Retrospective: LAVERDA CORSE visits Australia

Piero Laverda Visits Australia

The year 2017 saw Victoria fete Piero Laverda and his friends when the Laverda Corse team from Italy visited DAM Classic Racing in Victoria (video content). Many riders on all types and brands of motorcycle turned out for this amazing opportunity to meet and talk with Piero Laverda in person.

DAM Classic Racing Pty Ltd staged the rally at their workshop for riders to meet the Laverda Corse team and Piero Laverda, the brother of Massimo who together were the masterminds of the motorcycle branch of the family business. These two men were the driving force in the creation of the famous Laverda motorcycles that became the catalysts for long standing friendships and adventurous lifestyles for many people over many years. These bikes had represented a certain character of a person that created friendships and sparked romances that often became lifelong relationships. Laverda motorcycles had been the instrument of youthful hooligans to burn off testosterone driven energies. These machines inspired scenes that still initiate laughter and fond memories of time spent with good friends, epic journeys around Australia, rallies and race weekends.

Piero brought the awe-inspiring Laverda V6 with him from Italy to the Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney and Greg Parish (DAM Classic Racing) financed and arranged transport for John Nickles’ (r.i.p.) 750cc /18,000rpm V8 motorcycle to be shipped north with the agreement of having award winning journalist and famed Laverda Racer Alan Cathcart ride it side by side with Piero Laverda riding the 1000cc V6 Laverda at the International Festival Of Speed.

For the enthusiasts trackside it was a sight and sound like no other to see these two mighty engines on the track together.

John Nickles had commissioned and financed DMCo to build this extraordinary bike in the mid ‘90s. In its original configuration it was fueled by 8 carburettors when test ridden on the same day by Cathcart and Parish at Calder Park Raceway. The relatively heavy throttle was source of humour between the two racers because even though it was heavy by most standards, the effort required to pull the cable to the eight carburettors was not significantly heavy when compared to that of a Laverda Jota!

Neville Hazelman Racing soon replaced the eight individual carburettors with a fuel injection system. Neville ran the 750 V8 extensively on his water brake engine dynomometer to determine optimum exhaust specifications and then with great skill Phil de Konig and Laverda Club Victoria member Harold Blewitt worked to encourage the long pipes to coil imaginatively over the rear wheel. Their work was a piece of art for the common man to see.

Subsequent models were fitted with a different timing chain arrangement and the capacity was enlarged to 1000cc. In this respect the original 750cc V8 machine that was commissioned by Nickles is singularly unique and a very rare machine indeed. 

[Epilogue: John Nickles developed cancer and passed away in the Phillipines in 2016. Before his death John had entrusted the sale of the 750 V8 to Drysdale and asked that the proceeds of its sale go to provide for Nickles' widow and daughter. Drysdale kept the motorcycle at his premises for the next 13 years without any communication with Nickles' Widow. No commercial sales advertisement was ever placed. Legal action was taken against Ian Drysdale for copyright infringement of images and video of the 750V8 and 1000V8 in August 2024 and Drysdale quietly offered the 750 V8 for auction as Lot 33 online.doningtonauctions.com.au in December that same year. It sold for $73,850 excl. gst and fees. Peer group pressure to honour Nickles' wishes secured an assurance from Drysdale that the proceeds would be forwarded to Nickles' widow and daughter.]

Specially made for the 2017 International Festival of Speed event, embroidered business shirts displaying a map of Australia surrounding the event title designed by Angus Parish were ordered by DAM Classic Racing and presented to the Italian Team to commemorate their visit. The Laverda Corse Team wore them every day for the duration of the event.

Laverda riders from Victoria and all across Australia joined in the lunchtime parade around the race circuit. Never before had so many Laverda been seen in one place in Australia. It was a grand sight, and sound. At the Gala Dinner for the International Festival of Speed Piero unveiled the Laverda SFC/4 and announced that Greg Parish from DAM Classic Racing was to be the first rider to officially test-ride this evolution of the air-cooled, fuel injected, 180º parallel twin. Greg responded that he felt very honoured to be selected to display the agile abilities and speed of the air cooled fuel injected Laverda 668 based race-spec machine to the world and Australian Motorcycle News magazine reported the test with photos promoting the latest creation of Laverda Corse.

The experience of the 2017 International Festival Of Speed featuring the machines of the Laverda brothers and the carnival atmosphere created by the sponsors and exhibitors was extraordinary and a truly unique event in Australia.

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