A superb and rare
photo of the magnificent Montesa 125cc
Grand Prix racer of 1956,
photographed during the 1956 Isle of Man Lightweight T.T.. Shown are, from
right to left, Montesa works riders Enrique
Sirera, Francesco Gonzales
and Johnny Grace. The 1956
Isle of Man TT races were the most successful ever for the Montesa factory. Four
riders were entered: John Grace from Gibraltar
and from Spain Marcello Cama, Francisco Gonzales and Enrique Sirera. The racer
was a very close development of the famous Montesa Brio road model. The engine
however was extremely cleverly tuned, the standard exhaust system was simply
retained in the tuning concept, making these Montesa racers the quietest racers
on the circuits that year. The single cylinder 124.98cc engine featured a bore
and stroke of 51.50 x 60 mm.
Two compression ratio’s were used: 11.5 : 1 and 14.5 : 1 for the engine that
featured a squish-type cylinder head. Power output was 17 bhp at 8,000 rpm for
the low compressed version and 18 bhp at 8,200 rpm for the high compressed
version. Even though the racer was still so close to its production model, it
did magnificent during the IOM TT
of 1956.
Cama finished a magnificent second
place behind Carlo Ubbiali on his factory MV Agusta. Montesa riders Gonzalez and Sirera finished third and fourth respectively! John
Grace was forced to retire. It was a magnificent result for the Montesa
factory!
Montesa was formed in 1944 by Pedro Permanyer and Francisco
Xavier "Paco" Bultó. Their first Montesa prototype was based upon the
French Motobécane models of that time. Permanyer began to produce his own gas
engines, which allowed for a new area in motorcycles to be explored and
expanded into. Permanyer and Bultó teamed up in Barcelona and created a light-weight
motorcycle. This led to the creation of a bike powered by a 95cc two-stroke
engine with no rear suspension. Despite some setbacks, they sold 22 of these
units in the first year of production. The next year, the partnership focused
on production improvements and meeting the growing demand for their bike. As a
successor to the previous model, Bultó designed a new 125cc roadster, which was
tested in many the trail-type rallies and semi-enduros that were popular in Spain at the
time. This model went on to enter the 1951 International Six Days Enduro. The
bike was entered in by the factory, being ridden by Bultó and G. Cavestany. In
the early 1950s, Montesa entered many races in the 125cc class of road racing.
These bikes featured six-speed, bolt on gearboxes, in semi-unit construction,
with all gears running on needle-roller bearings. By 1956, these Montesa 125s
were very competitive and took second, third and fourth places in the
Ultra-Lightweight race at the Isle of Man TT. The most successful Montesa street bike
of the '50s was the Brio 80, of which more than 12,000 were produced. The
success of the Brio and the other models, led to the opening of a new and
larger factory in Espluges de Llobregat. The Brio 80 and Brio 90 models
contained many new advances, such as moving the carburetor behind the cylinder,
and a handbrake. However, a slump in the Spanish economy had forced Permanyer
to cut back on the company's racing activities. Permanyer wanted to pull out of
road racing, but Bultó insisted that they stay in. In May 1958, chief designer
Bultó left, taking with him several of Montesa's vital personnel. Permanyer had
not only lost the brilliant designer Bultó, but also his 30% share of the
company. Fortunately for both, Spain's
economy began to improve. Permanyer promoted the all-around champion
motorcyclist Pedro Pi from head test rider to chief development engineer.
Leopold Mila was made Technical Director and Permanyer's son Javier, was to be
Sports Assistant. Work began right away on designing a brand new
all-unit-construction 175cc engine that by 1960, would power the latest Impala
sports roadster model. This engine would form the basis of the company's future
trials and motocross machines. To promote sales of this model, three Impala's
were taken to Africa where they covered over 12,000 miles of
terrain, most of it being off-road. Back in Spain, Pi was busy winning the
Spanish motocross and road race championships and working on a new 250cc
version. Following its introduction in 1965, the 250 engine would be the
cornerstone of the company's future success. Mounted on the new 250 Scorpion
scrambler, Pi won the Spanish championship again in 1966 and the similarly
engined Sport roadster won the Barcelona
24-hour endurance road race. In 1967 the first Montesa trials models appeared
and in 1968 retitled the Cota, Pi won the Spanish Trials Championship. After
adding this title to go along with the road race and six motocross titles, he
retired from competition to devote his full energy to bike development. In the
decade following, Montesa had unprecedented growth around the World and one has
to remember that unlike Bulto's bike, the Bultaco, Montesa only sent a small
percentage of its production to the States, concentrating mostly on the
European market. Trials models were offered in many different sizes 25, 49,
125, 175, 250, 348 and 349, as were motocrossers 125, 175, 250, 360 and 414.
This also included a line of street and Enduro models also. In 1973, the VR
(Vehkonen Replica) was released and set the standard for 1974, as did the 348
Cota did in 1976. Ulf Karlsson won the World Trials Championship on a Cota in
1980. By 1981, another round of economic unrest in Spain began to hinder motorcycle
manufacturers. Strikes and a shrinking market left Montesa as the only major
motorcycle concern in the country; however they were in need for a major influx
of capital in order to continue to survive. A loan from the government and
shares sold to Honda (to establish a European manufacturing base for their
commuter bikes) helped production continue. Montesa was still active in World
Trials competition throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Even though reduced
to only offering one model, the Cota, such riders like former World Champion
Eddy Lejeune and Andrew Codina rode the bike to good results in the mid-'80s.
In 1992-93, the liquid-cooled Cota 311 was produced; this was to be the last
"real" Montesa. In 1994,
a new model, the 314R, was introduced. This model
featured an HRC Honda powerplant with many other components from Honda.
Montesa-mounted Marc Colomer won the World title in 1996 and the 315R followed
in early '97. The 315R had a run of 7 years, taking Dougie Lampkin to many
world championships, and was replaced by the technically advanced four-stroke
Cota 4RT in 2005.
This is your rare
chance to own this non period photo that reflects a very
interesting and historic piece of motorcycle and Montesa
history. Therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 8.7"
(ca. 20 x 22 cm).