Source: Cycle World
John Wittner, aka Dr. John, with his Moto Guzzi Le Mans. (Paul Eric Smith/Cycle World Archives/)In one of the first conversations I ever had with John Wittner, he told me about himself and his former aeronautical engineer dad, using a window fan and yarn tufts to learn something about how cooling air flowed around the projecting cylinders of his Battle of the Twins Moto Guzzi Le Mans. Small adjustments produced a useful improvement in cooling.John was studious and meticulous. One evening at a Midwestern AMA event in 1988 I saw him still at work, measuring valve clearances on the new four-valve heads he’d designed, and which Guzzi in Mandello had produced.“That’s good,” he said to the air. I asked what he’d found.“I want to be sure the clearances aren’t moving,” he said. “These heads have no history, so if there is seat recession, then the clearance can disappear—maybe enough to hold an exhaust valve open. But it’s good, so I’m happy.”He’d designed a special chassis for Battle of the Twins racing after seasons of Guzzi experience in endurance events. The stiffness of a backbone frame was easy to calculate, and more important, he wanted to eliminate the upsetting throttle jacking of the shaft drive. On the stock chassis, gear case torque was reacted to the swingarm, so when the engine was throttled up, the rear suspension jacked up as the pinion climbed the ring gear. To correct this he pivoted the gear case on the rear axle and reacted the torque through a strut to the chassis. By varying the height of the strut’s attachment to the chassis, any desired rear end behavior between jacking and squat could be chosen.He and rider Doug Brauneck won the class in 1987.Why did people call him “Dr. John”? He had been a dentist until his decision to become a “man in a van with a plan” and race nationally. The “Battle” class was created to continue the fan-pleasing thunderous sound of twins after Japanese four-cylinder Superbikes had eventually driven BMWs, Guzzis, and Ducatis (which had won so many early races) out of the class.Wittner’s solid achievement of putting Guzzi in the public eye brought a relationship with Alejandro De Tomaso, then owner of Guzzi. Eventually John was invited to Italy as a Guzzi engineer, becoming part of the tradition. He became friends with Guzzi’s great “encyclopedia” Umberto Todero, who was made racing director in 1951, and worked under Guzzi V-8 designer Giulio Cesare Carcano. Guzzi’s ultralight 350 horizontal singles were about to win five consecutive championships 1953 to 1957.John described telling Todero of a “bad day” at one of the US races, when nothing worked right. Todero replied gravely, “I will tell you what is a bad day at the races: It was when we once returned from Ireland with two destroyed motorcycles and two coffins in the truck.”I admired John WIttner’s intense focus on racing problems, and his technique of conceiving and testing one idea after another until a solution was found. He changed the direction of his life to live by the force of his ideas.
Full Text:
John Wittner, aka Dr. John, with his Moto Guzzi Le Mans. (Paul Eric Smith/Cycle World Archives/)
In one of the first conversations I ever had with John Wittner, he told me about himself and his former aeronautical engineer dad, using a window fan and yarn tufts to learn something about how cooling air flowed around the projecting cylinders of his Battle of the Twins Moto Guzzi Le Mans. Small adjustments produced a useful improvement in cooling.
John was studious and meticulous. One evening at a Midwestern AMA event in 1988 I saw him still at work, measuring valve clearances on the new four-valve heads he’d designed, and which Guzzi in Mandello had produced.
“That’s good,” he said to the air. I asked what he’d found.
“I want to be sure the clearances aren’t moving,” he said. “These heads have no history, so if there is seat recession, then the clearance can disappear—maybe enough to hold an exhaust valve open. But it’s good, so I’m happy.”
He’d designed a special chassis for Battle of the Twins racing after seasons of Guzzi experience in endurance events. The stiffness of a backbone frame was easy to calculate, and more important, he wanted to eliminate the upsetting throttle jacking of the shaft drive. On the stock chassis, gear case torque was reacted to the swingarm, so when the engine was throttled up, the rear suspension jacked up as the pinion climbed the ring gear. To correct this he pivoted the gear case on the rear axle and reacted the torque through a strut to the chassis. By varying the height of the strut’s attachment to the chassis, any desired rear end behavior between jacking and squat could be chosen.
He and rider Doug Brauneck won the class in 1987.
Why did people call him “Dr. John”? He had been a dentist until his decision to become a “man in a van with a plan” and race nationally. The “Battle” class was created to continue the fan-pleasing thunderous sound of twins after Japanese four-cylinder Superbikes had eventually driven BMWs, Guzzis, and Ducatis (which had won so many early races) out of the class.
Wittner’s solid achievement of putting Guzzi in the public eye brought a relationship with Alejandro De Tomaso, then owner of Guzzi. Eventually John was invited to Italy as a Guzzi engineer, becoming part of the tradition. He became friends with Guzzi’s great “encyclopedia” Umberto Todero, who was made racing director in 1951, and worked under Guzzi V-8 designer Giulio Cesare Carcano. Guzzi’s ultralight 350 horizontal singles were about to win five consecutive championships 1953 to 1957.
John described telling Todero of a “bad day” at one of the US races, when nothing worked right. Todero replied gravely, “I will tell you what is a bad day at the races: It was when we once returned from Ireland with two destroyed motorcycles and two coffins in the truck.”
I admired John WIttner’s intense focus on racing problems, and his technique of conceiving and testing one idea after another until a solution was found. He changed the direction of his life to live by the force of his ideas.
