4th picture,,Dave Robbins on the Peterbuilt? Same leathers?

edit, maybe Robert Holden? it's not the Peterbuilt, but a Bob Brown TT.

The TT's interested me from the moment I saw my first one in 1981. When I worked for Sports Motorcycles I had built a 600cc F2 Pantah for Tony Rutter to ride with some success in the 1981 F2 Isle of Man TT, the factory then supplied a genuine works TT2 for Tony to race later that year in the Ulster GP in Northern Ireland when he clinched the F2 world championship. During 1982 the factory supplied is with a TT2 for the 1982 F2 world championship which again he won. Towards the end of 1982 Sports motorcycles
closed down and Tony and I started Ducati/TR racing UK. During early 1983 we were invited to race in the Battle of the Twins at Daytona, however with the demise of Sports we had not got a suitable machine, the TT2 that had been promised by the factory had not arrived. I contacted the Ducati factory and they promised me a "good" 750cc engine for Daytona. however we had not got a bike. I knew that George Fogarty, ( father of Carl) had a production TT2 that he said that we could borrow. In January I visited the factory and saw the 750 motor that they were building for us, unfortunately due to the fact that they had no cylinders with a nicosil bore they were having to use cylinders with a cast liner and they had experienced piston seizures on the rear cylinder, they were confident though of overcoming the problem. However one week before the bike was due to be air freighted to Daytona we still did not have the engine, so I jumped into my car and drove down to Bologna to collect it. The trip took about 72 hours, the engine was fitted into the frame, and I had to fabricate a new exhaust system to the drawing that they had given me. We had no time to test the bike, it was fired up the evening before it was airfreighted to the US. During practice Tony said that the motor had tightened up, I assumed that it was the rear cylinder so I gave the rear cylinder a really really good honing, while the motor was out of the frame I also gave the front cylinder the same treatment. Tony finished third in the race behind Jay Springsteen on the works Harley Davidson ( Lucifers hammer) and Jimmy Adamo on his 750 bevel Ducati. Really the Harley should not have been allowed to start as it did not comply to the BOT technical regulations. Tony sat up and slowed imediatly after he had crossed what he thought was the finish line and was passed by Jimmy Adama, it turned out that the finish line was not the line where the race started !. I striped the motor after the race and it was perfect, a day or so later Tony raced it in the Daytona 200, I cant remember where he finished. later in the year Tony finished third in the Isle of Man F1 TT behind the factory Honda's of Joey Dunlop and Roger Marshall and in front of the factory Suzuki's etc. That 750 engine was used in many British and European BOT races, and championship races. It did not let us down, and completed over 20 races, when Tony crashed so badly at Barcelona in 1985 it was this motor that he was using,......however this time with Nicosill bores !

That is how and why I came to like so much the F1 Ducati, and of course the wonderful TT's

Mr Slinn, I would think that you, Mr Rutter, and Dr Eng Taglioni are the 3 people responsible for most peoples interest in TT's.
Thank you.
I remember reading magazines with pictures of your bikes and the picture of Dr T with the TT frame.
Then seeing one of the TT2's that came to Australia in Norm Frasers window in Brisbane. (you had to get there early to see the TT2 before the window was covered in dribble)
I could never afford one of the few and it took me 24 years to have a TT2 replica, but it was worth the wait.

graeme

The January/February 1982 issue of the DIOC Newsletter (Ducati International Owners Club) had a pic of the brand new TT2 on the cover.

I had to wait until 1987 to get an F1B to join the club. I had a Darmah and a 900SS, but when I got to ride the first F1B in town in 1986, I started saving my pennies for one.

After I got the F1, I sold all my bevel kit.


.

H Graeme,

I have heard from a lot of people about the TT2 that was in Norm Frasers showroom window, and of the people that drooled over it and dribbled down the window. Who eventually bought it, and was it successful ?. Is it still in one piece ?

Pat.

