I've done a fair bit of research on the Formula Jotas.. according to Slaters, they built 13 (possibly 14) Mirage Formulas in 1979/80. The reasson for which was that the std model wasnt seeling at all well, and it was a way of drumming up interest and hopefully sellinga few more Laverdas. They were very expensive at the time, particularly if you chose to have the tuned engine option. When the RGS was announced, once again Slaters were left with old stocks of 120 Jotas which by then (82) were becoming outdated compared to the Jap opposition. They managed to sell another 6 bikes the 120 Fomulas, and that was that. The bodywork was build by Harris, as was the 3 -1 exhaust (using 3 downpipes from a Z1). Many years later I had a couple tanks made by John Williams (The Tank Shop) and he mentioned he worked for Harris and remembered making the bodywork for Slaters.. they were a big one piece affair, with an alloy fuel tank molded inside. My bike was built a year later for a Spanish bloke from an ex demo bike.. thats a story in itself, but its all history now.
The only thing I can come up with is that at this time the factory were in crisis and used any parts at hand. The Giugiaro graphics were used on the 85 bikes and the cagiva graphics on the 86. This has the Giagiaro on the front of the fairing too, with cagiva on the same piece of fairing on the side. Its all original fairing, so i'm pretty sure it hasnt been down the road. They were full of little quirks like this at that time, and personally i like it, cos it makes it that little bit more unique. Sorry i cant give you a more scientific answer lol
Loving the Laverda, i had a 500 twin years ago. very apt that it is in the greenery, where a lot of them ended up if the corner suddenly tightened!
Hi all, new to the site, so thought i would post pic of two of my duke's (the third is not quite a classic yet?), enjoy....
Just joined - seeing as people like bevels here I thought I would post a couple of pics of my '72 750 Sport that I have just finished restoring.
