Ten Best Ducatis In The Factory Museum

Bologna, is the world’s gateway to the picturesque Emilia Romagna region of Italy’s east coast. Quite recently I flew-in a day prior to boarding a bus to Rimini for the international press ride of Ducati’s new 2018 Monster 821.

The highlight of that layover was an informal tour of Ducati’s factory museum… what could be better than to take a quick walk over to the Ducati factory from your local hotel in the Borgo Panigale suburb? It’s a pretty nice place, the walk from the hotel is almost park-like, and the factory itself isn’t too large. Best of all, the Ducati folks are a warm and friendly crew.

The stylish and modern museum is right on the factory grounds and is definitely worth a stop if you’re ever passing through Bologna. I only had my cell phone with me, so apologies for the hand-held and not-so professionally lit photos. Here are my personal favorites from the visit.

This is Ducati’s very first racing motorcycle to be powered by its now legendary 90-degree L-layout V-Twin. The example shown won the non-championship Yugoslavian Grand Prix in 1971 piloted by Gilberto Parlotti. Another 500 GP Bicilindrica was raced in 1971 by Phil Read, but his only classified result in a World Championship round on it was a 4th place at the ’71 Italian Grand Prix. In the face of an onslaught from MV Agusta and the two-stroke Japanese machines, perhaps the 500 GP Bicilindrica’s greatest contribution was that it became the base for Ducati’s legendary 750 GT streetbike.

Foggy won the first of his four WSBK titles on Ducati 916-based machines starting in 1994 aboard this 916 F94. Massimo Tamburini’s gorgeous and iconic design transformed the motorcycle into an authentic work of art. The 916 stole the hearts and minds of street riders, racing fans and racers alike. Meanwhile, Carl Fogarty set to demoralizing his competition wielding the beautiful 916 like a sword as he sliced through the pack. Geeze this is corny, but the 916 does tend to do that to a guy.

Ducati launched the first 851 “Desmoquattro” in 1988 and immediately won with Marco Lucchinelli at the Donington Park round of the World Superbike Championship. The 851 was competitive in its first seasons of World Superbike, but it was Raymond Roche who would take the 851 to its greatest heights, winning five races in the 1989 season, before taking this 851 F90 to the World Superbike rider’s title the following year. Desmoquattro-powered Ducatis would go on to score the lion’s share of WSBK championships for more than a quarter of a century following Roche’s 1990 title. The 2019 season will mark the beginning of a new V-4-powered Desmosedici era for Ducati in World Superbike. Can they fill those giant shoes left behind by their own V-Twins?

If ever there was a perfect racing motorcycle it was this absolute beauty. The diminutive Supermono isn’t in your face like a Britten V1000, but it’s a work of art nonetheless. The mono its name refers to is its unique single-cylinder engine, which was quite cleverly designed by none other than current Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali himself. Claudio knows his craft, too: Witness his innovative use of a second reciprocating “conrod” like structure to help offset the inertial pulses of its single piston and let the Supermono rev quite a bit higher than other Singles in its class. It worked… the Supermono won the Italian and Swiss national Singles championships as well as the overall European Supermono championship.