by Mike Bigioni, a good friend
The great Mike Hailwood’s spectacular victory in the TT F1 race at the Isle of Man in 1978 has long been a part, and perhaps one of the most memorable parts, of Ducati racing lore, but it’s a story that never gets old. Ducati enthusiasts everywhere are familiar with the story of Hailwood’s surprise return to two-wheeled competition years after he had left the motorcycle racing world for a successful car-racing career which included a stint in Formula 1, driving for the team bearing the name of another great racer (and one of his predecessors in the legendary MV Agusta 500 Grand Prix team), John Surtees. By the late 1970’s, Hailwood had settled into a well-deserved retirement, but the racing bug had evidently not completely relaxed its grip on him, and in a portent of things to come, he and a friend, Jim Scaysbrook, raced a square-case Ducati 750SS to a creditable sixth place finish in the Castrol Six Hour production bike race at Amaroo Park in Australia in 1977. Something about the handling characteristics of the rangy V-twin Ducati must have clicked with Hailwood’s riding style, because when he was approached shortly afterward by Steve Wynne of Sports Motor Cycles in England to race one of Scuderia NCR’s exquisite specials on the Island in June of the following year, the Great Man readily accepted.
And what a weapon Hailwood would have at his disposal for his return to big-league motorcycle racing: NCR’s Giorgio Nepoti and Rino Caracchi had built a stunner for TT F1 competition in 1978, with an 864 cc round-case engine consisting of a carefully selected mixture of 900SS and 750SS components optimized for racing purposes, the engine’s narrowed sump permitting the low-set exhaust pipes to be tucked in tightly for cornering clearance. The desmodromic valve V-twin featured a dry clutch and spin-on oil filter, and its oil was cooled by an external cooler mounted in the fairing nose. Wynne replaced the 750 ignition points with an electronic Lucas Rita unit, and fitted American-made Venolia 11:1 pistons. Maximum horsepower was 80.5 hp measured at the rear wheel, accompanied by the famously broad spread of torque that would do Hailwood so many favours on the legendary street circuit.
Wynne fitted a three-dog gearbox and crossed the gear selection over to the left side of the bike to accommodate Hailwood’s inability to shift with his right foot, owing to an injury he had suffered during his car-racing career. The Marzocchi rear shocks were swapped out for a set of Girlings, and thanks to its lightweight Daspa-built frame, endurance racing bodywork, and careful preparation by Wynne’s team, Hailwood’s new toy tipped the scales at only 360 lbs. The three Sports Motor Cycle team bikes – one for Hailwood and the other two for teammates Rogers Nicholls and Scaysbrook – were shipped out to the Island, and the stage was set for one of the great comeback stories in TT history.
After demoralizing the opposition with some shockingly fast practice laps, Mike the Bike had every reason to feel confident as he wheeled his beautiful racer out for the start of the TT F1 contest on the Saturday of TT Week. And such confidence, as we all know now, was richly justified: the bike boomed flawlessly around the fabled 37 ¾ mile course as Hailwood annihilated a highly competitive field that included multiple World Champion Phil Read on a works-supported Honda, setting a fastest lap of 110.62 mph and winning going away at an average speed of 108.51 mph. It was, in his own words, “the easiest TT I can remember”, and will always be recalled, alongside Imola in 1972, as one of the great, great days in the long and rich racing history of Ducati’s bevel-drive V-twins.
Hailwood’s return to the Island in 1979 would not, for a variety of reasons, be favoured with the same success, but June 3, 1978 will always be remembered as one of those golden moments in racing history when the stars aligned and everything came together the way it should – great rider, great machine, and the greatest of all racing circuits, converging to forge a shining memory that will forever be shared by Ducati afficionados and racing enthusiasts alike.
Team Sports Motor Cycles
When flipping through my old magazines, I found by accident this rare article by Phil Schilling. I decided to scan it and share it with all Ducati enthusiasts. Reza Nadali
