What looks good doesn’t always work well: some of the most beautiful cars ever built were created by eye, without the aid of modern aerodynamics. Sleek machines like the Jaguar E-Type and the Corvette Stingray may look impossibly fast, but often try to leave the road at elevated speeds… Racing machines on the other hand are often strange and awkward-looking, designed to perform ahead of all other considerations. The Ducati TT1 may not be the prettiest bike ever built by the company, but you can’t argue with its performance.
Although the earlier TT2 machine was more successful in terms of race results, the bigger-engine TT1 seen here still has some serious competition credentials and was successful in endurance racing as well. The bike was powered by a bigger 748cc version of the Desmo Pantah engine that used toothed belts to drive the overhead cams instead of the bevel-drive engine’s tower-shaft arrangement. A front-mounted oil-cooler behind the fairing kept temperatures under control, with holes drilled in front to allow sufficient airflow.
This package eventually evolved into the air/oil-cooled L-twin Ducatisti still know and love today, although in this case it was still carbureted, with the rear head rotated 180° from more modern configurations: later bikes had intake for both in the center of the “V,” allowing Cagiva to fit the engine with an automotive-style carburetor in the Paso. The frame was an extremely lightweight, stiff, sculptural masterpiece by Verlicchi and a 16” and 18” wheel combo meant riders could exploit the bike’s extreme lightweight and agility.
From the original eBay listing: 1984 Ducati 750 TT1 for Sale
Unimpeachable provenance and beautiful patina
One of three ex-works 1984-season European endurance race bikes, then bought from the factory direct by American enthusiast Dale Newton for AMA BoTT racing in the USA
Frame no. 6 (on steering head), engine no. DM600L*702481*
Sold on a Bill of Sale. Five miles approx. since restoration.
This well documented TT1 is the rarest of the rare. Three chassis were taken from the production run of 50 600 TT2s and built as endurance racers for the 1984 European championship. Essentially two of the three – this is one of the two – were replicas of Tony Rutter’s factory team TT1. Based on the belt-drive, desmo Pantah, the TT1 had a 88mm bore and a 61.5mm stroke for a capacity of 748cc, with a factory quoted 80 horsepower. At under 300 pounds dry, they were built with Italy’s finest contemporary components such as Marzocchi magnesium forks, wider aluminum (extrusion) cantilever swing arm (with strengthening rub running along the bottom) – one of only two bikes known to have this feature – and Brembo brakes all round. The compact TT1 was both ground breaking fast and exquisitely handsome. It features a unique lower mounting point for the engine vapor catch tank on the right side. As a new bike it attended the Imola test day. The engine has the “Ascension” kit installed that upgraded the TT2 motor to full race 750. The bike retains its endurance racing quick-release rear wheel kit.
American Ducatisti patron Dale Newton (he owned the Phil Schilling/Cook Neilson “California HotRod” Daytona superbike, too) bought the bike from the factory at the ’84 season’s end (still with its headlamp sockets etc. intact; Dale removed the lights as the AMA rules did not require them) and proceeded to run the bike in the USA and was the last bike he restored before his untimely death. Dale’s goal was to beat east coaster Jimmy Adamo in BoTT.
Brian Dietz purchased the bike from the Newton estate in September 1999 selling it on to Ralf Stechow in November 2008. It was acquired by the (private) seller shortly thereafter.
The Newton Ducatis were raced by legendary riders such as Tony Rutter, Kevin Schwantz and John Williams and were featured in Cycle magazine on several occasions. Next is a listing of the articles; January 1984 “Messenger in Red: Ducati TT2 600”; October 1984 “Ducati Pantah TT1”; April 1985 “Aboard Sunday’s Child: Ducati 750 TT1”; April 1985 “Desmo-Ships on a Time Belt: Ducati 750SS and TT1 750 F1”. “Dale Newton’s ex-factory TT-F1 (this bike) is representative of Ducati 750 potential, and on the Axtell dyno it generated 83-86 horsepower.” Kevin Cameron, February 1990.
This bike has also been featured in two of Ian Falloon’s books. “… the diminutive TT2 and TT1 were among the finest of all catalog Ducatis…they epitomized Taglioni’s philosophy of maximum performance through light weight and simplicity.”- Standard Catalog of Ducati Motorcycles, and Ducati Racers. And in Alan Cathcart’s Ducati, the Untold Story.
This TT1 is from a very limited run of competition-only Ducatis and has a well-documented owner history, the bike is in beautiful cosmetic condition for a race bike and is certainly very rare and valuable, although there’s been no real bidding activity so far and the auction is almost over. The more desirable TT2 might be worth six figures, but it’s pretty clear from the limited interest that the seller is aiming a bit high here.
-tad
One of the truly great Ducati models and this looks to be one of the best examples ever offered on eBay. A timeless masterpiece of form and function.
If you see what replicas of this and the 600 version are fetching it becomes easier to see where the price is heading. Rarity drives this-one of three in this case.
Genuine race bikes such as this are priceless in all senses of the word-it’s not a money thing.
And a breath of fresh air against the complexity of Japanese machinery-if it wasn’t for the Italians we would have had no competition at all against the steamroller of the four Japanese companies in the racing world. Think Paton, MV, Cagiva, et al.
Grazie, Taglioni and your soul mates in Italy.