Arturo Magni, for many years MV Agusta’s team manager, and for years afterward a producer of unusual motorcycle projects, has died. I recall him vividly from the Canadian GP, 1967. I turned to look as a mechanic carried the rear wheel of Giacomo Agostini’s 500cc MV triple to a grassy area. Other mechanics stood by expectantly, one of them holding a folded blanket. I saw an authoritative man of unimpressive stature, casually dressed in slacks and an old gray sweater that looked to be a veteran of many seasons. “This is Magni,” I understood. The weekend had already been one of many such moments of recognition. That black-clad figure, alone in the front seat of a Chevy sedan with its engine and heater running, the man apparently stiff with cold–that’s Hailwood! And as a Japanese mechanic pushed a disc valve V-four Yamaha 250 into tech and was asked whose bike it was, I could hear him say, “Phirr Lead.” And the rapid whoop-whoop of Hailwood’s 6-cylinder Honda, warming up. It all leapt from its former two dimensions on the pages of magazines into full reality. This was Magni’s world, week after week–the Isle of Man TT, Assen, Francorchamps. At Magni’s direction, the blanket was spread out, and the mechanic with the wheel laid it, sprocket upward, on the blanket. Magni knelt and, like a surgeon in an operating theater, put up a hand to receive the snap-ring pliers carried by another man. Step by step, the sprocket was changed for another with a different tooth count. Then, examining the large sprocket-retaining snap-ring to identify its sharp edge (resulting from the punch-press operation that produced it), he put it carefully in place. Then he stood up, dusted the knees of his trousers, and with a dismissive gesture indicated that the others might now continue. Why this theater? I thought to myself at the time that someone must once have installed that snap-ring with its rounded edge uppermost, with ill consequences. Magni was personally seeing to it that this never happened again. He, after all, was in turn responsible to Count Agusta, and Ago had only to finish second here to win his second 500 title. No mistake can be tolerated. It was an irresistible world of constant change in many technologies, in style, and in its cast of players. In my mind I will always see Magni in that grassy paddock, attending to business. On Sunday Hailwood won and Ago was second–and champion.Gadget Reviews: mamaktalk.com
Car Reviews: automoview.com
Entertainment News: 38now.com
Today's Promotions: freepromotoday.com
