Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

oa r o ff dow n pit la n e i n an ocean of 'ou nd , Yo u' ll notice th e very fat throttle twist ' rip , la ce d with stra nd s of rubber cu t ro m a tire inner tube tha t w as a tra d eark of each of Pau l Smart' s bikes af ter is '71 N orthwest 200 cras h in Irela nd, hen he broke h is w rist a n d lo st some eg rees of m ovemen t in his throttle hand , The overs ize d twist g r ip is the sa me ne he u sed a t !mola - same as th e prim iive ig n itio n s w it ch behind yo u r rig h t eg, th e flap-val ve o n the engine b rea th er ipe, th e Im ola scrutinee ring tag on the o r k-le g r -o r th e clear str i p le ft in th e fib e r g la s s tank as a r e ad y m e an s of hecking the fu el level vis ually, Th a nk good ness Pa ul Sma r t h a s ever felt the desi re to restore the bi ke tha t ca rried him to hi s most famous victory, for it' s taken 25 ye a rs to get like this, complete With faded red Ducati letteri ng o n the candy-silver fa iring, M ore than a ny o ther bike I ever rode, th is is History o n Wheels, th e s ta rt o f a s to ry tha t' s still being told tod ay , 1'X "After about 10 laps at Modena , I came pas t the pits, and all the mecha nics were hu gging each other like I'd just won a race:' recalls Paul with a wry smile, "When I came in, I found I'd broken Ago's outrigh t lap record set on the 500cc MV - but it hadn 't seemed I was going that quick because the Ducati was such a tota lly deceptive bike - faster than the works Kawasaki, eve n though it hardly seemed to be revving hard at all," Brimming with confidence, the Ducati team went to Imola just 20 miles downthe road from the ir Bologna factory - for the first-ever "Day tona of Europe: " run on the fast, sweeping GP race circuit, which in its prechicane days su ited Smart 's taste for big tracks that rewa rded judgment and riding skills, Against a star-s tudded field tha t induded wo rks ent ries from nine different manu facturers, the V-twin Ducatis were in a dass of their own, with Smart and teammate Spaggiari qualifying in the first two places on the grid, ahead of Giacomo Agos tini on a works MV Agusta , "Ago was riding a shaft-driven works MV: says Paul, "an d though there were lots of smiles, he was taking it very seriously, just as he always di d - especia lly being on home ground, where I su ppose it must have been tbe first time he wasn't on pole for a race ther e in five years o r mo re . Anyway, the s ta rt was absolute ly typical for Italy - as soon as Ago started, then they d ropped the flag for the rest of us , That meant he Ied off the line, and in fact hung on in fron t for the first five laps. The MY was very fast but smoked a lot till he even tually pulled off (after 42 of the 62.laps), and it a lso weaved like mad down the stra ights. Ago was a blood y hero to hold on to it wide open, it was such a handful, Following it was qu ite an experie nce, but the Ducat i by contrast was steady as a rock, though you had to send it a telegram if you wa nted it to change direction once you' d committed yourself for the comer - it was mu ch slowersteering that the Kawasaki I was used to riding. and you needed to be very precise in the way you rode it, to get the best out of it, We used to wear out the front tires very qu ickly beca use it understeered so much, though the onl y mechanical problem I ha d in the race was when it chucked out first gear at the Tosa hai rpin after a couple of laps, when it went bang - neutral, After that, I had to do the hairpin in second , and since I knew the clutch ' wouldn't stand being slipped on the uphiU exit, I had to try to d rive through it on the throt tle, That meant taking wha t the Yanks call a 'high, wid e 'n ' handsome' line there at the Tosa, but it wasn't much of a handicap, because the Ducatis engine is so torquey - nothing like what I was used to on two-strokes, or even the works Triumph triple, which was much peaki er and less ridable , "Ago found the MV a particular handful on the flat-ou t lefthander after the pits, called the 'Tamburello: which, with no chicane before the start line as there is now at Irnola, was very fast - about 120 to 130 mph. He used to ease off qui te a bit for it, whereas the Ducati would go through flat in top, though you had to use all the road and get absolutely the right line - Alan Dunscombe came off there in the race on another Duke, when he ran out of road on the right. Anyway, I'd sized Ago up after four laps, so starting the fifth I kept it nailed open there and just swept effortlessly past him, It was a great demonstration of the Ducati 