1978 MV Agusta 861 Magni

1978 MV Agusta 861 Magni
Registration no. not UK registered
Frame no. 2210815
Engine no. 221-0350
• Rare Magni-modified MV Agusta
• Chain drive conversion
• Previously registered in Germany

Motorcycle race engineers are rarely household names but one exception to this general rule is the legendary Arturo Magni. Born in Usmate Velate, Milan in 1925, Magni started his motorcycle career in 1947 in Gilera's racing department. The Arcore factory had decided to return to Grand Prix racing, and Arturo Magni was employed assembling the new four-cylinder engine designed by Piero Remor, co-creator of the pre-war OPRA and CNA Rondine fours. Gilera would go on to win six 500cc World Championships with this engine, courtesy of Messrs Duke, Masetti and Liberati.

In 1949 Count Domenico Agusta tempted Remor away from Gilera to design MV Agusta's first four-cylinder race engine. Magni followed him in 1950 as chief mechanic and later managed the racing department during MV's Grand Prix 'golden age'. At the height of its powers the Italian team could command the services of the world's finest riders, among them Sandford, Ubbiali, Surtees, Provini, Hailwood, Read and Agostini, and under Magni's direction MV won no fewer than 75 World Championships.

When MV retired from Grand Prix racing in 1976, Magni and his two sons set up their own company in Samarate, producing performance parts for the MV Agusta 750 street bikes, including big-bore kits, special frames and chain-drive conversions. Magni commenced production of motorcycles under his own name in 1980, initially using the Honda CB900 engine, with BMW, Moto Guzzi and Suzuki-engined models following. In the mid-1980s Magni commenced what would turn out to be an immensely fruitful association with Moto Guzzi, using the latter's well established transverse v-twin engines.

Yet despite all his latter day successes with Moto Guzzi, Arturo Magni's name will forever be linked with that of MV Agusta, whose reputation this great engineer did so much to forge. The first MV model officially to bear his name was the 'Monza Arturo Magni', a stretched (to 832cc) version of the 750S America. Official production of the Magni, together with that of all MV Agusta's other models, ended in February 1979, although Arturo and his sons Carlo and Giovanni continued to create bespoke MVs to special order.

First registered on 21st January 1978, this Magni-modified MV Agusta is offered with German registration papers and TüV (dated 4th July 2012).