Remor also provided MV Agusta with a new 500cc four-cylinder, the MV Agusta 500 4C (ilindri) (also known as the
MV Agusta 500 Bialbero Corsa). From drawing board to test track it only took 15 weeks, but that was not surprising because the engine was almost identical to that of the Gilera 500 4C. MV Agusta and Gilera participated with almost the same motorcycles in the
1950 World Championship, something that Gilera were not happy with. Count Domenico Agusta never released technical data of his machines and personnel, technical staff and riders were forbidden to divulge anything about the machines. Because a number of newer machines were later sold through auctions, data is known about these, but the machines from the early years sometimes remain a mystery. For example, there are different estimates of the engine configuration in 1950. The most logical theory is that the MV Agusta 500 4C had a
bore and
stroke of 52 × 58 mm (492.7 cc), identical to that of the Gilera 500 4C and the
MV Agusta 125 Bialbero, but occasionally bore and stroke of 54 × 54 mm (494.7 cc) are reported. The dimensions were changed in 1952 to 53 × 56 mm (494.2 cc). The shape of the combustion space was different from that of the Gilera, where a roof-shaped chamber was used to mount large
valves. The valve angle was not less than 96°. As a result, high
piston domes were needed to achieve the correct compression ratio. However, those high domes on the pistons hindered the gas flow and the ignition had to be very early to burn all the gases. With the first MV Agusta engines, the valve angles were smaller and a 45° angle between them. These machines also had valve diameters of 34 mm (inlet valve) and 32 mm (exhaust valve). Remor filled the machine with experimental technology, but some things were clearly not favourable for performance. The
girder fork was still quite logical, as the
telescopic fork was not yet in vogue in
Italy. However, the machine only had two
carburetors, each of which had to feed two
cylinders via Y-shaped
manifolds. They used
shaft drive, eliminating the possibility of
chain lube getting on the rear tyre, but
torque reactions on the opening and closing of the throttle. In addition, the adjustment of the
gearing was very difficult. With a chain drive it was easy to replace the
sprockets. The drivers had to use two pedals to shift: upshift on one side and downshift on the other. A parallelogram fork was used at the rear, which would have been useful to keep chain tension constant, but was not an advantage with shaft drive. The fork was equipped with
torsion suspension and friction dampers. The
frame was a double cradle, of which the front part was made from tubing and the rear pressed sheet metal. The machine underwent many changes in early 1951. at the
Isle of Man TT There were now four carburettors, telescopic forks at the front and hydraulic shock absorbers at the rear. For the 1952 season, Remor changed the powertrain: the machine got chain drive and chrome molybdenum
Earles forks at the insistence of rider
Les Graham. After Piero Remor's departure at the end of 1953, Arturo Magni had overall responsibility for the machines. He turned out to be an excellent frame builder, but technical development was slow. John Surtees however, had experience the
Featherbed frame from
Norton and, just like
Geoff Duke at Gilera, he also convinced Arturo Magni to "Nortonize" the frame. Moreover, he refused to ride with the Earles front fork and the MV Agusta received a telescopic fork with external
coil springs. The MV Agusta 500 delivered around 65 hp at 10,500 rpm in 1956, making the engine powerful enough to match the Gilera and about 15 hp more powerful than a
Norton Manx. At the end of its development in 1966, the two-valve four-cylinder MV Agusta delivered 70 hp at 11,000 rpm.
Technical data 1950–1966 Timeline 1950–1966 ;1950 In 1950 the MV Agusta team did not undertake the long journeys to the
Ulster Grand Prix and the
Isle of Man TT. In the
Belgian Grand Prix, Artesiani was fifth, in the
Dutch TT he dropped out, in the
Swiss Grand Prix he was twelfth and in the
Nations Grand Prix at
Monza he was third. Artesiani was eighth in the
world championship. For a motorcycle that was developed so quickly, that was an excellent start. In Assen, a machine was also made available to
Reg Armstrong, but he had to change a
spark plug and was only ninth. However, when the machines did not appear in Ulster in spite of their registration, Armstrong quit.