's handling abi lity.rand after that it was obvious either Bruno or I wou ld win ," Ducati boss Spairani had foreseen this situation. "We all had a meeting the night before the race," says Paul, "and there never seemed any doubt in anyone's mindwe were go ing to win comfortably. We we re tol d we could circu late togeth er till the last five laps; then it was every ma n for himself, Well, when the five-lap board went out, old Bruno went mad started smoking tires up the inside of the hairpin on me, and suc hlike. Two lap s from the end, he made a do-or-die effort in a very strange place - around the long left-hander at the top of the hill before the Rivazza; it was a 9D-to-lOQ-mph com er, and there was no way he could have pulled it off, so inevitably he ran out (Above) Ducati desig n g uru Fabi o Talloni was the man behind the bea utiful bevel-dr ive Ltwin , a rguably his finest work, (Left) Short rear s ho cks didn't he lp groun dcleara nce pro blem s or the s lowness of the steering . Lon ge r o nes were made av ailable later. 1972 Ducati 750 Imola S pecifications Engine , , . .Air-cooled SOHC gO-degree V-twin four-stroke with desmodromic bevel-drive valve operation and two valves per cylinder , Bore" stroke , . " " " , " ... " ", , ,80 x 74 Amm Displa c ement .. , . , ,,, ,,.,, ,.., , , ,748cc Output , , , . . " , , , , , , , , , , .. , , .'.84 bhp at 8800 rpm (at rear wheel) Compression ratio , , ,, ,, , ,10,8:1 Carburetion , , , ,(2) 40mm Dell'Ort o PHM40A with accelerator pumps Ignition " . , . .. . ". , . , .Dual spark plugs per cylinder with total-loss coil ignition/ l 2v battery Gearbox . . . . . " , . , . , .. , ... " . , . " . , .Five-speed close -ratio Clutch .. , . " , . . , . . " . " . , ""., Multiplate oil-bath Chassis ." . . .'. . . .. " . . , Tubular-st eel open-cradle space frame of road on the right. I remember stand ing on my footpegs and thinking, 'I hope the silly ass doesn't fall off; it 'll s po il th ings for Ducati if he do es: There wer e clouds of dust everywh ere, but he managed to save it and get back on the road , though after that his engin e s ta rted mi sfiring , Th ey sa id after the race it wa s because we' d been running out of fuel, but in fact I had wi th eng ine as se mis tress ed mem be r plenty of petro l left in my tan k, and he almost certainly Suspension , got some mu ck in his carb s after his little excursion. Front , ,. AOmm leading-axle Marzocchi telescopic forks Anywa y, after that I was hom e and dry, and though Rear , , Tubular-steel swingarm with twin Ceriani shocks we swapped the lead a couple more limes, I was savWheelbase , , , ,,' ,, , , , . , , , , , , . , ,60 inches ing it all up for the last lap, when 1 pulled away to win Brakes by four seconds." Front . . .. . , , . . , . . . , , , , , , . , ,Dual 280mm Brembo cast-iron discs April 23, 1972, was thus no t only Paul Smart's 29th with two-piston AP·Lockheed calipers birthday, ii also marked a milestone in the myt hos of Rear . , . . , . , .. . . , , , , , .. , . . 'single 240mm Brembo cast -iron disc the Ducati marque. with two-piston AP-Lockheed ca liper "It was a really satisfying win, bu t I must admit 1 Wheels/tires didn't think at the time it would be as significan t as it's Front . . : ... , , , .... , , , , .110/ 90-18 Pirelli Match MT09 Racing on now becom e, in terms of Ducati's place in history," WM2 Barrani wire wheel admits Paul in hindsight. "I should have ha d a clue Rear ,. ,, , , , :120/ 80-18 Pirelli Match MT08 Racing on that night, though, when they took the glass-sided WM3 Borrani wire wheel transporter with me and Bruno on the roof and our Weight , . " , ,. , " , . .358 ,6Ib s , with oil/no fuel bikes inside for a tour through Bologna 's city center. Top speed . ,. ; . , , , ,. , , , . , .. , 155 mph You 'd have thought it was the Pope, there were so Year of construction , . , , , ., , , ,1972 many fanatical supporters celebrating Ducati's victory! Owner . , . , , , , Paul Smart. Maidstone, Kent, England I suppose it was the firs t time they 'd wo n anything really big for a decade and a half, since the 125cc GPs in the late ' 50s, and it certainly put Ducati on the map vicar at East Farley, who, before he took the cloth, had been an in term sof big bikes - as well as setting them on the path to ace man with a lathe, The Ducati mechanics could n' t believe the their present World Superbike dominance:' sigh t of this guy with a dog-eo llar and a cassock on, and a cigaPresumably, though, the Imo la 200 win was Paul Sma rt's rett e permanently parked in the comer of his mouth, swea ring grea test da y in racing. like a trooper