MV Agusta has announced that it will be auctioning a motorcycle at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with the proceeds going to the UNICEF Ukraine emergency fund.
The bike in question is a Superveloce 800 Ago, the special edition model created by MV to celebrate Giacomo Agostini.
Agostini, who turned 80 last week, won 122 Grands Prix in total, and over 100 of those were with MV Agusta, for whom he rode between 1964 and 1976, with the exception of 1974 and 1975 when he was with Yamaha.
Famed as the most successful Grand Prix racer of all time, Agostini is revered as one of the greats of motorcycle racing, and indeed motorsports as a whole.
In celebration of the Italian’s successful time with MV during his racing career, the Italian marque launched a special edition of its Superveloce neo-retro in 2021, named after Agostini.
The bike was officially launched at last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and features yellow ‘plates’ on the front and side fairing, in the style of the old 500cc class. While the front ‘plate’ circles the singular round headlight, the side plates contain the number ‘1’.
The first 15 models of the bike were dedicated to Agostini’s 15 world titles, while the number of motorcycles is reflective of the total number of races won by the Italian during his career, including the non-GP wins: 311.
The bike that will be auctioned at the Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed auction is expected to fetch between £70,000 and £100,000, and has no reserve. All of the money raised by the auction will go to the UNICEF Ukraine emergency fund, supporting the Ukrainian people during the invasion of the country by Russia which has now lasted for almost four months.
MV’s current CEO, Timur Sardarov, was also vocal in his opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the days after it began.
Sardarov, himself a Russian, described the invasion as “the biggest tragedy of my 40 years of existence. I have never thought that I would feel so betrayed by the action of my own country.”
The 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed will take place this week, between 23-26 June, while the Superveloce Ago will be auctioned on 24 June.
