Ducati
TT symposium at the 2017 Classic TT to celebrate the 35th
Anniversary of Tony Rutter’s first win on the Isle of Man aboard a Ducati TT2
and his son, Michael, racing a TT1 replica.
There can really only be one place for a Ducati TT2 and TT1
symposium: the Island that gave these race winning motorcycles their name. It will be 35 years since TT2s first raced –
and won – at the Isle of Man TT so, between the 25th and 28th
August 2017, fans of the TT2 and TT1 can join people who raced them both in era
and today, and people who have spent years studying them. Guest of honour will
be Pat Slinn who was Tony Rutter’s mechanic for each of his world championships,
as well as being a member of the Mike Hailwood and Sports Motorcycle team.
Based in a marquee between the paddock and TT course
start line on Glencrutchery Road there will be opportunities to learn more of the
TT2 and TT1’s racing history, and see some of these beautiful motorcycles both
on and off the TT course. There will also be the chance of a guided coach tour
of the TT course and to parade on the closed course. And, of course, to support
the Ducatis racing in the Classic TT. Alex Sinclair will be competing on his Louigi
Moto/Fox Racing TT1 (bottom photo by Sports Pics). Even more mouth-wateringly, Redfox Grinta will have
Michael
Rutter aboard their TT1. If you’ve ever wanted to visit the Isle of Man or the
Classic TT, 2017 will be the year to do it. Alongside the symposium and the racing, the 2017 Classic TT will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bob McIntyre recording the first 100mph lap of the 37¾ mile TT Course on his way to victory in the 1957 Senior TT Race. Michael Dunlop, fresh from the first sub 17-minute lap at this year’s TT, which he improved to a barely believable 133.962mph later in the week, will pay tribute to McIntyre’s achievement with a celebratory lap, complete with replica kit, on an identical dustbin faired Gilera, meticulously recreated by Kay Engineering.
August 2017 might seem a long time away, but the Isle of
Man’s accommodation and transport needs to be booked well in advance,
especially if you would like to bring a bike or be sure of staying with other
members of the symposium. The aim is to make a block booking in a hotel within
walking distance of the symposium’s marquee and to allow people to meet and eat
together over the weekend. If you’d like to join in please register your
interest as soon as possible, giving details of how and when you will be
travelling (advice happily given) and if
you would like to bring a bike.
And you might also want to pencil in the bank holiday
weekend of 24-27 August 2018 when, on the 40th Anniversary of Mike
Hailwood’s Formula 1 victory for Ducati, there will be an opportunity for 40
owners of Ducati Mike Hailwood Replicas to join in the celebrations.
About
the TT2 and TT1
In
1980 Ducati officially
returned to racing, entering the Italian Junior Championship, also known as the
TT2 class, with an uprated Pantah 500SL. The Federazione Motociclistica
Italiana (FMI) introduced the Formula TT 1, 2 and 3 classes in 1980, adopting a
very similar set of rules to the Isle of Man’s Formula 1, 2 and 3 World Championships.
Initially Ducati’s racing Pantah used the kit that was available to anyone who
could afford it, comprising engine and suspension upgrades along with
alternative bodywork. But Ducati’s Fabio Taglioni appreciated the Pantah was a
compromised road bike, designed for mass production as well as meeting the environmental
demands of authorities worldwide. So he set about an almost complete redesign
of the Pantah with only the engine (complete with electric starter as required
by the FMI rules) to create a new racing Pantah that looked nothing like the
original 500SL. This was the 1981 597cc TT2, named after the Italian series it
was designed to compete in, and the new Ducati was immediately dominant, even
against Bimota’s Kawasaki-powered, four cylinder, KB2 Laser. A TT2 sleeved to
the Pantah’s original 499cc came 7th in the Mugello round of the 1981
500cc Italian Championship, only beaten by Suzuki RG500s and Yamaha TZ500s. The
Ducati even beat the Honda NR500, the oval pistoned 32 valve V4, entered in the
race to aid its development.
With
Tony Rutter aboard the TT2 powered to four Formula 2 World Championships, and Tony
was only beaten on the near identical 748cc TT1 on the Isle of Man by a brace
of factory Honda RVF750s ridden by Joey Dunlop and Roger Marshall: bikes with
over 120bhp compared to the TT1’s claimed 80. As late as 1986 Marco Lucchinelli
won the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championship at Misano on a TT1.
On the podium Taglioni was beaming at reporters.
"Write
it well,” he told them; “to win two valves and two cylinders are enough!” Although
it was now obvious to most observers that Ducati would need more than that to
continue winning on the world stage, nobody
contradicted the great man. Because, for five glorious years, a tiny factory in
Bologna had built a bike that seemed as simple as sawdust but was cleverer than
quantum physics when it came to racing. This is why the Ducati TT2 and TT1 are
so revered by Ducati fans. They were Taglioni’s last stand and could beat motorcycles
with a specification that suggested the little Ducati was on a hiding to
nothing. Only 50 TT2s were built, plus perhaps as many as 13 TT1s and a handful
of factory racers, yet the design was so good that replicas are still
competitive in many classes of racing.
