«Jorge Viegas and the Living Machine – Inside the FIM, where motorcycles become laboratories, archives and works of art»

Von Julieta Schildknecht

At the Racing Motorcycle Museum in Mies, Nyon Kanton Waadt, Switzerland, Jorge Viegas guides me through more than a century of competition, technological experimentation and human ambition. The President of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme does not present the motorcycle merely as a vehicle. 

He reads each machine as a complex organism in which the frame, engine, gearbox, brakes, suspension, tyres, exhaust system and electronic controls must function together as a single system.we move through the museum, motorcycles become evidence of how engineering responds to speed, danger and changing ideas of mobility. As Viegas draws my attention to exposed engines, carbon-fibre frames, tyre profiles and the distinctive sounds of exhaust systems. For him, these machines contain the accumulated intelligence of designers, engineers, mechanics and riders. They also reveal the limits of technology: electric motorcycles still struggle with battery weight and autonomy, while artificial intelligence, however useful, cannot replace human experience, creativity or judgement.

The museum is therefore more than a collection. It is a history of competition, design and regulation—and, through Viegas’s own 1977 motorcycle, the story of a life inseparable from motorcycling.

Reading the motorcycle

Viegas does not look at a motorcycle merely as a vehicle. He reads it as an interconnected mechanical system and, at times, almost as a work of art. He analyses motorcycles through the relationship between performance, engineering and human control: every element must work in concert with the others.

He repeatedly highlights the evolution of individual components. A contemporary motorcycle may still resemble an earlier machine in outline, he explains, but almost everything within that structure has changed. Materials are lighter and stronger; brakes more powerful; suspension systems more sophisticated; tyres tailored to specific conditions; and electronics increasingly regulate behaviour.

For Viegas, the gears, engines and mechanical assemblies on display are not simply technical objects. Their complexity reflects decades of accumulated human intelligence.

> “Mechanics is extremely complex, and it has evolved enormously. It is also beautiful to look at—like the mechanism of a watch. These are components that emerge from the minds of brilliant people.”

This perspective also shapes his view of innovation. It should not be treated as abstraction, but evaluated by what it delivers to the rider: greater control, better braking, improved stability and, above all, safety.

Many technologies now used in everyday motorcycles were first developed in competition. Racing therefore functions as a laboratory in which engineering is tested under extreme conditions before reaching the public.

Art, design and sound

Walking through the museum, Viegas thoroughly explains: The exposed components have a sculptural quality. Carbon fibre introduces a language of lightness and tension, while metal structures form intricate mechanical compositions. Their form is not decorative but the result of aerodynamics, material science and performance demands.

The motorcycle can thus be understood simultaneously as an industrial object, an engineering achievement and a work of art. Its beauty lies in the precision of its interactions: like a watch, each part has a function, but the whole exceeds the sum of its components.

Sound is another essential dimension. Visitors can hear the contrasting acoustic signatures of different engines and disciplines. A single-cylinder engine does not sound like a MotoGP machine, just as Speedway, motocross, trial and circuit racing each produce distinct rhythms.

For Viegas, sound is not incidental. It belongs to the sensory culture of motorcycling alongside vibration, smell and movement. Riders recognise machines through more than sight alone. This helps explain why electric motorcycles, despite their sophistication, often struggle to reproduce the emotional experience of combustion engines.

Tyres, too, illustrate this diversity: rain tyres for circuits, specialised profiles for motocross, trial and Supermoto. Across all components—brakes, suspension, electronics—the same pattern emerges: speed is always accompanied by a search for control and safety.

Motorcycles, riders and races represented in the museum

The museum is devoted exclusively to competition motorcycles, best understood through the disciplines they represent.

In circuit racing, MotoGP and Grand Prix history is marked by machines such as the 1949 AJS Porcupine ridden by Leslie Graham, Mike Hailwood’s 1967 Honda RC166, Valentino Rossi’s 2004 Yamaha YZR-M1 and Marc Márquez’s 2018 Honda RC213V. In Superbike, Jonathan Rea’s 2016 Kawasaki ZX-10R represents production-based racing at its highest level.

