Aermacchi was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. Formerly known as Aeronautica Macchi, the company was founded in 1912 by Giulio Macchi at Varese in north-western Lombardy as Nieuport-Macchi, to build Nieuport monoplanes under licence for the Italian military. With a factory located on the shores of Lake Varese, the firm originally manufactured a series of Nieuport designs, as well as seaplanes.
Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motorsport circuits. Karting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher ranks of motorsports, with most Formula One drivers—including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, and Max Verstappen—having begun their careers in karting.
Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. In more recent times Aprilia has produced large sportbikes such as the 1,000 cc V-twin RSV Mille and the V4 RSV4.
Motorenwerke Zschopau GmbH is a German motorcycle manufacturer located in Zschopau, Saxony. The acronym MZ since 1956 stands for Motorenwerke Zschopau GmbH. From 1992 to 1999 the company was called MuZ, an acronym for Motorrad und Zweiradwerk.
KTM is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and motorsports brand which is co-owned by Indian manufacturer Bajaj Auto and Austrian manufacturer Pierer Mobility AG. It traces its foundation in 1934 as Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen. Today, Pierer Mobility AG operates as the manufacturer of KTM branded motorcycles; whereas KTM Fahrrad AG operates as the manufacturer of KTM branded bicycles.
Benelli Q.J. is an Italian company, based in the city of Pesaro in the Marche region, that produces motorcycles and scooters.
Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese mobility manufacturer that produces motorcycles, motorboats, outboard motors, and other motorized products. The company was established in the year 1955 upon separation from Nippon Gakki Co., Ltd. and is headquartered in Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan. The company conducts development, production and marketing operations through 109 consolidated subsidiaries as of 2012.
Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Superkart is a form of motorsport road racing that uses karts on long circuits. The bigger difference between a superkart and most other forms of kart is that they have full aerodynamic bodykits, as well as having a longer wheel base than sprint chassis, and are generally raced on car circuits over 1,500 metres in length. The power unit, most often but not exclusively two-stroke 250 cc engines, can be specially designed kart engines or production motorcycle engines with either five- or six-speed sequential manual gearboxes. Owing to their high top speed and superb cornering ability, a superkart's aerodynamic bodywork includes a front fairing, larger sidepods, and a rear wing. They use either 130-or-150-millimetre-diameter tires and wheels and most often race on full size auto-racing circuits.
Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced oval race tracks often used for thoroughbred horse racing. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s using both automobiles and motorcycles. Two different types of race cars dominate — open wheel racers in the Northeast and West and stock cars in the Midwest and South. While open wheel race cars are purpose-built racing vehicles, stock cars can be either purpose-built race cars or street vehicles that have been modified to varying degrees. There are hundreds of local and regional racetracks throughout the nation. The sport is also popular in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
The World Karting Association, or WKA, is the largest sanctioning body for kart racing in North America. The WKA was founded in 1971 and is located directly behind Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The WKA is believed to currently have approximately 5,000 members. Over 50,000 people have been WKA members since the organization's inception in 1971.
The motorcycle sport of racing includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and land speed record trials.
Husqvarna Motorcycles GmbH is an Austrian company which designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes motocross, enduro, supermoto and street motorcycles.
The British Superkart Championships are a clustered motor racing series run in the United Kingdom under the auspices of the British Superkart Association under Motor Sports Association regulations. The karts race on full-size British circuits such as Silverstone, Donington, Brands Hatch, Pembrey, Anglesey Circuit, Bishopscourt, Castle Combe, Darley Moor, Snetterton, Croft, Cadwell Park, Thruxton and Oulton Park with the running of the MSA British Superkart Grand Prix at Donington Park which includes the British round of the European Superkart Championship.
Meguro motorcycles were built by Meguro Manufacturing Co motorcycle works (目黒製作所), founded by Nobuji Murata and a high-ranking naval officer, Takaji Suzuki, in 1937. One of the first Japanese motorcycle companies, it became a partner of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, and was eventually absorbed. Named after a district of Tokyo, Meguro had its roots in Murato Iron Works, which was established in 1924. Meguro Seisakusho, which had once developed a copy of a Harley-Davidson V-twin, was established to design and build gearboxes for the nascent Japanese motorcycle industry. Abe Industries, which had once produced its own motorcycle, merged with Meguro in 1931. The brand is being revived by Kawasaki with a new K3 model to be introduced in Japan on February 1, 2021.
The MV Agusta 250 Monocilindrica Bialbero was a 250 cc factory racer manufactured by the Italian brand MV Agusta from 1956 to 1959. With this machine 15 GPs, 2 Driver Championships and 2 manufacturers World Championships were won.
The MV Agusta 250 Bicilindrica was a 250 cc factory racing motorcycle manufactured by the Italian brand MV Agusta from 1957 to 1961. With this machine 11 GPs, 2 Driver Championships and 2 manufacturers World Championships were won.
The MV Agusta 203 Bialbero and MV Agusta 220 Bialbero were Italian factory racing motorcycles made by MV Agusta to compete in the 1955 250 cc World Motorcycle Racing Championship. The machine won three GPs and with it MV Agusta won that year's 250 cc Constructors Championship.
The Rotax Type 256 is a 250 cc (15 cu in) two-stroke parallel twin-cylinder racing engine, designed, developed and produced by Rotax, between 1980 and 1998. It was primary used in kart applications, as well as motorcycle racing applications, such as competing in the 250cc class of the Grand Prix motorcycle World Championship.
