Tucked away in the corner of a town called Mandello del Lario near Lake Como’s shore sits the factory of iconic Italian motorcycle manufacturer, Moto Guzzi. 2021 marks Moto Guzzi?s 100-year anniversary; it?s the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production. Within the factory complex is one of the first-ever production motorcycle wind tunnels ? an installation fashioned by the racing spirit of Moto Guzzi?s founder, Carlo Guzzi.
Carlo Guzzi understood that with the increasing performance of racing motorcycles, chasing performance improvements would not only be the search for more power but to use power more efficiently. He knew that fighting against the engine’s power driving the motorcycle forward is the air’s pressure slowing the motorcycle down – causing drag – and that drag causes turbulence, reduces maximum speed, makes the vehicle unstable, increases wind noise and discomfort, and reduces its fuel economy. Scale model of Moto Guzzi Wind Tunnel. Credit: Iain Gordon

He surmised that if the motorcycle’s shape and rider’s position was optimised in the airflow, significant performance gains could be achieved – these as applicable to a race bike as they are to a road bike and indeed a bicycle, F1 car or supersonic aircraft.
Guzzi drew up initial concepts for a wind tunnel in 1950 working with his older brother, Giuseppe, “Naco”. Naco had graduated as a Civil Engineer and ...