Massimo Tamburini
| Massimo Tamburini | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 28, 1943 Rimini, Italy |
| Died | April 6, 2014 (aged 70) San Marino |
| Cause of death | Lung cancer |
| Residence | San Marino |
| Occupation | Motorcycle designer |
| Employer | Bimota, Cagiva, Ducati, MV Agusta |
| Notable work | Ducati 916, MV Agusta F4 |
| Children | Morena, Andrea, Simona |
| Website | http://www.massimotamburini.com/en/ |
Massimo Tamburini (November 28, 1943 – April 6, 2014) was an Italian motorcycle designer for Cagiva, Ducati, and MV Agusta, and one of the founders of Bimota. Tamburini's designs are iconic in their field, with one critic calling him the "Michelangelo of motorbike design". His Ducati 916 and MV Agusta F4 were included in the Guggenheim Museum's The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit of 1998–1999.
He lived and worked in San Marino at the Cagiva Research Center (Italian: Centro Ricerche Cagiva, CRC), a subsidiary of Cagiva now MV Agusta, from which he retired on December 31, 2008.
Tamburini was born on November 28, 1943 in Rimini, where his family were farmers. Although he aspired to attend university, for financial reasons he instead attended the Istituto Tecnico Industriale di Rimini, a technical school in Rimini. According to his biography published by the City of Rimini, he did not finish his technical education for health reasons, and began working at age 18 on heating ductwork.
Tamburini said, "I have always had a huge passion for motorcycles—my mother used to complain about it when I was a little boy, calling it my obsession! I have never had any desire to design anything else." His exposure to the motorcycle industry began when he attended the world championship race at Monza in 1961. Captivated by the sound of the MV Agusta's four stroke engine ridden by Provini, and entirely self-taught in design, Tamburini eventually devoted his life to the making of motorcycles.
While Tamburini owned a heating business in his home town of Rimini, he was becoming known for his race tuning, improving motorcycles' power and handling, as well as making them lighter. Rimini was a motorcycling enthusiast's town, being near a Benelli motorcycle factory, and the site of many road races following World War II. The MV Agusta 600 four was Tamburini's particular specialty, for which he was known "throughout Italy", according to Mick Walker, who said, "the transformation of what had been an ugly and slow touring bike into a sleek and fast sportster was truly sensational."
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