Italian Motorcycles

Today in Motorcycle History

GM Motorcycles and Engines

A Brief History of the Italian Marque


Giuseppe Marzotto was a moto-cross competitor before entering speedway, becoming Italian Champion in 1975-1978 & 1983.
The GM500 OHC 4-valve engine first appeared in 1979, entered production in 1980, and achieved worldwide attention in 1983 when Egon Muller won the World Championship, with Erik Gunderson taking the title the following year, again with a GM.
By the turn of the century the Marzotto-designed powerplants were the one to beat, and appeared in long-track, short-track and ice-racing. In 2015 Tai Woffinden won the World Championship using a GM.
Borile fitted a modified and detuned GM engine to their B500 Cafè Racer in the late 1990s.
More information: The GM Story
Sources: national-speedway-museum.co.uk, cycleworld.com, et al.

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