Guido Leoni replaced him at the Nations Grand Prix and finished twelfth. ;1951 In November 1950, former world champion Les Graham came over from
AJS. He immediately began to propose changes to the machine. Some were also used, but 1951 was not a successful year for MV Agusta. Graham dropped out in the
Senior TT and the
Grand Prix of Switzerland, where
Carlo Bandirola (who had moved from Gilera) was fourth. That was the best result of the entire year. ;1952 In 1952 it went better with the MV Agustas. Carlo Bandirola finished third in the opening race in
Switzerland, while Graham dropped out when his machine didn't want to start after a pit stop. Graham was second in the
Senior TT. He had even been in the lead, but took it a little too quietly in the final round, so that Reg Armstrong won with a Norton Manx (Grastrong couldn't have known that Armstrong was faster due to the staggered start). In the
TT of Assen and the
Belgian Grand Prix, Graham dropped out, but in the
GP of Germany, Graham finished fourth despite a pit stop.
Bill Lomas joined Les Graham an MV Agusta in the
Ulster Grand Prix. Graham had to stop the race when the tread of his rear tire disappeared, but Lomas finished third. In the last two GPs MV Agusta won: Graham won the
Grand Prix des Nations and the
GP of Spain, but second places from
Umberto Masetti were enough to bring the world title to Gilera. ;1953 The victories in the last races of 1952 gave hope for the new season, but in the opening race, the
Senior TT, Les Graham was killed at the foot of
Bray Hill when he tried to stay with Geoff Duke (Gilera). At the age of 43, Graham had become a father figure for many drivers and he was a personal friend of Domenico Agusta. Agusta was very concerned about the accident and ordered an extensive investigation into possible causes and withdrew the team from World Championship races. The team contested the final race in Spain where Carlo Bandirola came in second. ;1954 In the
1954 Isle of Man TT,
Dickie Dale and
Bill Lomas started the race on MVs. Dale finished 7th whilst Lomas dropped out after three laps. Dale didn't score a single podium until Spain, when the world title had already been decided and the other teams did not appear, he won, while
Nello Pagani was third on the other MV Agusta. ;1955 Before the start of the
1955 season, Count Agusta contracted the young rider
Ray Amm, winner of the Senior TT of 1954. Amm, however, would never ride a Grand Prix for MV Agusta. At Easter the team rode the Coppa d'Oro Shell Race at the Imola Circuit. In pursuit of
Ken Kavanagh on a
Moto Guzzi, Ray Amm lost control of his MV Agusta 350 4C at the Rivazza corner. He crashed on the slippery track and died in hospital from his injuries. Umberto Masetti came over from Gilera to support Carlo Bandirola. In
Spain Bandirola came second and Masetti third. Masetti won the last race of the season at
Monza. ;1956 MV Agusta signed John Surtees for 1956. The 22-year-old Surtees had received a factory machine from
Norton manager Joe Craig in 1955 on which he defeated reigning champion Duke at
Silverstone and at
Brands Hatch. Norton stopped racing activities after 1955, so Surtees signed with MV, where he soon earned the nickname
figlio del vento (son of the wind). Without opposition from factory Nortons and, in the first half of the season, the Gileras, Surtees won the first three GPs. Surtees broke his arm in
Germany and couldn't compete for the rest of the season. His 3 wins were enough to win the first world title for MV Agusta. ;1957 In 1957 expectations were high. It looked like being an exciting season as Gilera was again at full strength with riders like Geoff Duke,
Libero Liberati and
Bob McIntyre, while MV Agusta fielded Surtees and
Terry Shepherd (Umberto Masetti also raced at Monza). In Germany, Surtees dropped out, while Shepherd only finished fifth. Surtees made a mistake with the Senior TT. He did not trust the weather and decided to drive without the crosswind sensitive dustbin fairing. McIntyre gambled on good weather and did use the streamliner. That worked: he became the first driver in history to average the magical "ton" (100 miles per hour) on the circuit and finished two minutes ahead of Surtees. Liberati had already won in Germany but had not gone to the Isle of Man. In the remainder of the season, however, Gilera put all the weight behind Liberati, who finished second in Assen but then won two more GPs. Liberati also won in Belgium, but he was disqualified and Surtees was declared the winner. Surtees didn't finish on three occasions in 1957 and had to settle for third place in the