The off-road disciplines follow a different engineering logic. Motocross is represented by Stefan Everts’s 2006 Yamaha YZ450F, while enduro and rally-raid include Andrea Verona’s 2024 GASGAS EC 350F and Hubert Auriol’s 1981 BMW R80 G/S. In trial, Jordi Tarrés’s 1989 Beta prototype reflects extreme balance and precision.

In Speedway and flat track, machines such as Bartosz Zmarzlik’s championship-winning bike and Francesco Cecchini’s Zaeta DT450RS highlight controlled sliding as a technical discipline. A Yamaha YZF-R7 used by Team Europe in the FIM Intercontinental Games links these histories to more recent competition.

Across all categories, contemporary champions—including Márquez, Razgatlıoğlu, Bou, Sanders, García, Zmarzlik and Febvre—demonstrate how each discipline demands a distinct engineering philosophy: maximum speed, balance, endurance or controlled instability.

A new headquarters and a museum for racing history

The Racing Motorcycle Museum occupies the FIM’s former headquarters in Mies. The new headquarters, built next door over twenty months, was inaugurated on 10 October 2024. It includes offices, meeting spaces, a garage and the FIM Tech Lab for training, research and safety development.

After the move, the former building was transformed into the museum, inaugurated on 6 December 2025 and opened to the public on 18 February 2026. Its displays are organised around three themes: “Heroes,” “Technologies” and “From Race to Road.”

The architecture of the new headquarters reflects the FIM’s identity: transparency, movement and communication. Lower-carbon, bio-sourced and reused materials were selected in line with Swiss standards. Together, the headquarters and museum express two dimensions of the institution: one oriented toward future regulation and research, the other preserving the history of the sport.

The origins of the FIM

The museum’s technical history is inseparable from the institution that created it. The FIM originated after the 1904 International Cup in Dourdan, where disputes over racing conditions revealed the need for international rules.

Representatives of Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Great Britain founded the Fédération Internationale des Clubs Motocyclistes at the celebrated Restaurant Ledoyen—now the Pavillon Ledoyen—on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 December 1904. The federation’s first president was the French representative A. de Lahausse. After a period of inactivity, it was revived in 1912 and renamed the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme in 1949.

Today, regulation remains central to its role. The FIM defines sporting and technical rules for international competition, applies them at championships and deploys officials to ensure compliance.

It also oversees rider safety, circuit standards, medical requirements and sporting fairness. Technical officials inspect machines, medical commissions assess emergency readiness, and stewards adjudicate incidents. Disciplinary bodies can impose sanctions when rules are breached.

Viegas is careful to define the limits of this authority. The FIM does not regulate the design or production of everyday motorcycles. Its jurisdiction applies to competition.

In broader mobility debates, the federation engages through dialogue and advocacy with industry and international institutions. It can set standards for racing machines and circuits, but it does not govern the global motorcycle industry.

Racing in a geopolitical world

International motorcycling is shaped by forces beyond the federation’s control. Viegas notes that war and instability in the Middle East led to the postponement of the Qatar Grand Prix, requiring adjustments to the racing calendar.

Other events in the region, including rallies in Saudi Arabia, had not yet been similarly affected.

This illustrates how the FIM operates between global politics and sporting continuity. Conflict can determine whether events take place, whether teams can travel safely and how calendars must be reorganised.

Viegas, however, rejects the idea that fuel prices pose a major threat to the sport. Petrol represents only a small fraction of event costs. Logistics, safety and geopolitical stability are far more significant.

Circuits, speed and safety

For Viegas, increasing safety has been one of the central objectives of his presidency. Motorcycle racing inevitably involves risk, but the consequences of accidents can be reduced through better equipment, safer circuits and stricter procedures.

He explains that the danger of a fall does not come only from the initial impact with the ground. A rider may slide after falling, and the most serious injuries frequently occur when the rider strikes a barrier or another fixed object.

Modern motorcycle circuits therefore require extensive run-off areas without obstacles. The necessary dimensions depend upon the radius of the corner and the speed at which a motorcycle is likely to pass through it.

