VEE TWO HAILWOOD DUCATI
P108
Feature
Brook Henry (left, with Andrew Cathcart)
is the world's foremost expert on bevel-
drive Ducatis. It's a family affair, as son
Ben Henry (not in photo), is the owner of
DesmoSport Ducati that fields Troy Bayliss
on a 1299 Panigale in the Australian
Superbike Championship.
Vee Two Australia has
secured the original techni-
cal drawings for the Ducati's
883cc 90-degree V-twin
bevel-drive desmo engine,
as well the relevant casting
molds, chassis drawings
and technical details—all of
which will ensure the bike is
an exact replica of the one
that powered Hailwood to
his historic win.
"The engine used in
Mike's 900 F1 race-winning
bike was a prototype motor
designed by the Ducati fac-
tory in the mid-to-late 1970s,
of which only around eight
units were ever made,"
Andrew Cathcart, Gen-
eral Manager of Vee Two
explains: "When Mike won
the TT in '78 the factory
had plans for the engine
to power the next series of
desmo V-twin sportbikes,
but due to Ducati's strug-
gling financial situation,
the bevel-drive format
was scrapped in favor of
the Pantah-type belt-drive
V-Twin, which was less
costly to manufacture. This
meant that this ultimate
bevel-drive engine never
reached production, and
therefore never made it
into the hands of the pub-
lic. Picking up from where
the factory left off, Vee
Two Australia is now in a
position to offer the engine
Steve Wynne with the
TT-winning machine.
Wynne was the catalyst
that made this historic
event happen.