championship. ;1958 At the end of 1957 the major Italian brands Gilera,
FB Mondial, Moto Guzzi and MV Agusta announced that they would end racing activities. The high costs were not in proportion to sales and the sport had become far too expensive. Count Agusta however reversed this decision. The lack of competitors (
BMW,
NSU and Norton had already stopped in previous years) meant that the development of the six-cylinder engine was no longer necessary and that MV Agusta could win world titles without major opposition. MV Agusta won
eight world titles that season: individual and constructor titles in the 125, 250, 350 and 500cc classes. John Surtees won six of the seven 500cc GPs (he did not race in the seventh, the
Swedish Grand Prix). ;1959 In 1959 things went even better, Surtees won in the 500 and 350cc classes in all rounds of the
championship. In the 500cc class, his teammate
Remo Venturi was second in the final rankings. ;1960 Surtees and
Remo Venturi were the riders for MV in the
1960 championship, except for the
Isle of Man TT, where
John Hartle rode Venturi's machine because of his knowledge of the circuit. Surtees won all competitions again, except the
Assen TT where he dropped out and Remo Venturi won, and the
Ulster Grand Prix. MV again became world champion in all solo classes, but at the end of the season John Surtees retired from motorcycles to pursue his career as a
Formula One driver. ;1961 Gary Hocking had ridden for MV Agusta in the 125, 250 and 350cc classes in 1960 and was chosen to replace John Surtees in the 500cc class in 1961. However, he officially rode as a privateer with MV Agusta, and "MV PRIVAT" was displayed on the fairing. He won the first two GPs (Germany and France) but dropped out in the
Senior TT when his throttle stuck, and even after a pit stop could not be resolved. He then won in Assen, Belgium and
East Germany. Count Agusta invited Mike Hailwood to ride for MV from the Grand Prix of Nations. However, Hailwood was not about to play second fiddle and in the fierce battle with Hocking, the latter fell and Mike Hailwood won. In Sweden, Hocking and Hailwood came first and second. The team did not travel to the
Grand Prix of Argentina. Hocking became
world champion and Hailwood finished second. ;1962 Hocking was not comfortable with MV Agusta following the rivalry with Hailwood, especially when Hailwood got a contract for 1962. At the
Isle of Man, Hocking finished second in the Junior TT and won the Senior TT. The death of his friend
Tom Phillis following a crash in the Junior TT, caused Hocking to retire of motorcycle racing. Hailwood won all other round (except
Finland and Argentina, where MV didn't enter) and became 500 cc
world champion. ;1963 In 1963 Hailwood was supreme on the MV Agusta. The outdated British single-cylinder bikes from Norton and
Matchless could not compete with the Italian machines. Yet a new "old" competitor joined the fray. Geoff Duke had convinced Gilera to make the six - year old Gilera 500 4C available to his Scuderia Duke team, and with that John Hartle won the Assen TT after Hailwood had dropped out. Hailwood won the rest of the races that
season and the World Championship, Hartle came third. ;1964 The
1964 world road racing championship went smoothly for MV Agusta. When Hailwood won the first six GPs, the title was safe and MV did not go to the Ulster Grand Prix and the Grand Prix of Finland. MV Agusta of course couldn't stay away in Monza and Hailwood also won there. He was clearly not able to cope with Hailwood, who won almost all GPs ;1966 The four cylinder machine was used for the first round of the championship in
West Germany only, the new three cylinder bike was used for the rest of the season. ==MV Agusta 500 3C 1966–1973==