Guzzis and BMWs have long had a reputation here in Europe, as the motorcycles you can redline to death and still deliver.
When the Guzzi V7Special came out in 1972, amidst all the Honda, Kawasaki MachIII and SuzukiGT bruhaha, Guzzi took one of its bikes off the production line (chosen at random by a group of journalists) rode it to Monza, and rode it 12 hours straight, setting a new record of 2154.636 km (1338,28 miles) ridden in 12 hours, at an average speed of 179,553 Km/h (111.52 mph) including pilot swap, fuelups and oil changes.
A few weeks later, another V7 Sport (the one with the half ton drum brake and clipons) took on Ducati 750 GT, Honda CB 750 Four, Kawasaki 750 Mach IV, Laverda 750 SF, Suzuki GT 750 at the same track, with the intent of comparing the overall performance of the participants. (Unfortunately, MV Agusta, Triumph, Norton and BMW gracefully declined, and Harley Davidson never even replied).
After a screaming start, with Kawasaki MachIV, SuzukiGT and Honda CB away in that order, the thundering twins followed.
Many would have imagined a "no contest, Japs win hands down", however...
...by the time the first bikes came round the "parabolica" hairpin just before the Start/Finish line, it was Guzzi V7 Sport who was leading, thanks to a 72bhp engine and brakes and chassis which allowed to lean into corners like no japanese could even dare.
The big Guzzi lapped Monza in 2′ 02″47, over 7 seconds faster than the Kawasaki 750 Mach IV which, in those days, was considered the state of the art of crotch rocketry.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto_Guzzi_V7_Sport(You can translate online with MS Bing Translator or whatever you prefer)
Guzzi won hands down. Unfortunately for Guzzi, such incredible engineering was let down by very poor marketing, and the rest is history.
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