Hi,

Can anybody remember what year Joey Dunlop rode a Benneli in either the F1 or F2 race ?

Joey rode the famous Agrati Sales Ltd. Benelli 750 Sei six cylinder machine during the Isle of Man TT Formula 1 in 1978.

The machine was prepared by Agrati Sales Ltd., the English Benelli importer, who also was Joey’s entrant. Unfortunately Yer Maun was forced to retire in the second lap due to mechanical problems.

The Benelli 750 Sei (= Italian for “ six “) was the first ever six cylinder production motorcycle. The six cylinders each had a bore and stroke of 50 x 50.6mm, delivering a capacity of 747.7cc. The single overhead camshaft engine delivered a power output of 71 bhp at 8,500 r.p.m. The first prototype was shown as early as 1972.




Apologies to the original source of this information, however I found this in my historical database on the TT

Didn't Keith Martin ride one as well ? or was it a year later ???

Pat's kindly helping me research this for benzina and classic racer magazines - malcom's photo is in benzina #2 courtesy of AHerl Inc who suppy Edisport and many others. It's unfortunately mis-labelled and I now realise it's 1979: thanks to Bill Snelling for the corection. Keith Martin's also given me a ton of help - he took a Sei to 18th (4th four-stroke home!) in the 1975 Classic

If anyone knows more - especailly why Joey was on a Benelli rather than a Honda (as per 78) - please let me know: you can email via the http://www.teambenzina.co.uk site