I’m always looking for an excuse to feature a racing motorcycle with a dustbin fairing. These new shots are from Australian photographer Phil Aynsley, and were taken recently in Florence.
They show an exquisite 1956 FB Mondial: the very machine that took Tarquinio Provini to second place in the 1957 250cc Grand Prix world championship. Mondial was a very small Milanese firm, much smaller than Moto Guzzi, but it made a name for itself through competition. (The “FB” stood for Fratelli Boselli, the brothers that owned the company.)
Alfonso Drusiani designed the engine of this bike, complete with a bevel drive for the twin overhead cams, although Fabio Taglioni had recently worked for Mondial. For the 1957 season, a new engine with gear-driven cams was installed in Mondial’s GP racers—but Provini stuck with the more reliable bevel design in his own race bike.
After 1960, Mondial stopped making complete motorcycles in-house, and the company changed ownership several times.
This bike, however, is in safe hands. Its restoration was started by Giancarlo Morbidelli (of the Morbidelli Museum) and finished by Roberto Totti, with further work being done by Duilio Barcali in Florence. The Mondial is now being shipped to its owner, an enthusiast in northern California.
The Phil Aynsley book Ducati: A Photographic Tribute is available from Amazon.
