The Oxley interview
MotoGP team boss turned rider manager Carlo Pernat is the last survivor of GP racing’s party era. And man, has the straight-talking Italian got a few stories to tell…
Catching a glimpse of Carlo Pernat in the MotoGP paddock is like spotting Keith Richards at a Harry Styles gig. Right away it’s obvious: here is someone swimming in a different time, where people play the game of racing by different rules. Yes, some of his life views are somewhat antediluvian, but his stories are too good to go untold.
Pernat is rarely seen in daylight hours without blackout shades and often looks like he’s been up all night. Probably because he has been. He is the last survivor of MotoGP’s rock ’n’ roll era, when the paddock partied as hard as it raced.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the 75-year-old Italian has been quite a naughty boy in his 43 years in motorcycle racing. Some readers may be shocked by some of his revelations, but this is the big, bad world of motorcycle racing, kiddo, not the Badminton Horse Trials – so get used to it.
You get a basic understanding of how Pernat looks after business if we start with the story of his first world championship success. It’s 1985 and he’s managing Cagiva’s motocross team, which is fighting Honda for the 125cc world championship. The title duel goes to the final round in Argentina. Both teams know the local fuel will be little better than paraffin, so they air-freight their own to Buenos Aires.
Pernat flies in early. His first stop is airport customs, where he bribes the customs officers to lose Honda’s fuel. When both teams arrive at the racetrack, in the middle of nowhere, Honda is in a panic. The FIM calls a meeting between the two teams and asks Pernat to sell some of his high-octane gas to Honda, to ensure a fair title fight.
‘Sure,’ says Pernat. ‘The price will be US$200 a litre.’ Honda angrily refuse the offer. Sure enough, David Strijbos’ CR125 engine breaks during the race and Pekka Vehkonen wins Cagiva’s first world title.
The Ato, erm, V of Italian racing
Pernat has worked in racing for just about everyone Italian during his career: firstly with Gilera, Cagiva, Ducati and Aprilia, then as personal manager to Loris Capirossi, Marco Simoncelli, Andrea Iannone and currently factory Ducati MotoGP rider Enea Bastianini and Moto2 star Tony Arbolino.
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