Giacomo Agostini
Date of Birth 16 June 1942, Brescia, Lombardia, Italy Trivia Most successful Motorcycle Grand Prix rider of all times. Won 15 FIM Motorcycle-Grand Prix Worldchampion titles (8 in 500cc (1966-1972 on MV Agusta, 1975 on Yamaha) and 7 in 350cc (1968-1973 on MV Agusta, 1974 on Yamaha), 122 Motorcycle Grands Prix, 12 Isle of Man TT crowns; Daytona 200 Winner 1974.
Agostini was born on June 16, 1942 in Brescia, Italy, and was raised in Levere near Bergamo. He was raised in a well-to-do family and his parents discouraged him from taking up motorcycle racing. To start racing he needed a signature from his parents. Agostini went to a notary and told him he was going cycle racing. The notary, who was a friend of his father’s, told Agostini’s father that Giacomo was a nice boy and it was a good sport and his father signed. The notary understood cycle racing to be bicycle racing, not motorcycle racing, but with his father’s signature now in hand he was able to start his motorcycle racing career. Giacomo Agostini made his motorcycle racing debut in 1961 at the age of nineteen and dominated the motorcycle racing World Championship from 1966 to 1975
On the 350cc bike, he was twice runner-up to Hailwood, in both 1966 and 1967. But he managed to take revenge in the 500cc class as he prevailed in several duels between the two riders over the same two seasons. Ago claimed the 500cc world title in both 1966 and 1967 in championships that came down to the final event.
Honda's departure from the scene in 1967 heralded eight years of dominance by Agostini and MV Augusta in the world championships. He completed the world title double with MV -- on both the 350cc and 500cc -- in 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972. In 1973, he won the 350cc title and then, with Yamaha, he won the 350cc world crown in 1974 and the 500cc title in 1975.
Thirteen of those titles were won on MV Agusta motorcycles and two with Yamaha. He won a total of 122 Grand Prix races and 18 Italian Championship titles. No one, including Valentino Rossi, has done more and this isn't fully realized by many fans of modern MotoGP racing.
Not to take anything away from Rossi or any of the other racers at all -- in fact, Rossi is my all-time favorite. But modern fans sometimes have short memories, forgetting that there could possibly have been excellent racers in the past.
Agostini is still with us, fortunately and he is a regular at many motorcycling events. This book is a very interesting read, not only because of the deep insight into Agostini's thinking in both his personal and professional life, but also because it provides an insider's knowledge of what motorcycle racing was like back in the day.
But it's also more than that -- the book uses a very intriguing (and rare for a motorcycle biography) format for its narrative. It pretends to be a novel, whose subject is the "Winner", narrated by the author, who is writing about an imaginary writer and correspondent named "Nao" who is writing about Agostini!
Nao conducts a long series of detailed interviews with Agostini, and this is how we gain the deep insight into his life and times. It sounds contrived, and I have to admit that it took me some time to get used to the format, but I ended up really liking it. It makes the book so much better than the normal run-of-the-mill bland motorcycle racer biography, typically churned out with some stock photos to make a few quick bucks. One thing to note though is I think that the translation from Italian to English has a few grammatical problems...
Fifteen Times is also an autobiography, because it was written with full cooperation of Agostini and uses many of the photographs from his personal collection. And there are a lot of photographs, which is another bonus, covering everything from the beginning of Ago's career to the present.
It also starts out with a very interesting dialog from Agostini about the dangers of motorcycle racing in those days -- there were so many fatal accidents due to the lack of safe tracks. There are reasons for this and Agostini describes the tensions between the "pay as you go" racers who came to the grid no matter what, and the factory supported teams who were pushing for safer tracks and who even wanted to go on strike for better conditions.
Agostini comes off like the real gentleman he is -- berating his fellow racers for their sometimes unfortunate treatment of the fans.
This is a highly detailed but very interesting biography of what surely is and will always be one of the premier representatives of our sport and who serves as a role model that every racer -- and every motorcyclist -- should aspire to. This is a must-read!
Giacomo Agostini is considered perhaps the greatest Grand Prix rider of all time. Over the course of a remarkable career of 17 years, the peerless Agostini won 15 world Grand Prix titles (8 in 500cc and 7 in 350cc), 12 Isle of Man TT crowns, an astonishing 122 Grands Prix, and he rarely ever fell off his machine during all those years. He became motorcycling's first genuine world superstar and, whether riding a 350cc or 500cc, he was nearly always the man to beat whenever he took up his position on the starting grid. In America, Agostini won the Daytona 200 in 1974, bringing unprecedented recognition to the race.
After winning his final world title in 1975, Agostini enjoyed his last competitive year in 1976 when he managed to notch up Grand Prix wins in both the 350cc and 500cc class. Fittingly, his last career victory came at the Nurburgring, the German venue where he had won his very first Grand Prix race back in 1965.
After retirement, Agostini became team manager for Yamaha’s and later Cagiva’s Grand Prix racing squads. Under his guidance the team won world championships. Ago has won numerous awards and accolades over the years. He was the first motorcyclist recognized by the World Sports Academy.
source:www.motogp.com
www.en.wikipedia.org
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