The FIM analyses and homologates circuits according to these principles. Computers can calculate the relationship between the geometry of a corner, the probable speed and the area required to allow a fallen rider to decelerate without striking an object.

Viegas contrasts this with the historical approach to car racing, in which guardrails were often positioned close to the circuit. He recalls that the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994 transformed perceptions of circuit safety in motor racing and contributed to a wider reassessment of barriers and run-off areas.

He also mentions Interlagos in Brazil, where motorcycle races have sometimes taken place outside the recognised federation structure. In his assessment, races held on circuits without appropriate motorcycle homologation can expose riders to unacceptable dangers.

By contrast, the circuit in Goiânia was extensively modified in preparation for the return of MotoGP to Brazil. The FIM accompanied the work and required wider safety areas, particularly on the outside of corners.

Viegas also distinguishes regulated world championship competition from exceptionally dangerous road races such as the Isle of Man TT, the North West 200 and Macau. These events take place on roads surrounded by buildings, walls and other obstacles. The Isle of Man TT once formed part of the World Championship, but the FIM removed it when the federation adopted much more rigorous safety requirements.

The FIM’s insurance and protection programmes do not cover certain exceptionally dangerous road events. For Viegas, this refusal represents a clear institutional position: tradition and spectacle cannot take precedence over the federation’s responsibility towards riders.

The 1977 motorcycle

Viegas’s relationship with motorcycling is not only institutional. One of the museum’s most personal objects is his own 1977 competition motorcycle, which he donated to the collection.

It connects the present-day FIM president with the young Portuguese rider who entered his first motocross race in Mafra on 11 April 1974, shortly before the Carnation Revolution.

He stopped competing at around twenty-four, recognising that a professional racing career was unlikely. But he never left the sport.

He became a journalist, worked across media, helped establish the Portuguese federation, served in international governance and eventually became President of the FIM.

Born in Faro and trained as an economist, he also built a parallel career in renewable energy, working in hydroelectric, wind and solar power. Motorcycling remained a constant passion alongside his professional life.

His 1977 motorcycle therefore represents continuity across all these roles. Viegas describes motorcycling as a “virus for which there is no cure”—a presence that never left him.

His way of examining motorcycles reflects this experience: he reads not only form, but reasoning—how weight affects handling, how power is transmitted, how suspension stabilises movement and how design protects the rider.

Technology and human knowledge

This perspective informs his scepticism toward technological enthusiasm detached from practice. He does not reject electric motorcycles, but evaluates them in terms of range, weight, safety and viability.

Electric scooters, he argues, are well suited to cities. Long-distance electric motorcycles remain constrained by battery limitations, which affect handling and safety in ways that differ from cars.

He also does not reject artificial intelligence, but refuses to treat it as a substitute for experience. Technology can process data and assist design or administration, but judgement, leadership and creativity remain human responsibilities.

For Viegas, leading an international organisation is ultimately about people. Technology can support decisions, but it cannot replace human responsibility.

A living archive

The museum reflects this philosophy. It is not a nostalgic display, but a history of competition shaped by experimentation, failure, courage and ingenuity.

Each motorcycle records decisions made by designers, engineers, mechanics and riders: how to reduce weight, manage power, control vibration, negotiate terrain and protect the human body.

Viegas guides me through this archive by teaching me how to look and listen to them. A motorcycle is read through its structure, materials, sound and traces of use.

Within this continuum , the oldest motorcycle in the museum—the 1949 AJS Porcupine ridden by Leslie Graham, the first 500cc World Champion—now stands at the centre of the meeting room of all FIM members in Mies, Switzerland. It is not only a historical artefact, but the starting point of a century-long evolution that has never left motorcycling—and a reminder that behind every machine and every rule, from the earliest pioneers to the most groundbreaking modern racers, remains a human being drawn to the living machine.

(The original account from the founding dinner, including the menu served to the delegates, has been preserved and is also displayed at the FIM in Mies as a material record of the evening on which international motorcycle governance began.)