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MV Agusta 125 1960

King of the "125s"—Carlo Ubbiali whips his M.V. over Quarter Bridge on his way to winning his fourth Ultra-Lightweight T.T., in i960.

1960 MV. 125. Although the name "M.V." is almost inevitably I-1 thought of in connection with the four-cylinder racers, it must be remembered that this factory dominated all the solo classes, 125 ex., 250 c.c, 350 c.c. and 500 ex., in the World Championship for three years. The M.V. star performer on a "125" (and on a "250") was undoubtedly Carlo Ubbiali who, in i960, won his fourth 125 c.c. T.T. race. In this race, over the Mountain circuit in place of the Clypse course, he led from start to finish, heading his team-mates Gary Hocking and Luigi Taveri home at an average of 8560 m.p.h. He raised the lap record to 86-13 m.p.h. on the second of his three laps.

This race was held on the Monday of race week, marking the start of a new era in the T.T. history, with "125", "250" and sidecar races on the Monday, the "Junior" on the Wednesday and the "Senior" on the Friday of race week.

Cycle-wise, his machine was fairly conventional; the motor, too, showed little change from the same factory's "125s" of previous years. Built in unit with the gearbox, the engine had gear primary drive on the near-side and chain final drive on the opposite side. The cam-box of the d.o.hx. mechanism was a massive affair, and a huge "T"-shaped gear case enclosed the gear train drive to the shafts. On the outer cover of this case was carried an oil pump whence a maze of pipes led to numerous points of stress.

Exposed hairpin valve springs were used, and a skew gear drive from the end of the mainshaft operated the contact-breaker for the coil ignition. A couple of large castings just astern of the cylinder barrel looked like miniature ship's ventilators—they were crankcase breathers!

SPECIFICATION
Engine: single-cylinder 125 c.c. d.o.h.c; drive to
camshafts by gear train. Ignition: coil, with contact-breaker driven by skew gear
from engine drive-side mainshaft. Transmission: gear primary drive to unit construction
six-speed gearbox; final drive by chain. Frame: duplex cradle with pivoting-fork rear suspension. Forks: telescopic.