Hello Pat,

I asked Ian Gowanloch some questions regarding the TT2's that came to Australia back then, here is Ian's answer,,,
(quote)
hi Graeme,
The factory supplied 7 TT2s to the Australian market, 2 of the first model with the 18" front wheel and 36mm carbs and 5 of the second type with the 16" wheel and 41mm carbs.
I imported 70 frames along with much of the running gear to assemble them. Although there is nothing about the bike pictured that would lead me to conclude it is one of mine, I think it unlikely that anybody would have put lights on a genuine racer.
There were 55 Verlicchi frames and 15 from a company called Icomek. The Icomek frames were not as well put together as the Verlicchis but were faster around a track; steeper at the front and longer at the back. A lot of the frames ended up with the correct forks, shocks, wheels and brakes so were quite hard to pick as not being Bolognese.
regards
Ian

(end quote)

Phil Anstey had some pictures of one of the TT2s that Frasers imported from the early 80's with some pictures of it, and the same bike in 2009, so there are still some about and still raced.
graeme

Thanks for the information Graeme, It is interesting to note that Australia imported some TT2's with 16" front wheels and 41mm carburettors. The British and European F2 technical regulations stated that you could only use the carburettor choke size that the machine was homologated with, which was 36 mm. We did test one of TR's F2's with a 16" front wheel but concluded that the exhaust system grounded quite easily. Perhaps in Australia their F2 bikes were allowed to use 41mm carburettors.

I have heard lots of story's regarding TT2 frames manufactured by other people are faster and steer quicker than the Verlicchi one.

However it is interesting to note that the Ducati that won four F2 world championships, 3 F2 IOM TT's and loads of British and European BOTT races and two British BOTT championships used a Verlicchi frame.

Pat.

My introduction to the TT Ducati was probably in 1984/85 and it was the Friday of a round of the Australian Superbike series at http://www.wintonraceway.com.au in Victoria, Australia.

At about 5 pm that Friday evening as I was closing up shop of my family's Honda dealership (which is 15 miles from Winton) when this fellow walked through the doors and "sheepishly" introduced himself: "Hi, I am the Brisbane Honda Dealer, I am racing at Winton this weekend and I was wondering if I could use your workshop to do some repairs to our bike which had a fall in practice today?"

Sure! I said and looked out onto the street to see his race bike. As I turned towards the street he offered "Errr, it's not a Honda... it's a Ducati...(hope you don't change your mind)." Hence his sheepish demeanor...

The fellow was Bill McDonald from Frasers Brisbane, and the bike was his gob smackingly beautiful Factory TT2 racer in red and yellow. I had never seen one before, not even in a magazine!! I felt like I must have been living under a rock that such a fantastic looking bike could exist and I had not so much as seen a picture of it.

So, did I tell him to push off and go find the nearest Ducati dealership to fix his bike at? No way! I walked him down to our workshop and introduced him to my own pride and joy, my 1982 Hailwood 600 Pantah, which I still own today!

I don't remember much about the races that weekend, but I do have the most vivid memory of seeing that bike for the first time in our workshop. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

In November 1985 I acquired my second Ducati, a 750 F1, which I also still own today!

Newbie to the site and TTs here, Started on Ducatis back in 1962 allways a singles fan. as to my TT love
It was seeing Lous Bike and a Book he gave me, That lead to a few motogiros on the singles .
and now I want a classic track day bike so I am looking to start buikding.

I was into my big Jap bikes at the time (owned a GPz900R) when a mate purchased a 1985 F1. I fell in love with this little bike as soon as he turned the key. We used to ride together a lot & we regularly swapped rides. Unfortunately, work, life & family got in the way of my ever purchasing one until last year when I got my '86 F1 for restoration. I'm now in a position inlife where I can afford to spend some time & money on toys for myself, so the F1 is the first of the old Ducati collection that I plan to restore (having just finished spending waaay too much modifying my 2010 1198s Corse SE).