Original Gilera 500/4 racer
With Phil Aynsley
This is one of the very few remaining original Gilera 500/4s, rather than a modern replica. Only fifteen were constructed during the decade plus they competed for.
![An original Gilera 500/4 racer](https://www.mcnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PA-Gilera-500-4-Racer-021-1024x631.jpg)
Its original motor is “on the shelf” and another period motor (with providence) is now installed. It was a factory bike, raced in 1957, then retired when Gilera (together with Mondial and Moto Guzzi) quit GP racing at the end of that year.
![The Gilera 500/4 with it's clothes off](https://www.mcnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PA-Gilera-500-4-Racer-009-1024x707.jpg)
In 1963 however Gilera returned to competition (using the very same ’57 machines) with the “private” Scuderia Duke team. The factory continued to race the bikes, with a number of podium placings, right up until the end of the 1966 – not bad for a design that traced its beginnings to the pre-war water-cooled supercharged Rondine (1939 Gilera 500 Rondine – Link).
![When Gilera returned to racing they did so with the 1957 Gilera 500/4](https://www.mcnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PA-Gilera-500-4-Racer-022-1024x674.jpg)
The air-cooled, post-war version first appeared in 1948 and was designed by Ing. Remor (who moved to MV Agusta at the end of 1949 and designed a very similar motor for them), Gilera went on to win the Rider’s Championship in 1950 (Masetti), ’52 (Masetti), ’53 (Duke), ’54 (Duke), ’55 (Duke) and ’57 (Liberati).
![An above view of the powerplant](https://www.mcnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PA-Gilera-500-4-Racer-020-734x1024.jpg)
Output was over 70 hp at 10,500 rpm and the bike had a top speed of about 260 km/h.