Terra Whatta?

TERRA WHATTA?

What to do with your retirement bonus? If you’re Dario Calzavara, former Ferrari and Pirelli executive, you invest it in a long-held personal dream: the creation of a new brand of motorcycle. Some bonus!

Calzavara founded Terra Modena last year. The name means “Modena Land” or in this case, “country,” and was chosen for its association with Ferrari (Maranello is 15 miles from Modena), Maserati and the many other motoring traditions for which that part of northern Italy is famous.

First objective is a supermoto racer. Aimed directly at KTM’s ultra-compact Thumpers, the all-new powerplant-an electric-start, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, four-valve 450cc Single with gear-driven camshafts, a slipper clutch and cassette-type six-speed gearbox-was designed by Piero Ferrari, who in addition to his association with Ferrari, helped with the Ducati Desmosedici. In fact, the engine smacks of Formula One, from its wildly oversquare 98.0 x 59.6mm bore and stroke to its sky-high 13.0:1 compression ratio. Further adding to the exotic quotient, sand-cast cases are complemented by magnesium covers wherever possible.

Calzavara is confident his creation will be competitive, even against Aprilia’s new V-Twin. We’ll soon see: Look for the first batch of bikes to be campaigned by Michele Lavetti and Alexandre Thiebault in the 2004 Supermoto World Championship. Can a street-legal model be far behind? -Bruno de Prato