A superb and rare photo, made from what we believe is the original negative, of the famous Abbondio Sciaresa on the factory works Moto Guzzi V7 Sport telaio rosso (red chassis) - 850cc “Le Mans” prototype racer during the famous Bol d’Or 24 hour race held at the Northern France circuit of Le Mans in September 1971!

The Moto Guzzi V7 Sport was introduced in 1971, shortly after its introduction the factory bored it out to 850cc, tuned it slightly, and inscribed it for the most heavy and most famous endurance race of them all: the 24 hours Bol d’Or race which was held at the circuit of Le Mans, in Northern France.

Guzzi inscribed two machines, one was ridden by Raimondo Riva and Abbondio Sciaresa and one ridden by Mandracci and Brambilla. They led the race for more then 10 hours, after which they were slowed down by a broken rocker, a crash, and a puncture at the rear wheel. Mandracci and Brambilla still managed to finish 3^rd, and Riva and Sciaresa finished 6^th. Terrific places for the new machine. A year later, at the Premio Varrone contest of 1972, the machine appeared again, mostly the same as the endurance racer of the Bol d’Or at Le Mans in 1971, and it was officialy named the “850 Le Mans”. Clearly to commemorate the excellent result of a mostly stock machine. At the end of 1975 the new Le Mans was finally entered production. It became one of the most classic Guzzi models yet, and its production run continues even today.

This photograph witnesses Abbondio Sciaresa during that epic and most historic race. He lived in the town of Sondrio, not to far away from Mandello del Lario, the town in Northern Italy where the Moto Guzzi factory is located at.

This is a very nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful and very historic era of Moto Guzzi ‘s V7 Sport history in a wonderful way, as it was not only the first ever race the new machine rode, but it also was the introduction itself of the new V7 Sport!

This is your rare chance to own this non period photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 7.7" x  10.3" (ca. 19.5 x 26.2 cm). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing!

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The V7 Sport also is the forefather of the current Moto Guzzi California , EV , Stone , Aluminium , Titanium (etc.) models, as well as the forefather of numerous other previous Guzzi models like the Moto Guzzi Le Mans , the SP 1000 , Hydro Convert , T3 , 750 S etc.