ODE TO DUCATI

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Ode to Ducati

TWO-WHEELED HEROES IN THE HEART OF THE CITY. ALONGSIDE BIKESURE AND ACE CAFE LONDON, WE CELEBRATE THE RAREST AND MOST SIGNIFICANT DUCATI MOTORCYCLES FROM THE PAST 50 YEARS

We’ve brought together a selection of twowheeled stars from the most iconic and evocative motorcycle brand of all – Ducati.

The Italian company’s racers have always warmed the hearts of motor sport enthusiasts, while the road bikes have brought Latin passion to the street. Our London Concours display features some of the rarest and most sought-after motorcycles, spanning 50 years of two-wheeled excellence.

We start with the 1970s sports machines that helped to forge the legend, before moving on to the superbikes – such as the 1199 Superleggera – that have elevated the brand to a household name, even among those who have never sat on a bike, let alone ridden one. The collection has been curated by Peter Bullard.

Four-time World Superbike Champion and Ducati ambassador Carl Fogarty will appear at the event, in association with Bikesure and Ace Cafe London. Fogarty will be chatting with Dave Vitty and Jason Plato from the Fuelling Around podcast on Wednesday June 29.

2014 1199 Superleggera

The end of the road for Ducati’s long line of twin-cylinder superbikes was officially marked with a conventional final-edition model – but just before that, the manufacturer’s legendary factory in the Borgo Panigale-Reno district near Bologna, Italy, pulled out all the stops and produced two batches of super-exclusive Superlight twins. A mere 500 numbered examples of each were delivered worldwide – the 1199 model for 2014 and the 1299 version for 2015. The first of these, as seen at the London Concours, produced 205bhp and weighed 155kg dry. Even fully fuelled and oiled it was still only 176kg. That low weight means the bike provides spectacular, supercar-rivalling performance, staying ahead of a McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder up to 180mph in an Autocar test.

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1973 750 Sport

No sooner had the ‘sports-touring’ 750 GT hit the showroom floor, than Ducati announced the arrival of the café racer-styled 750 Sport. Essentially a GT but with the addition of clip-on handlebars, rear-set foot pegs, a slim fuel tank and matching, motor sport-style single seat, it is considered to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing designs Ducati has ever produced. A small but significant power boost over the GT, of around 10bhp, was provided by fitting bigger carburettors with no air filters along with some simple cylinder-head work. Light, nimble and comfortably able to keep up with contemporary traffic even on today’s hectic roads, the 750 Sport is in every sense among Ducati’s finest works. The example on show is one of only 1625 made.

1974 750 Super Sport

Inspired by the legendary Ducati Green Frame that Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari took to first and second place at the 1972 Imola 200, Ducati built 401 replicas in its race workshop. Made in 1974, these were the only ‘roundcase’ engines to be fitted with desmodromic heads. This example first arrived in the UK via air freight in June ’74. At a heady £1650 it cost over 50 percent more than Kawasaki’s mighty Z1. The first owner kept the bike for a couple of years, racing it lightly before selling it to a Surrey-based doctor. At 18,000 miles it was pushed into the doctor’s shed with engine issues, and it languished there for more than two decades until Steve Wynn of Sports Motorcycles snared it. He rebuilt the engine and did a cosmetic restoration. The current owner acquired the bike in 2010.

1980 900 MHR

Legendary motorcycle racer Mike Hailwood was aged 38 when he came out of motor sport retirement to take on the Isle of Man TT in 1978. Riding a modified and specially prepared 900 SS, he duly won the race – and the celebratory 900 Replica, or MHR as it became known, went on to be Ducati’s best-selling bike of the early 1980s. This example was Peter Bullard’s second Ducati, and his first bevel-drive model. A UK-supplied early 1980 example, it is well used and most recently made a 700-mile round trip to the Isle of Man Classic TT for the 40th anniversary of that legendary victory. It’s also completed half a dozen laps of the Isle of Man Mountain Course – but at significantly lower speeds than Hailwood managed to get up to over The Mountain.

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1975 900 Super Sport Desmo

Ducati didn’t want to build this bike, seeing the brand’s future in the sports-touring category. However, a lukewarm response to the 860 GT, and demands for something more sporty, resulted in the 495 SS. Entirely hand-built, 246 were 900s and 249 were 750s, and essentially they have the same frame as the Green Frame SS.

It represented the end of an era, leaving the factory with a right-foot gearchange (one up, four down), no indicators, no air filters, little in the way of ‘silencing’ and the gorgeous glassfibre ‘Imola’ fuel tank – the only model to leave the factory thus equipped.

The owner found this bike in Germany in 2013 in part-restored form, and completed the work in the UK.

1975 750 Super Sport Desmo

This is the partner motorcycle to the 900 SS model we have featured above, and it too was found by the current owner in partrestored condition in Germany. Aside from the smaller engine displacement, the 750 SS featured different fairing livery to that sported by its big brother. Also – and perhaps strangely – the camshaft-bearing cap on this square-case cylinder head was carried over from the earlier round-case powerplant.

2008 D-16 RR

Loosely modelled on Ducati’s GP6 Moto GP bike, this 1000cc four-cylinder monster was offered to select customers as a Moto GP bike for the road. Its 200bhp may have been 40-50bhp down on the actual racers, but at full throttle and close to its 14,000rpm red line, this lightweight projectile provides a glimpse of how it might feel to ride the race bikes of Sete Gibernau or Loris Capirossi. It was the first production Ducati to use magnesium wheels, and had a race-only exhaust, slip-on muffler, plus fuel and ignition mapping in a race ECU. Just 1500 were built.

1971 750 GT Sandcast

Fabio Taglione, ’Dr T’, had been charged by cash-strapped management to build a 750-class bike to compete with Moto Guzzi, Laverda and Japanese rivals, as well as to open up the US market. His answer was this, the first of the multi-cylinder Ducatis, of which only 400 sandcast models were built prior to mainstream production.

It was a relatively low-cost design in that he blended two bevel-drive singles onto a common crankcase in a 90-degree V – or L-Twin, as he preferred to call it. Although a cheap design it was complex, and the cost of repairs means that very few remain.

The sandcast powerplants were popular in racing thanks to their perceived extra toughness over the production units. This is engine no.97 and frame no. 185.

1988 851 Kit Racer

The fuel-injected, water-cooled, four-valve 851 represented a huge step forward for Ducati when it arrived in 1987. Designer Massimo Bordi took his successful two-valve, air-cooled Pantah engine and, with cylinderhead help from Cosworth, laid the foundation for Ducati superbikes for the next 30 years. The Strada was deemed to be lacking in power and handling, so the Kit Racer took it to 120bhp. The 17-inch mag wheels, braced swinging arm and close-ratio ’box are among many features unique to the 207 built. The owner bought this unrestored example new.