1977 Laverda V6
(Page 2 of 5)
March/April 2007
By Phillip Tooth
The engine formed the main part of the frame, but the rest of the cycle parts looked as if they came from the Breganze parts bin with Campagnolo wheels, Brembo discs and 38mm Marzocchi forks. Lav’s V6 featured an electric starter, twin headlamps from the Porsche 911 parts list and two huge radiators mounted on either side of the engine to take the heat out of the six liters of water used in the cooling system.
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With a scant two years of development behind it, the V6 made its sensational debut at the Milan Show in November 1977. Now development could really start.
“This bike was not designed for competing in the long distance championship,” says Piero. “The V6 was the laboratory where we would develop a new generation of Laverda motorcycles. We would be testing the fastest laboratory ever built.”
From prototype to racebike
To test the V6, they decided to enter it in the 1978 Bol d’Or, held that year at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. “A 24-hour race would be the best test you can do for a new machine,” says Piero. “You can learn in a day what would take four months of normal road testing.”
But before they could go racing, there were a couple of minor problems to sort out. Under hard acceleration the torque reaction from the longitudinal crankshaft tried to turn the engine across the frame. And with the original monoshock fitted to the prototype, the tail would lift and fall under acceleration and braking.
To counter this, the five-speed gearbox was moved to one side and a reduction gear fitted to the clutch so that it ran in the opposite direction, cancelling out some of the rotational forces. The alternator was also converted to run in the opposite direction.
To minimize shaft-drive-induced see-sawing effects when braking and accelerating, a massive “girder bridge” swingarm was fitted with the pivot point nearly halfway along the engine, an idea copied by supersport bikes today. Conventional Marzocchi twin shocks sorted out the back end.
The fairing had generous apertures for the twin radiators, and plenty of room for the breeze to flow over the oil cooler and engine cases. A snake’s nest of exhaust pipes under the engine finished in two small megaphones with reverse cones.
The huge gas tank only added to the bulky appearance of the V6, and the fairing was bigger and wider than the slimline fiberglass unit fitted to the prototype for the Milan show. But the Lav was still a bit of a porker — fueled up and ready to race it weighed in at 524lb (238kg), with the engine contributing a hefty 385lb (175kg).
The V6 was tested at the factory’s tiny test track, but there simply wasn’t the time available for extensive road testing. At least the engine was more tractable than expected — power came in at 4,000rpm and the Lav delivered an impressive 140hp at 11,800rpm. Alfieri claimed it could be tuned to give 160hp, but he wanted reliability for the Bol d’Or 24-hours in September. For the race, the engine was tuned to deliver 138.7hp @ 10,500rpm.
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