MOTO MORINI CORSARO 1200
Corsaro @ MRC Cadwell 2011
SPEC

1187cc (107 x 66mm), 87-degree water-cooled V-Twin, 4 Valves/cyl, 11.9:1 compression ratio, EFI
Steel trellis frame, 6 gears
140 bhp @ 8,500 rpm , 90 ft-lb @ 6,750 rpm
198 kg (OTR, without fuel)
Power/Weight Ratio : 707 bhp/ton

OVERVIEW


Production of the air-cooled Morini ended in the early 1990s, with off-road and custom machines such as the Excalibur and New York being the last produced — and these from the Ducati factory, another part of the Cagiva empire at that time. Over time Cagiva rationalised its motorcycle assets, and both Ducati and the Morini brand name were sold — the latter to Morini Franco Motori, a firm owned by another member of the Morini family.

In 2004, after various press announcements, the reborn bikes were shown for the first time at the Bologna Show, held in November. The first machine to be produced was the Corsaro, an aggressively styled 1200cc machine with an all-new water cooled V-twin engine designed by Lambertini. Also displayed was a prototype of the 9½ , which originally anticipated using a 900cc engine and took many of its styling features from the earlier 3½ .

The engine, actually 1187cc, displayed many similarities with Lambertini's earlier creations, and could be seen as a direct development of them, with many innovative features and a massively over square bore (107mm) which led to the name ''Corsa Corta'' (short stroke) being given to acknowledge the inspiration of earlier machines such as the 250cc Bialbero and its competition success.

Other designs followed, including a take on the adventure bike style (the Granpasso), the Sport and Scrambler, all using the same basic frame and engine but with subtle differences in style, tune, gearing, suspension and engine internals.

PICTURES
MRC Moto Morini Corsaro 1200


VIDEO

2008 Corsaro Avio @ www.classicsuperbikes.co.uk

Corsaro Avio (Thomas Garcin), Rallye du Beaujolais 2009 (St Bonnet)

Corsaro Avio (Thomas Garcin), Dark Dog Tour 2008 (Haybes)

Corsaro Avio (Thomas Garcin), Dark Dog Tour 2008 (Orival)

BROCHURES

Moto Morini Official Website

IN THE PRESS

Real Classic (David Marlow & Chris Webber)


Performance Bikes magazine featured a Corsaro Veloce in a group test in September 2009. The opening declaration of "Don't let the name put you off" gave little confidence in the discernment of the journalists and their readership. Nevertheless, they were obviously very excited by the unbaffled Termignoni exhausts and in their eloquent and mature style summarised it as a "thunderous wheelie machine."

For some reason the then-importers had supplied the Corsaro with an unprogressive ECU fuelling map so the bike wasn't being tested in its best possible state but even so the "punchy" torque and hard-revving ability of the engine were praised.

The exotic Marzocchi front forks and Ohlins rear shock could have benefitted from better setting up but despite this they considered the bike to be responsive and "fast steering" with "excellent" Brembo brakes.

The Corsaro produced a very impressive 137 bhp and 88 lb-ft of torque on their dyno. A dip in the power and torque curves at around 9,000 rpm suggest that the figures and more importantly the feel and rideability of the engine could be improved by better fuel mapping.

Performance-wise, the Corsaro topped out at 154 mph, which should be more than enough for most people on an unfaired bike on their private driveways, and proved faster in the acceleration tests than the contemporary Aprilia Tuono and KTM Super Duke. Fortunately for local wildlife, the Morini (with the open Termignonis) was "too loud" to be tested with the other motorcycles around the Snetterton circuit.


CORSARO RACING
Corsaro R pg.1 Corsaro R pg.2

Corsaro R pg.3 Corsaro R pg.4

Corsaro R pg.5 Corsaro R pg.6

Corsaro R pg.7 Corsaro R pg.8

Corsaro R - view as PDF



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