Franco Uncini's 1982 MotoGP title-winning Suzuki up for auction in Monaco
Franco Uncini's 1982 MotoGP World Championship-winning Suzuki 500 XR40 – Click above for a high-res image gallery
With the global economy in shambles, classic car collectors have been looking to something more affordable: namely, motorcycles. That's why, for example, Pebble Beach is opening up its concours to two-wheelers for the first time this year. Unfortunately for racing enthusiasts, championship-winning steeds seldom pop up for grabs. The factories and riders themselves tend to hang onto them. But here's one notable exception: the Suzuki 500 XR40 with which legendary rider Franco Uncini won the 1982 MotoGP World Championship.
Uncini's racing career was characterized by a checkered past filled with checkered flags. The Italian rider competed for Ducati, Harley-Davidson and Yamaha before finally filling the saddle at Suzuki,with which he won his first and only world title in 1982, the last Italian to win the MotoGP championship until Valentino Rossi began his reign in 2001. A devastating crash the following year put Uncini into a coma and ended his career in 1985. Today he acts as a safety representative for the series, riding around in that hot new BMW X6 M pace car we reported on earlier. He'll be on hand personally to supervise the auction of his championship-winning ride on May 18 when it goes under the hammer at the COYS auction in Monte Carlo together with 15 other historically-significant motorbikes. Uncini's bike is expected to fetch as much as €350,000, or nearly half a million dollars. Click on the thumbnails below to view the machine in high resolution.
[Source: COYS]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kitko 5:58PM (5/16/2009)
Of course, back then there was no MotoGP. The whole series was called F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship, as is now, and Uncini won 500cc class which was later renamed to MotoGP.
F.I.M. - Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme
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EJ25RUN 7:50PM (5/16/2009)
Franco is a real GP legend.
He beat Kenny Robert, Marco Luchinelli, and Randy Mammola for that title. He is also the last Italian to win the premier class crown until Vale.
If you're wondering, he was the one that was hit by Wayne Garder's bike in the head at Assen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3857pFOyP5I
Not only did he survive to make a full recovery. Today, he serves as leader of the rider rep board in Motogp.
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cdwrx 9:08PM (5/16/2009)
Man that was nasty. That knocked his helmet clean off.
IOMTT 4:08PM (5/17/2009)
You definitely had to have some nerve to ride those 500 two strokes. They did not suffer fools, only supermen need apply.
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erusnak 9:40AM (5/18/2009)
What is cool about that video is the number of bikes racing back then. I counted 30 in that linked video. Compared to the MotoGP race yesterday with 17 bikes total taking the grid and paying points to 15th place. .
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