opti mu m hand ling and performance, as
well as to use chain final drive."
Ind eed , for wh en the Dry sd ale 750V8 was un ve iled at P hill ip Isla nd in
March, it was seen to have a trans verse
V-eight en gi ne, jus t like the legendary
Gu zzi V-e ig h t 500 cc G P ra cer w h ich
Drysdale admi ts was the principa l inspiration for bui ld ing his bike in the first
place. At that stage, the 750-V8 wasn' t a
ru nner - bu t by th e tim e of my la tes t
visit to Aust ralia th ree mont hs lat er,
hard wo rk by Ian a nd his tea m ha d
turned the show bike into a going con-
a
cern .
Though at an early stage of its ontrack development, I had the chance to
become the first person outside the
Drysdale factory to ride the 750-V8, in a
test sess ion at Calder Raceway followed
by so me br ief a nd admitted ly ge ntle
cafe ra cing round the stree ts of Mel bourne. Well, it is a prototype, after all and the fruity howl from the spag hetti,me tal d ual four-tw o-one exhaus t system
and the Ferrari-like whine from the pri ma ry d rive m ight jus t ha ve attracted
at ten tion from the boys in blue if I got
overly excited at a traffic light.
It's Ferrari-like in some ways, but not
in others - for unlike the quad-cam Veights from II Cavallino, which all
(except the Ducati -built Ferrari engine in
the Lan cia Thema 8.32 sedan) have a
one-piec e crank with 36
