In the end of 1949, Count Domenico Agusta invited two key professionals from Gilera — Piero Remor, who designed Gilera's four-cylinder 500cc racing motorcycle, and Arturo Magni, who was the chief mechanic of the Gilera's racing team. So they repeated a 500 cc four-cylinder engine and designed a racing model with 125 cc DOHC single-cylinder engine. The MV's first 500 — a Gilera clone — made its race debut at Spa-Francorchamps in July 1950, just six months after Remor had put pen to paper in MV's Cascina Costa race shop. After a short twenty-minute run on the factory test bench, ex-Gilera rider Arcisco Artesiani managed a creditable fifth on the untested and ungainly MV 500. His race average speed of 160.66 km/h was impressive, but the remainder of the season proved difficult and the MV failed to live up to expectations. Artesiani's third place at Monza in the Nations Grand Prix was the highlight of the 1950 season, and Artesiani finished eighth overall in the World Championship.