Laverda Motorcycles Laverda Sport S 1954
Francesco Laverda founded Moto Laverda in 1949 and produced five motorcycles that year.
The first production model, the 75cc four-stroke Turismo with girder forks, was launched in 1950. That same year, Francesco entered a race-prepared one in the 1,410km (876 mile) Milano to Taranto road race, regarded by Italian motorcycle manufacturers as essential for promoting their products. In 1951, Laverdas took 4th, 5th, 6th and 10th in the 75cc class and swept the class in 1952 with Nino Castellani winning and a total of 16 Laverdas in the top twenty places. Successes continued with Eugenio Fontanilli heading Laverdas to the first 14 places in 1953 and because if their exceptional reliability, one won the around Italy Motogiro d’Italia event for motorcycles of up to 175cc.
With such success in competition, Laverda sales increased rapidly to reach 9,000 in 1954 by which time the company had developed a 98cc model for the two celebrated road events with Giovanni Larquier winning the 100cc class in the Milano to Taranto race. The 100cc model also took the first six places in the Motogiro while the 75cc models continued to swamp their class in both events.