Piero Remor
Piero Remor was an Italian engineer and motorcycle constructor, best known for his work for the Gilera and MV Agusta brands.
MAS boot
Piero Remor studied at the Sapienza University of Rome, with, among others professor Ugo Bordoni. After graduating, he worked with Bordoni in 1919 on the development of the Motoscafo Armato Silurante, a MAS-boot.GRB-OPRA
In 1923, together with Carlo Gianini, Remor built a transverse inline four-cylinder engine for a motorcycle. This project caught the attention of Count Luigi Bonmartini who owned the Officine di Precisione Romane Automobilistiche company in Rome. Bonmartini decided to provide financial support by establishing a new company together with Remor and Gianini. This company was initially named "GRB". To earn money, however, work also had to be carried out for the aviation industry and it took five years for a prototype of a motorcycle to be built. This was an air cooled four-cylinder with probably a water-cooled cylinder head that was built in a very simple frame. In 1929 the prototype was now called "OPRA" and Piero Taruffi. made a name for himself with Nortons as a motorcycle racer, was hired as a test driver. However, when the OPRA entered its first race, the Grand Prix of Rome, it was driven by a then more famous driver, Umberto Faraglia. The OPRA led the race for a short time, but the engine blew up. Taruffi, disappointed because he had been passed for the ride, won th race with his Norton. Piero Remor left the OPRA company in 1930 after a dispute with Count Bonmartini.Development of the racing engine
Meanwhile, Piero Taruffi and Carlo Gianini continued to develop the motorcycle, which in the meantime was called "CNA Rondine", after another company from Bonmartini, Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica, and the Rondine aeroplane that flew over the 1922 March on Rome. The developments there were again particularly slow, but it was not until 1934 that the motorcycle came back onto the track under the name "Rondine". The engine, which was completely revised only by Gianini, was now completely water-cooled and a Roots supercharger. Six copies of the Rondine were built. Taruffi and Amilcare Rossetti rode the machines in the prestigious Grand Prix of Tripoli, where they came first and second. Taruffi drove a fully streamlined version to a record 244.6 km/h. In 1934 Bonmartini sold CNA to the aircraft manufacturer Caproni in Milan. That company had no interest in the Rondine and Piero Taruffi feared that his project, in which he had been involved for eight years, would be lost. That is why he approached Giuseppe Gilera, who was convinced of the advertising aspect of road races for his Gilera brand. Gilera bought the six machines, drawings, rights, spare parts and hired Taruffi as rider, team leader and chief engineer. However, Gilera also saw the weaknesses of the machine and the need to have it developed further before it was used in races.Officine Meccaniche
After leaving OPRA, Remor joined the Officine Meccaniche car factory in Brescia. There he designed the 1500cc four-cylinder engine for the "Typo M". When Fiat took over the OM brand in 1938 and ceased car production in favour of the production of trucks, Piero Remor started looking for other work.Gilera
In 1939 Taruffi persuaded Remor to join Gilera to further develop the 500cc Rondine, but Piero Remor began developing a 250cc four-cylinder machine with a supercharger and the rear suspension of the Rondine. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, all developments for racing came to a halt. In 1946, the FIM prohibited the use of superchargers, forcing Gilera to use the single-cylinder Saturno Competizione as the factory racer. It was no match for machines such as the Moto Guzzi Bicilindrica 500, the Moto Guzzi Gambalunga, the Norton Manx and the AJS Porcupine. In that year, Gilera commissioned Piero Remor to develop a new racer. Piero Taruffi had left the company to focus on his career as a racing driver. Remor did not start from the 500 cc Rondine, but enlarged his own 1940 250 cc prototype to 500 cc. In 1947, the Gilera 500 4C began to take shape and in 1948 the first tests were carried out by Carlo Bandirola and Massimo Masserini on the Milan-Bergamo motorway. There were major problems with lubrication and a lot of time was needed to resolve them. In 1948, Nello Pagani rode the machine in its first race in Cesena, but retired due to poor handling. Remor was not happy with that, but the fact is that the machine couldn't break points that year. Even winning the Italian championship was not achievable. Masserini led the Assen TT, but fell in the heavy rain. Only the last race of the year, the Grand Prix of Italy, was won by Masserini, mainly because Norton and AJS did not enter. Although it was clear to everyone that the steering behaviour was below par, Remor refused to improve the machine. The fight with Pagani was intense that Remor forbade him to ride on the four-cylinder machine forcing him to use the Saturno. In the 1949 World Championship it became clear that the handling of the Gilera was not good. The first world title went to Les Graham with the AJS Porcupine, a machine that weighed around 140 kg and delivered only 45 bhp, while the Gilera weighed 124 kg and had over 50 hp. After two races, Giuseppe Gilera intervened and Pagani got the four-cylinder for the Assen TT, with which he easily won. With a win at the Grand Prix of Italy, Gilera had only won two races in the first world championship year with a motorcycle that was the best on paper.At the end of the 1949 season Piero Remor had to leave Gilera because most riders were unable to work with him. The initial difficulties in resolving lubrication problems and his refusal to correct bad steering behaviour or even to acknowledge that it existed were no longer acceptable.
Relationships with riders
Piero Remor always had a difficult relationship with his riders, because they blamed each other when results were disappointing:- Nello Pagani complained about the steering qualities of the Gilera 500 4C. In 1948 he even retired from a race because of the bad handling. Remor refused to improve the machine and forbade Pagani to ride the four-cylinder machine. In 1949, Giuseppe Gilera intervened personally: he gave Pagani the four-cylinder and fired Remor.
- Arciso Artesiani, according to the Italian press, was blamed by his employer Gilera for not having won the constructor's title in 1949. According to Artesiani this was the fault of Piero Remor, who during the Ulster Grand Prix only had part of the engine oil changed to save time, which caused the engine to seize.