as he tu rned down the valves, saying he had to be "Yes, I gu ess it was," Paul agrees. "I .scored more p rize finished by midnight because it was the Sabbat h tomorrow and money at Ontario winning the 2OD-miler there later that year for he still had to write his sermonfor morning service! Anyway, it Kawasaki, but Imola was more satisfying, in a way, because I all came together well enough, and next day, after running it in hadn't gon e there expecting to win. I led most of the race, so while finishing second to Peter Williams' John Player Norton in with the lap money I cleaned up about 5000 pounds, which was the Open-class event , we were in good shape for the 1'7 race, 50 a helluva lot of money then - but they'd had 70,000 spectators, which was the one Ducati really wanted to win ." so they could afford it! I got paid in readies, too - lots of those However, there was one big obstacle to Formula 750 victory, big, old, tablecloth-sized Italian banknotes with loads of zeroes, in the form of Williams' teammate Phil Read on ano ther works all stu ffed into my helmet bag. We'd agreed the night before the JPN tw in that was much lig hter and more ni m ble th an the race that all four Ducati riders wou ld pool our winnings, and so Ducati around the tight Brands track - and Read ie was thirsting we did - but Spairani had also said, 'Whichever one of you wins for revenge after finishing an outclassed fourth be hi nd the the race will keep his bike, of course.' And he was as good as his Ducati duo at Imola. word. Whi ch is how come you 're here today riding it, exactly as Mind you, the feeling was mutual. it finished the Imola race. Well, nearly ..." "Phil Read going past me in those days was like a red rag to Nearly? Isn' t this a time-warp bike, still in the guise in which a bu ll. So catching him up and taking him afterhe'd grabbed an it won its last victory? Well, yes it is - except that, the day after early lead at Brands was definitely a high priority," admits Paul, his Imola win , Smart agreed to race what had now become "his" "but then he repassed me a couple of laps later, and still had the bike in a couple of the British au tumn international meetings, to lead going into the last lap . 1 was better than Phil at Clearways, pr omote Ducatis fort hcoming 750cc V-twin street-bike range so I retook the lead there , but then he nipped past me again on based on the Imola winner. So it was on the.unlikeliest track of the brakes going up the hill into Drui ds . That left just Pad dock all for a long-wheelbase, long-l egged V-twin to shine on - the Bend before the finish line - and we took it side by side, both Brands Hatch short circuit a s tone 's throw from Paul's Maid - abso lutely on the limit, with the Ducati's long wheelbase the stone home, run in the reverse direction for the annual Hutchin - only thing saving me from 'a tank-slapper. I distinctly remember son 100 meeting - that Smart gave "old Number 16" its fina l thinking. The poor old girl might go bang again, but if I cha nge appointment with the checkered flag. gear, I've lost the race!' So I just held it in third all the way to the . But tha t nearly qidn't happen, either . Let Pau l explain how, line with the engine revving well into five figures, and thanks to and why. desmo engineering and the vicar's hand iwork, I won by the "In practice at Brands on the Sa turda y," he recalls, "it width of a tire: Mission accomplished ." dropped a valve and lu nched the m otor . Disaster!.We took it Since that August day in 1972, the vicar's endeavors hav e back to Don Godden's (Britain's leading manuf acture r of speed- been only rarely put to the test, w ith the Imola-winning Ducati' s way and grass-track engines) works hop near my house, and set track outings res tricted to very occasional short demonstrations about rebuil ding the motor with the parts Ducati had sent over in Paul Smart's hands at major Brands Hatch race meetings over with Franco Fame and a couple of mechan ics, who'd come over the years . But, exactly a quarter-century later, what is undoubtto look after Bruno, who was also ridin g there. We had a spare edly the most famous, historic and authentic works Ducati ever engine, bu t it was an 860cc prototype, so we couldn' t use it for a built was entrusted to me for 30 laps of the very same circuit at 750cc race. Troubl e was, at that time of nigh t over a weekend , which it scored its final race victory - with a bit of help from the only machinist we couId get hold of to help us was my local Him Upstairs! Dreams do come true... £X 43

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