Moto Villa 250/4 Racer

With Phil Aynsley

The Moto Villa company was founded by Francesco Villa in 1961 after his long and successful career as a mechanic and rider at Ducati.

In partnership with Mondial he resurrected their old GP bikes in 1961 and then created new two-stroke racers that used the Mondial name.

Together with his brother Walter (four time World Champion for HD-Aermacchi in the 250 & 350 classes), he later introduced his own range of highly successful bikes, all featuring advanced two-stroke technology.

After his time with Mondial, his design for a parallel twin 2-stroke 250 racer appeared as a Montesa.

From 1968 the Villa brothers’ machines were presented under their own name. The most advanced of these was the 1969 250/4 seen here.

It’s layout was basically two of the Villa’s 125 twins mounted side by side. The lower pair of cylinders were inclined 10º from the horizontal, the top pair at 20º.

Originally an eight-speed gearbox was used but this was reduced to six to comply with race regulations. The bike (two were built), debuted at the Nations GP at Imola in September ’69 but it was never raced due to the FIM declaring a maximum of two cylinders for the 250cc class from 1970.

Francesco Villa himself assisted with the restoration of this bike, which produces 48 hp at 11,500 rpm.