In 1980 I owned one of these Laverda Jota 1000 with the 180 degree crank and it was a little slow of the mark due to it's high gearing but by the time the kawka 1000 or Suk 1000 got to the other side of the intersection my clutch was fully out and I was passing them and the cams were just coming on.....oh did I forget to mention it was running a 3 into 1 racing megaphone system and open bell mouth pumper delorto carbies that would suck in ... small birds if they came to close. You had to get used to the right hand gear shift and the left hand brake pedal but it didn't take long.
I bought it from a guy that had race preped it, It used to smoke up the rear Michelin tyre coming out of slow corners on the Mtn (yes I already had a love afair with the Clyde Mtn back then) if you were keeping it running on cam... the start of my love for Three Cylinder Motorbikes had begun
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/LAVERDA_JOTA_1000cc._ITALY_1976-1982.jpg