MV Agusta had started participating in road racing with motorcycles in the late 1940s and initially concentrated on the 125 and 500 cc classes.

The machine was subsequently bored to 175 cc because that class was still very popular in Italy and almost all major brands built production racers for it.

[1] The machine was successful that year's championship: Carlo Ubbiali won five of the six GPs (in the Ulster Grand Prix he set the fastest lap but subsequently retired).

Moto Guzzi (third with Enrico Lorenzetti) had already stopped developing the 250 Bialbero in 1955,[7] NSU (fifth with Horst Kassner) had withdrawn its factory team at the end of 1955 after the deaths of Rupert Hollaus and Gustav Baumm,[8] and Kassner rode with an NSU Sportmax production racer.

First, Mondial appeared with the 250 Bialbero and two top drivers: Cecil Sandford, who was the 1952 125 cc Champion,[9] and brought experience to the team, and Tarquinio Provini, who was only 23 years old but very talented.

The season started well for MV Agusta: Carlo Ubbiali won the first Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring and his teammate Roberto Colombo came in second.

All major Italian brands (Mondial, Moto Guzzi, Gilera and MV Agusta) decided to withdraw en bloc from the World Championships.

Mondial was able to make some money with transport tricycles and for Agusta, motorcycle production was still more a hobby than a profession.

[4] The machine was still used in 1959 by privateers, but the factory riders had the new MV Agusta 250 Bicilindrica, on which John Hartle had already won in Belgium in 1957.