Polini Racing is one of the names in the pocket-bike range of Polini Motori, the Italian company from Alzano Lombardo that has been at the racing end of moped and scooter tuning since the 1940s.
Polini Racing at a glance
| Maker | Polini Motori, Alzano Lombardo (BG), Italy |
|---|---|
| Class | minimoto (pocket bike) |
| Company product lines | cylinders, variators, exhausts, replacement parts |
| Tuning series | Evolution and Big Evolution |
| Big Evolution | larger bore than the Evolution kits |
| Racing use | circuit competition, not the public road |
| Trophy | Polini Italian Cup, a single-make series |
| World championship link | sponsor and supplier of exhaust systems |
| Typical minimoto size | about 1 m by 60 cm, just over 20 kg (class figure) |
| Model specifications | not published |
No published data for a Polini Racing model was found; the article describes the racing activity and products of the company documented by the Italian and English Wikipedia articles.
History of the Polini Racing
Polini Motori started in 1945 in Alzano Lombardo as a bicycle workshop run by Battista Polini, who had returned from the Second World War. Its first logo was a ram, the coat of arms of his battalion. When the first Vespa and Lambretta scooters appeared in the late 1940s, the company began producing parts for them, and it has remained a specialist in tuning since then, selling today in 64 countries under the founder’s sons Carlo, Franco and Piero.
Racing has always been the frame of reference for that business. Polini’s best-known product line is the Evolution series of cylinder kits, meant to reach very high performance on the track, followed by Big Evolution with a larger bore than the standard Evolution. Such modifications are intended for circuit competition, although Polini parts are often used on the road as well; the company also sells replacement parts for standard engines and road-legal exhausts and silencers.
The company backs the sport directly, sponsoring the single-make Polini Italian Cup trophy and acting as sponsor and exhaust supplier to teams racing in the motorcycle world championship. Its pocket bikes, built since the 1990s, belong to the minimoto class: small machines of about one metre by sixty centimetres and just over twenty kilos, run on circuits and private ground rather than on the public road, with two-stroke engines of 39 or 50 cc and liquid cooling for competition.
Design and features
- Racing focus: the name sits within a company built around competition tuning.
- Evolution series: Polini’s best-known cylinder kits, followed by Big Evolution.
- Circuit intent: high-performance kits are designed for track use.
- Sport involvement: the Polini Italian Cup and world championship exhaust supply.
Polini Racing versions
- Evolution: the standard racing cylinder series.
- Big Evolution: larger bore than the Evolution kits.
- Polini Italian Cup machines: the single-make trophy run by the company.
- Road parts: homologated exhausts and silencers sold alongside the racing lines.
Other Polini pocket bikes are the Polini 910, the Polini X and the road-legal Polini XP. More in the Polini collection.
Sources
- Polini, Italian Wikipedia: Evolution and Big Evolution, Polini Italian Cup, world championship supply
- Polini, English Wikipedia: company history, products, competitors
- Minimoto, Italian Wikipedia: class dimensions, engines, cooling
