ducati's Marco tucchinelli. who turned a 220kg Honda CB750- man team of Davide Tardozzi (below) Bimota later broke new ground in Four into a handcrafted piece of and Stephane Mertens. motorcycle design with the centre- two-wheeled racing art weighing just The last two rounds of the 1988 hub-steering Tesi and GP-inspired 170kg. Customer orders flooded in. championship were as far away from two-stroke V Due. Brave efforts but The little company first hit world Europe as you can get. Australia's Bimota will be remembered most for headlines in 1980 when GP privateer Oran Park and New Zealand's Manfeild its YB4 model. Tamburini had by now invested two years of weekend and after-hours work into this project. DAWN OF A NEW ERA Tamburini's obsession with motorcycles began as a child in the early 1960s when he watched MV's famous fire engines winning major Italian races. Until 1973 he juggled his daily job with his hobby of modifying friends' race bikes, including Honda fours. The creation of his own ground-up project was the calling card that would change his life. Flushed with the confidence of youth, he thought of approaching .