GILERA QUATTRO TECNICA E STORIA

Born from the development of an idea of Roman engineers Carlo Gianini and Piero Remor, who for the first time in 1923 thought in concrete terms of mounting an inline four-cylinder transversally on a racing motorbike.

Perfected by the same engineer Gianini with the help of Piero Taruffi in the supercharged version called Rondine, the four-cylinder found in 1936 with its adoption by Gilera, the means to achieve the competitiveness and reliability necessary to conquer the most prestigious results in the world.

Among many, the absolute speed record by Piero Taruffi and the 1939 European championship (equivalent to today's world championship) with Dorino Serafini. Successes that continued in the post-war years, with the aspirated air-cooled version, an ideal continuation according to the changed sporting regulations and the means made available by technical evolution.

And so, the world championships of Umberto Masetti in 1950 and 1952, those of Geoff Duke in 1953,54,55 and Libero Liberati in 1957, in addition to the make world championships in the same years when foreseen by regulations, and the one again for the 350 class in 1957 made it the symbol of the superiority of the Italian motorbike industry.

The official withdrawal from competition in 1957 was a premature end to the technical possibilities of this motorbike, possibilities that were also proved in the mid-sixties with some participation in the top competitions made with the same bikes of six-seven years before, without any development work, against bikes that in the meantime had continued their technical evolution with adequate budgets.

Gilera Quattro: tecnica e storia by Sandro Colombo, published in 1992, has 271 pages and a rich iconographic set with 300 b/w images. Text in Italian.

Index: 07. Introduzione 08. Il quattro cilindri nelle costruzioni motociclistiche fino all'inizio degli anni venti 19. Un progetto originale 27. La Rondine 44. 1937-1940 Evoluzioni e successi della quattro cilindri Gilera 80. 1940-1946 Una pausa forzata 94. 1947-1949 Nascita ed esordio della quattro cilindri raffreddata ad aria 115. 1950-1954 Gli anni dell'evoluzione 185. 1955-1957 Una superiorità indiscussa 241. 1963-1966 Un ritorno senza convinzione 265. Le vittorie dei quattro cilindri Gilera dal 1937 al 1966 270. I records delle quattro cilindri Gilera