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Overview
Carlo Ubbiali’s – 1956 World Championship and TT winner
Ex works bespoke gear driven twin cam engine
In addition,1956 Italian Championship winner
Featured in the Fuji museum for over 30 years
Believed one of only two bikes originally constructed
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1956 MV Augusta Ex Works Bialbero 125
A genuine Ex-Works Championship Winning GP bike raced by road racing legend Carlo Ubbiali to win his 1956 125cc World Title including a TT win.
Carlo Ubbiali is one of the greatest Grand Prix motorcycle riders to have ever lived and regarded to be the first person to dominate the sport, his 9 world championship wins are on par with Mike Hailwood and Valentino Rossi. Only Giacomo Agostini and Ángel Nieto have more world championships to their names. Between 1950 and 1960 Ubbiali took 39 Grand Prix wins from 74 races including 5 wins at the Isle of Man TT.
Ubbiali entered his first race, a minor local event in his hometown, at the age of 17. Over the next few years he did some more low level racing but also worked as a mechanic for a local race team. In 1948, at the age of 19, Ubbiali was in Milan supporting the race team for a 125cc championship road race event when one of the riders did not show up. The place was offered to Carlo who took everyone by surprise by finishing 2nd in his class, beaten only by future world champion Nello Pagani. This performance won him a place on the team which he reinforced with another 2nd place finish at Monza.
In 1949 Ubbiali competed in the 125cc road race world championship finishing 3rd, then he returned the following year with Mondial team taking his first GP race win and finishing the championship 2nd. The year on year progress was clear and by 1951 he won his first 125cc world title, the first of his 9 world titles in 10 years.
The MV Agusta 125 used a unique gear driven four-stroke single with a twin-cam (Bialbero) cylinder head, the bike was fine-tuned throughout the 1950s but ultimately followed the same formula. By 1956 they had introduced telescopic forks, alloy hubs and a sleeker fuel tank with maximum power increased to 15bhp.
The 1956 season was a particularly special one for Ubbiali as he was entered in both the 125cc and 250cc World Championships, incredibly won them both as well as the Italian national championship! The bike shown here is one of two Works MV Augusta’s on which he dominated the 1956 125cc World Championship. This season was one of his most successful with 6 race wins from 7 125cc championship events including an Isle of Man TT win.