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Villa 125 Single-cylinder 1969
By the end of 1968 Francesco Villa was one of the best-known
Italian racers in international motorcycle racing. He was also the best-prepared
Italian technician in the challenging two-stroke field.
Villa built racing motorcycles for Mondial and for the Spanish Montesa company,
and he had also worked with MV Agusta. It is hard for a private racer who
competes at the international level to find a 125 motorcycle that combines good
racing qualities with reasonable cost, so Villa decided to build his own.
The first product of the Villa factory was a 125 Grand Prix
racer with a two-stroke, single-cylinder water-cooled engine. It was offered for
sale at the beginning of 1969 and brought 950,000 Italian lire, with some spare
parts thrown in. (At the time that was about $1,500.)
Francesco Villa had raced this motorcycle the year before. It won its first
victory at Vallelunga and it came in second in the Italian championship.
The Villa 125 single-cylinder was an immediate success with
the best racers in its class. Francesco's brother Walter Villa, Giuseppe Man-dolini,
and Otello Buscherini won several Italian races with the motorcycle, and
Buscherini and the German Scheimann almost won the 1970 West German Grand Prix
with it.
Motorcycle: Villa 125 Single-cylinder Manufacturer:
Motociclette Villa, Modena Type: Racing Year: 1969
Engine: Villa single-cylinder, two-stroke, with rotating-disk distribution.
Displacement 123.6 cc. (54 mm. x 54 mm.)
Cooling: Water
Transmission: Seven-speed block
Power: 30 h.p. at 11,400 r.p.m.
Maximum speed: Over 120 m.p.h.
Chassis: Double cradle, continuous, tubular. Front and rear, telescopic
suspension
Brakes: Front, central drum, four shoes; four-cam; rear, central drum
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