I think this may have been covered previously. Then again, did Ferrari have any hand whatsoever in the development of the F4 engine, whether it be "00, 01, or 02?

-- mike (msoucy@deflaw.com), June 07, 2003

Answers

Yes this has been asked befor,and even though some say there wasnot any involvment, and some say that an ex ferrari engineer did some of the engine,here are what i think are relevent facts. I have two books one of which is that big detaild book on MV Agusta with the F4 on the front(the authers name eludes me)and they both state that at the F4s launch the main guy at Cageva who is frends with Mr P.Ferrari thanked Ferraris involvment,interesting. Also dont forget that to celebrate the Ferrari teams sucsess atF1 they amde a couple of speacial F4s painted in the F1 livery,again i find this interesting and wonder why both these facts exists if there were no Ferrari involvment.C

-- C.Richarsd (h.brocklehurst@btonline.co.uk), June 08, 2003.

At the very beginning (in a galaxy far, far away…), Cagiva, at this time owner of Ducati, decided to build its "own" big bike and asked Ferrari to join it , especially to make the engine. It was in 1989-1990 and rumors began to spread of the "(Cagiva-)Ferrari F 750". Apparently some common research have been done, from which resulted the radial disposition of the valves, a Ferrari's specialty. In fact the join t venture stopped quickly and when Cagiva bought the name "MV Agusta" from the Agusta family (who is building helicopters in Italy), the Castiglione brothers (still together at this moment) decided to give their future bike this prestigious name. In fact, except the radial valves , the only remaining from this is the graphism of the F4 logo , the designation itself (F-4 for four cylinders, of course, but with the F of F 40, F 50 in mind !!!) and the yellow colour of the rpm meter. Any other/different info ? You're welcome to write "the real F4" story !!! Dominique, '00 F4 1+1

-- dominique (figurines@histecoll.com), June 11, 2003.

From what I have gathered over the years, Dominiques account seems pretty accurate.

-- Daniel Webb (pril@voicenet.uk.net), June 12, 2003.

Interesting points made.But why would Castiglione thank Ferraris involvment at the F4s launch, i would like to know.C

-- c.richards (h.brocklehurst@btonline.co.uk), June 12, 2003.