The MV Agusta 500cc road racers were motorcycles that the manufacturer MV Agusta built and which were used to compete in 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing series between 1950 and 1976. 18 500cc world championship titles were achieved with these machines ridden by John Surtees, Gary Hocking, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read between 1958 and 1974.

History Piero Remor had developed racing engines for the Gilera brand before World War II. In addition to a supercharged 500cc four cylinder engine, he also built a 250cc four cylinder. After the war, he based a new 500cc machine on the pre-war designs. The new racer was tested for the first time in 1948. This Gilera 500 4C did not perform well, but Remor refused to make changes and put the blame on the riders. In 1949 he was fired by Giuseppe Gilera. Piero Taruffi became responsible for the development of the Gilera, which became the most successful racing engine in the 1950s. Piero Remor was hired by Count Domenico Agusta to develop racing engines for MV Agusta. Remor brought rider Arciso ArtesianiWhen driver Arciso Artesiani left for MV Agusta, they spoke of "betrayal". However, Artesiani did not have much choice. He was an MV Agusta dealer in Bologna and received a generous salary of 800,000 lire and a motorcycle. to MV Agusta and first developed the MV Agusta 125 Bialbero. This was necessary because MV Agusta only had a 125 cc two-stroke that couldn't compete with Mondial and Moto Morini in this class. On 1 May 1950, engineer Arturo Magni also came to MV Agusta and became responsible for the further development of the racing engine. Magni had previously worked with Remor at Gilera from 1947.

MV Agusta 500 4C 1950–1966

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 MV Agusta 500 4CValvetrainDOHC with two valves per cylinderEngine configurationFour-stroke transverse in-line four-cylinder engineEngine coolingAir coolingBore52 mm53 mmStroke58 mm56 mmEngine displacement492.7 cc494.2 ccLubrication systemWet sumpCarburetors2 × Dell'Orto 28 mm4 × Dell'Orto 28 or 29 mm (depending on circuit)4 × Dell'Orto 29 mmMax power @ 9,000 rpm @ 10,500 rpm @ 10,500 rpm @ 11,000 rpm Unknown @ 12,000 rpm Top speed UnknownPrimary driveGearsClutchWet multi-plate Gears55, 6 of 7 (depending on circuit)Final driveShaft driveChain driveFrameDouble cradleFront forksGirder forksGirder or Telescopic forksEarles forksTelescopic forkRear forksParallelogram SwingarmRear suspensionTorsion springs with friction dampersTorsion springs with hydraulic shock absorbersCoil springs with hydraulic shock absorbersBrakesDrum brakes

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