Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127150
1988 AMA Pro Twins Grand Prix National Champion Dale Quarterley (32) does battle with last year's champ, Doug Brauneck at the Loudon National. fiberglass repl aced th e old industrial: grade stuff, The new glass also has holes in th e front to d uct coo l air to the airbox. Ferracci enla rged the holes in the fairi ng and ra n large diameter £lexibl e tu bing direc tly to the stoc k airbox. To ma ke things less crowded and allow in mo re air, th e gas tank has been shimmed up in Desperately seeking secrets: The right parts in the right places The Fast By .Ferracci Ducati 851 Sending the 851 to Ferracci was like Liz Taylor checking into a fat far m. The reg imen incl ude d ma jor weight loss and a change in personality. First of all, the bike was treated to a facelift. New , ultra-thin NC R By Armen Amirian Eraldo Ferracci fettles Pete Johnson 's 1987 AMA Historic Cup Championship-winning Fast By Ferracci Triumph 750cc Triple. , If ever there was a motorcycle with promise in the AMA Pro Twins Series, the eightvalve Ducati 851 is it. One bike that is making good on that promise is tuned by Eraldo Ferracci and ridden by Dal e Quarterley. The deadly duo have sewn up the 1988 Pro T wins -G ra nd Prix title and 24 are, in faa, setting their sights o n running the Superbike class next year . There are those, however, who are not completely thrilled with the successes of the FBF bike. Surprisingly, the grumblings of discontent come from within the Ducati camp. Ba sic a ll y, it is bei n g said that Ferracci's bike has trick parts in it that are unavailable to the other 851 owners. At first glance, this seems absurd, for one would think that th e Ducati factory would lik e to see as man y fast 851s on the track as possible creat ing o ne big rolling advertise me nt fo r their marque (m uch as the Fl s did in th e Modified Prod uctio n class ). H o wever, afte r watching Quarterl ey p ull away fro m his Ducat i brethren , it beco mes easy to believe that his Duck has m ore horses. Just the facts, Ma'am The 851 that Quar terlev has won the Pro Twins G P title with is the same unit that Stephano Carrachi placed second on at Daytona this past March. The bike still belongs to Ducati, although Ferracci will probab ly buy it eventually. Ferracci swears that th e bike is basically stock with a few simple modifications. However, as an indication of how - highly Ferracci values this particular bik e, he has turned down an -offer of $30,000 for it, even though the going rate for the bik es (new, from Ducati) is "only" $23.000. Keeping in mind that Carrachi 's father is the " COO of NCR , th e mo st famous Ducati-tuning firm in the world, it' s a safe bet that th e Carrach i/ Quarterley Ducati is th e most carefu lly assembled 851 to have cast a shadow o n an American race track.