Ducati get Lucky (with the 750F1)

It really seemed the 750F1 would be the last ever Ducati, and if you think Ducati's should be penned by Fabio Taglioni it actually is. Yet despite telling everyone who grumbles they missed the bevel-boat to buy one, most ignored the advice on the basis a similar riding experience comes with a mid-nineties 750SS costing a quarter of the money. Well, too late...a mid nineties 750SS is now a tenth or less of the price of a nice F1 - and prime examples like the Santa Monica or Montjuich can fetch over £20k.


The start of the line was the TT2, exactly 30 years ago. The most (and most easily) faked Ducati ever, the TT2 was built in tiny numbers and even the people who built and raced them often disagree about provenance. Yet still people buy the same old books and pass off what they read as gospel. And as for the internet...(ahem). Anyway, the full story's covered in issues 2 and 5 of Benzina

After the Castiglionis rebooted Ducati they set about rebuilding the brand with racing. Enter one Marco Lucchinelli with a much-modded F1 and next thing you know Carlos Checca's won the World Superbike Championship for Ducati yet again(fingers crossed). If you fancy page one of this history book you'll need to persuade Ducati to part with Lucky's racer - it's in their museum, presented as an equal to the Hailwood and Smarty bevel twins, and rightly so. But for £15,000 John Fallon at Made in Italy will sell you this replica. I saw it at Goodwood a few years back and it's convincing both up close and on track. Probably twice what you might pay for a standard F1 privately, but less than it would cost to build and you'd still be unlikely to get an invite from Lord March to ride up Goodwood House's drive