Top left: Pantah 600. Testers recorded 50bhp and 200km/h top speed
Top right: Rhys with his 600 Pantah in the early 80s
Bottom left: Pantah 500. 600, then 500, and back to 600
Bottom right: TT2 race bikes. Full fairing for works bike, half fairing for private owners
F
abio Taglioni (September 10, 1920 – July
18, 2001). He died in Bologna in 2001.
I have dealt with the first two periods at
Ducati under the guidance of the legendary
technical director and designer Fabio
Taglioni. He joined Ducati in 1954 and began
by designing OHC four-stroke singles, and
by 1963 produced the V4 Ducati Apollo. The
second period saw the beginning of the
Desmo L-twins and extraordinary victories
on the race track, beginning with Paul Smart
and Bruno Spagiarri’s first and second place
at the Imola 200 in 1972, and Mike Hailwood’s
extraordinary Isle of Man victory in 1978.
MANAGEMENT MEDDLING
The third period was once again hampered
by questionable management decisions.
In spite of the race track success with the
L-twins, management sanctioned the
building of parallel twins. There are several
reasons why this decision might have
been made. British parallel twins such as
Triumph, BSA, and Norton were successful
internationally, and were cheaper to
manufacture. Ducati engaged Italjet boss
Leo Tartarini to assist with styling of the
500cc Desmo Sport parallel twin, but sales
were dismal. It became obvious that
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