Massimo Tamburini
Massimo Tamburini | |
---|---|
Born | MV Agusta F4 | November 28, 1943
Children | Morena, Andrea, Simona |
Website | http://www.massimotamburini.com/en/ |
Massimo Tamburini (November 28, 1943 – April 6, 2014) was an Italian
He lived and worked in San Marino at the Cagiva Research Center (Italian: Centro Ricerche Cagiva, CRC), a subsidiary of Cagiva now MV Agusta, from which he retired on December 31, 2008.[3]
Early life
Tamburini was born on November 28, 1943, in
Career
Tamburini said, "I have always had a huge passion for motorcycles—my mother used to complain about it when I was a little boy, calling it my obsession! I have never had any desire to design anything else."[6] His exposure to the motorcycle industry began when he attended the world championship race at Monza in 1961. Captivated by the sound of the MV Agusta's four stroke engine ridden by Provini, and entirely self-taught in design,[4] Tamburini eventually devoted his life to the making of motorcycles.
While Tamburini owned a
Tamburini created his first motorcycle design in 1971, customizing an MV Agusta 750 Sport by welding the frame himself.[8]
In 1973, Tamburini,
After 11 years at Bimota, Tamburini left and for a short time joined Roberto Gallina's 500 cc Grand Prix world championship team.[6] Then, in February 1985, he joined Claudio Castiglioni's Cagiva Group. Cagiva had acquired Ducati that year, and Tamburini worked designing both Ducati and Cagiva brand motorcycles.[6]
In 1985, Bimota was under "controlled administration", or fallimento, similar to US Chapter 11 reorganization and Tamburini had officially left the company, Giuseppe Morri having purchased Tamburini's Bimota stock.[9] Tamburini's successor as chief designer at Bimota was Federico Martini.[9] Even though Tamburini was in his new position as head of Cagiva's design studio, he continued work back at Bimota, in spite of the falling out with his partners that led to his departure,[7] working on the Bimota DB1 prototype, a bike that used the engine of the Ducati Pantah 750, which was to be presented at EICMA, the Milan motorcycle show.[9] Martini was responsible for the engineering of the DB1, Tamburini, as a consultant to Cagiva, handled the styling.[7]
The first Ducati he designed was the Paso 750, a bike that helped move fully enclosing bodywork into the mainstream.[6]
Ducati 916
Tamburini later designed the now classic Ducati 916. South African motorcycle designer
After Ducati
When the Castiglioni brothers sold Ducati in 1996, Tamburini stayed with Cagiva, where he designed the MV Agusta F4 to great acclaim.[6] While designing the F4 c. 1996, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer; his son Andrea said he wanted to survive the illness long enough to finish the F4 and save MV Agusta.[10] His final motorcycle was the MV Agusta F3 675.[8] Cycle World's Brian Catterson spotted Tamburini riding his creation, the F4, in the hills of Tuscany during the 2001 Motorgiro d'Italia.[11] Tamburini retired from Cagiva in December, 2008.[12]
Illness and death
Tamburini was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 2013 and underwent chemotherapy near his residence in San Marino.[8] His health continued to decline, and he died on April 6, 2014, at age 70.[8][13][14][15] Around 500 people attended his funeral in Rimini on April 9, including the mayor in his official capacity.[16]
Motorcycle designs
- Bimota Tesi 1D
- Bimota KB2
- Bimota DB1[7]
- Ducati Paso
- Ducati 916
- Cagiva Aletta Oro[17]
- Cagiva Freccia[17]
- Cagiva Mito
- Moto Morini Dart[18]
- F4 750 Serie Oro
- F4 750 S
- F4 750 Senna
- F4 750
- F4 750
- F4 750 750 SPR and SR
- F4 1000
- F4 AGO
- F4 Tamburini
- F4 Senna
- F4 Veltro
- F4 750 R 312
- F4 750 CC
- MV Agusta Brutale
- Tamburini Corse T12 Massimo (Released posthumously) project realized by his son Andrea Tamburini[19]
Awards
Tamburini was awarded the Sigismondo d'Oro in 2012, the highest award of the city of Rimini.[5]
References
- ^ Telegraph 2014 "Massimo Tamburini ... was one of the great names of automotive design, allying power and beauty in motorcycles in the way that his compatriot, Enzo Ferrari, did in cars; one critic even called him the 'Michelangelo of the motorcycle'."
- ^ Guggenheim 2001, pp. 379, 396.
- ^ Cagiva 2008.
- ^ a b c Fox 2014.
- ^ a b c La Stampa 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ash 2002.
- ^ a b c d e f Walker 2002.
- ^ a b c d dePrato 2014a.
- ^ a b c Cathcart 1985.
- ^ dePrato 2014b.
- ^ Catterson 2001.
- ^ News Rimini 2014.
- ^ Motoblog 2014.
- ^ Torri 2014.
- ^ Beeler 2014.
- ^ Romagna Noi 2014.
- ^ a b Urry 2012.
- ISBN 9780954435721
- ^ Marco Gentili (May 7, 2012). "L'ultimo sogno di Tamburini, è la superbike T12". La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Sources
- Cathcart, Alan (July 1985), "Bimota on the mend", Cycle World, pp. 28, 32, retrieved April 7, 2014
- Catterson, Brian (October 2001), "An American "Ago" in Tuscany; Racing in slow-mo in the Motogiro d'Italia", Cycle World, pp. 81–91
- Solomon R. (2001). The Art of the Motorcycle. Guggenheim Museum. ISBN 9780810969124.
- ISBN 978-1859606865
- "Massimo Tamburini Retires". www.cagiva.it. March 12, 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-12-20.
- "Sigismondo d'Oro a Massimo Tamburini", La Stampa (in Italian), Turin, December 19, 2012
- Urry, Jon (August 6, 2012), "Motorcycle Designer Massimo Tamburini: Lightning Strikes Twice", Sport Rider, retrieved 2014-04-07
- ISBN 9781783180066, retrieved April 7, 2014
- Beeler, Jensen (April 6, 2014), "A Great Loss: Massimo Tamburini Has Died", Asphalt and Rubber, retrieved April 6, 2014
- dePrato, Bruno (April 6, 2014), "Massimo Tamburini; Remembering one of the greatest innovators in motorcycle chassis design", Cycle World
- "Obituaries: Massimo Tamburini", The Telegraph, April 8, 2014
- Torri, Tommaso (April 6, 2014), "Addio al papà della Bimota, si è spento Massimo Tamburini", RiminiToday.it (in Italian), retrieved April 6, 2014
- "È morto Massimo Tamburini", Motblog.it (in Italian), April 6, 2014, retrieved April 6, 2014
- Si è spento Massimo Tamburini, anima della Bimota e Sigismondo nel 2012 (in Italian), News Rimini, April 6, 2014, archived from the original on April 8, 2014, retrieved April 7, 2014
- Fox, Margalit (April 9, 2014), "Massimo Tamburini, Sculptor of Shapely Motorcycles, Dies at 70", The New York Times
- L'ultimo saluto a Massimo Tamburini, il "Genio delle moto" (in Italian), Romagna Noi, April 9, 2014
- dePrato, Bruno (July 2014), "Massimo Tamburini, 1943–2014", Cycle World, 53 (7)