Happy 75th Birthday to MotoGP

The biggest championship of the world's greatest motor sport has been thrilling fans for three quarters of a century. It is time to celebrate

- Mat Oxley

THE FASTEST RIDERS AND MADDEST MOTORCYCLES of the premier-class world championship (first 500 cc, now MotoGP) have been doing their thing since 1949. From Les Graham and his 50-horsepower AJS twin to Pecco Bagnaia and his 300-horsepower Ducati V4. From European domination to Japanese

domination and back again. From black leathers and puddingbasin helmets to dazzling logoed suits and airbags. From blackand-white photos in newspapers to onboard cameras and live global television. From a handful of circuits that ran through villages and towns in Europe to 22 circuits across four continents. So many heroes, so many stories to tell…

MotoGP's Anglo-Italian Empire

IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WERE ITALIANS and Britons… all but two of the first 50 MotoGP rider and constructor world championships (1949 to 1973) were won by Italian bikes and riders or British bikes and riders.

British riders dominated thanks to a lively national racing scene which produced Les Graham, Geoff Duke, John Surtees, and Mike Hailwood, who won 13 of the first 17 MotoGP rider titles among them.

Britain’s motorcycle industry did not fare so well. It won just three constructor titles—with AJS in 1949 and Norton in 1950 and 1951—because post-War lethargy was already affecting British bosses who refused to move with the times and invest in new technology.

It was the other way round with the Italians. Only three Italian riders wore MotoGP crowns during the early years: Umberto Masetti, Libero Liberato, and Giacomo Agostini, although Ago did make the championship his own, winning seven consecutive titles.

Meanwhile, Italy utterly dominated MotoGP technology; MV and Gilera won 22 of the first 25 constructor championships.

The reason for this supremacy was simple: the world’s first across-the-frame four-cylinder engine, designed by young engineers Piero Remor and Carlo Gianini in the 1920s.