Maurice Ogier poses with the unique Ogier-Laverda in front of the Daytona bankings, after Alan Cathcart had scored a flag-to-flag victory on it in the Lightweight BoTT race in Cycle Week 1984.

The smallest capacity bike ever to win a Daytona BoTT race, the little Laverda was able to punch well above it's weight, thanks to Ogier's careful development of the 500cc DOHC, 8 valve 180-degree Montjuic engine.

So successful was it, that the AMA insisted on him stripping it after the Daytona victory, because they couldn't believe a bike with a street based engine that small could go so fast - no less than 148mph through the Daytona traps from just 579cc!!
Ogier had bored the engine to 77.8 x 61mm using special Mahle pistons, in which form it delivered 74bhp at the rear wheel, at 9800rpm, running on twin 38mm Dell'Ortos. Modified valve timing using stock Montjuic cam profiles narrowed the power some, making the standard 6-speed gearbox an advantage. The low dry weight of 290lb (132kg) was obtained with the stock Montjuic roadster chassis, but with the fuel tank moved under the seat and fuel supplied by an exhaust driven vacuum pump. This speeded up the handling in slow turns without sacrificing stability on the banking - enabling Cathcart to become the first British rider ever to win a Cycle Week race of any kind, as well as register the first overseas victory in a Daytona BoTT race!