cc four-cylinder engine and designed a racing model with 125 cc DOHC single-cylinder engine. The MV's first 500 – a Gilera clone – made its race debut at Spa-Francorchamps in July 1950, just six months after Remor had put pen to paper in MV's Cascina Costa race shop. After a short twenty-minute run on the factory test bench, ex-Gilera rider Arcisco Artesiani managed a creditable fifth on the untested and ungainly MV 500. His race average speed of 160.66 km/h was impressive, but the remainder of the season proved difficult and the MV failed to live up to expectations. Artesiani's third place at Monza in the Nations Grand Prix was the highlight of the 1950 season, and Artesiani finished eighth overall in the World Championship. The MV's first racing success came later with the 125cc DOHC four-stroke engine. The 1950 season and 1951 season were development years. Racing efforts only produced a fifth-place finish at the Dutch TT in 1950. The 1951 results were only slightly better. The 1952 season saw the introduction of telescopic forks, full width alloy brake hubs and a sleek fuel tank on the 125 cc race bike. Britain's Cecil Sandford piloted the new MV 125 to a 1952 Isle of Man TT victory and went on to win MV Agusta's first world championship. And in September that year Leslie Graham made Count Agusta the happiest man alive by winning MV's first 500 cc Grand Prix, on the hallowed asphalt of Monza, beating Gilera's Umberto Masetti by 58 seconds. Giuseppe Commendatore Gilera was so incensed that he lodged a protest, claiming MV's engine was oversize. It wasn't. In 1952, the Agusta factory started building helicopters under licence to American manufacturer Bell. And aviation once again became fundamental to the Count's business. Although MV Agusta continued to sell small numbers of exotic road bikes, from this moment on racing was a hobby for Count Domenico. Helicopters made him a fortune, which he spent on racing. Aviation technology also served him well on the racetrack. His Grand Prix bikes were constructed using the same high-tech casting, forging and machining techniques used in the manufacture of his helicopters. At that time MV product line-up consisted of motorcycles and scooters with two-stroke engines, with a capacity from 98 to 150 cc. But people who lived in mountainous areas always preferred four-stroke engines because of their torque. So Remor was tasked