Moto Guzzi 500 Twin 1935

1935 GUZZI 500 TWIN. Four seconds—that was the tiny margin by which Stanley Woods won the 1935 Senior T.T. on a Guzzi, scoring the first foreign victory since the 1911 race. He finished shortly after Jimmy Guthrie (Norton), who had led the race on the first six laps, had come in to the pits to be acclaimed the winner—and to be congratulated by all and sundry, including the Isle of Man Governor!

Woods had been in second berth for most of the race and at the start of the last lap his pit was, apparently, all ready to refuel him, but he roared straight down the Glencrutchery Road—to the apparent consternation of his attendants. Whether this was guile, intended to lull the Norton camp into a sense of false security, no one can tell, but the Guzzi finished with nearly a gallon of fuel aboard—unpenalized by the pit stop upon which everybody, including Nortons, had counted.

Finished in the still-familiar Guzzi bright red, the 500 c.c. model was virtually a double-up of the already successful "250". It was unusual in being a wide-angle, 1200 Vee-twin with the front "pot" horizontal and the magneto between the cylinders. It was claimed to produce 51 b.h.p. at 7,500 r.p.m., a staggering figure for a 1935 unit, and to have a maximum speed of 112 m.p.h. It weighed 375 lb., including in its specification one of the first spring frames to be used by Guzzi—and, incidentally, it was the first springer to win a "Senior"! The system used a pivoting-fork controlled by coil springs under the engine-gear unit and had friction dampers on each side. These could be altered by the rider when in motion by a large lever on the left of the tank.

The twin Guzzi never won another "Senior", but in 1948 and 1949 its descendants, still with the 1200 engine, recorded fastest laps of the races. Whilst the later ones were very fast indeed, they proved generally unreliable in the Island.

The first foreign machine to win the Senior T.T. since 1911* this Guzzi was al first winner to employ rear springing in the races. It had alloy rims and hand-adu friction dampers on the rear suspension—controlled by the large lever near the fi the petrol tank.

SPECIFICATION
Engine: 1200 Vee-twin 500 c.c. o.h.c. camshaft drive by
shaft and bevels. Ignition: magneto.
Transmission: four-speed gearbox in unit with engine;
final drive by chain. Frame: open type with pivoting-fork rear suspension
controlled by coil springs and hand-adjustable
friction dampers. Forks: girder pattern with single compression spring.