Ride in Peace, Ivano Beggio

Ride in Peace, Ivano Beggio 1

“He placed passion at the service of his skills, he was like a father in racing to me”, says Max Biaggi. Piaggio Group and Aprilia sent a press release to remember  Ivano Beggio’s story and the key role he played in Aprilia. 

Ivano Beggio, born in 1944, began his passion for two wheels in his father's Aprilia handmade bicycle factory, innovating and diversifying production, with the introduction of motorcycles and scooters.

In 1975, he established a small team for the production of racing motorcycles which, thanks to technical-productive innovation, soon made a name for itself, so much that it won the Italian motocross championship in the 125 and 250 cc classes in 1977.

From 1980, Aprilia began to mass produce small engine motorcycles (50 and 125 cc), then launching highly successful, aesthetically and technologically innovative models on the market for urban mobility: in 1991, the Scarabeo, the first high-wheel scooter on the European market; in 1992, the first two-stroke scooter and motorcycle with a catalytic muffler; in 1993, the first scooter with a registration plate; in 1998 it entered the large engine capacity motorcycle sector with the RSV Mille.

In World Championship GP Motorcycle Racing, where it made its début in 1985 in the 250 class, Aprilia took world class champions to success the likes of Max Biaggi, Marco Simoncelli, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Alvaro Bautista, Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, Manuel Poggiali and Alessandro Gramigni.

With 294 Grand Prix races won in World Championship GP Motorcycle Racing from 1987 to the present, Aprilia holds the record for the most wins of any European manufacturer in the history of maximum motorcycle competition. These race wins are joined by no less than 54 world titles: 38 in the World Motorcycle Championship (20 in the 125 class and 18 in the 250 class), 7 in Superbike (double Rider/Manufacturer title in 2010, 2012 and 2014, Manufacturer in 2013) and 9 in the Off Road disciplines (7 in Supermoto and 2 in Trial). The Aprilia trophy case also includes the 2005 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, won with the RSV4 RF ridden by Lorenzo Savadori, currently riding an Aprilia in World Superbike alongside Eugene Laverty.

Roberto Colaninno (Piaggio Group Chairman and CEO): “Beggio was a great entrepreneur, a visionary, capable of making a dream come true”

Romano Albesiano (Aprilia Racing Sport Director): “Starting from nothing, he made Aprilia a world class manufacturer”

 

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