|
|
 |
Comeback Chariot
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hailwood’s 900TT1
Alan Cathcart
08/01/2007
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Photography by Kyoichi Nakamura
|
Of all the many great race victories against the odds, the many
sterling feats of skill and bravery that pack the pages of the past 100 years of
TT history—in this, its Centenary year—what took place on the Isle of Man on
June 3, 1978, is widely recognized as the most remarkable. On that day, 11 years
after he last raced on the world’s most challenging and dangerous race circuit,
Mike Hailwood made his fairytale comeback to the 37¾-mile public roads course
with a decisive victory in the TT Formula 1 race aboard his Sports Motorcycles
Ducati 900TT1.
 Hailwood’s 900TT1 sits on its race stand, ready
to tackle Mallory Park
nearly 30 years after its historic win. (Click image to enlarge)
But if you’d told me, as I hung over the fence on the outside
of the Creg-ny-Baa turn that day, watching my greatest hero pass Phil Read on
the factory Honda to win his comeback race on my favorite bike, that decades
later I’d be lapping the 1.3-mile Mallory Park racetrack in the British Midlands
on that very same motorcycle, I’d have reckoned that a potent combination of the
atypical warm weather and the Manx ale had got to you.
Yet, that’s exactly what happened, thanks to the generosity of
the present day owners of Hailwood’s TT-winner, New York-based Auriana brothers,
Mark and Larry, and the man who made Hailwood’s feat possible by providing him
with the bike in the first place, Sports Motor Cycles team owner Steve Wynne.
In doing so, not only did the dream of every Ducatista to ride
Hailwood’s TT winner come true, but also on a personal note I answered some
questions that had been left unresolved for many years. See, back at the start
of practice week in that ’78 TT, Mike the Bike had boomed past me on the Duke
going into Schoolhouse Corner in Ramsey, waving a nonchalant left hand to an
unknown, much slower rider, as he cruised to a ton-up lap on his desmo V-twin.
The earth moved—my hero waved at me!
Then, as I grappled with the weave caused by the dip in the
road surface just as I peeled into the left hander, I realized that his Ducati
had thundered through there as if on rails, shrugging off any minor
inconveniences the Manx road system could throw at it. "Wow, wish I was riding
that!" I remember thinking.
For exactly one week after his TT triumph, Mike Hailwood raced
the very same desmo Ducati V-twin to an even more improbable victory in a round
of the British TT Formula 1 title series (a forerunner of today’s Superbike
class) held at Mallory’s prestigious annual post-TT meeting. That day, Hailwood
demonstrated that his TT comeback success had been no fluke. As such, it gave
him arguably even greater satisfaction, as well as further rewarding Wynne, the
man who had persuaded Hailwood to ride the Ducati and race-prepared the
bike.
 RIDING STYLE
Helmet: Arai RX-7 Corsair
Leathers: Kushitani Power K-Suit
Gloves: Kushitani GPR K-816R
Boots: Kushitani Pro Master. (Click image to enlarge)
So, the chance to ride the Hailwood Ducati at Mallory Park made
this diehard Ducatista’s dream come true, yet the most remarkable thing I
noticed at once about the 900TT1 is how normal it feels to sit on and ride. Save
for the substitution of an oil cooler for the headlamp you might expect to find
in front of you, and the classical white-faced Veglia rev counter staring back
at you, this could be any period Ducati V-twin street bike. Though the clip-ons
are surprisingly steeply dropped—almost like a 125 GP racer—they do at least
allow you to tuck elbows and shoulders well in behind the generous fairing.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
