900 SS TT IOM

1978 was another exceptional year for Ducati in terms of race results.

Four years after retiring from competition following an incident during the 1974 Formula 1 race in Germany, Mike Hailwood, who had raced and won with Ducati for many years during his career, returned for the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man.

A legendary tale that began with an encounter in 1977.

Hailwood was at Silverstone when he met Steve Wynne from Sport Motorcycles Ltd. in Manchester. Wynne had Hailwood test a Ducati that he had prepared. The British champion appreciated the classic setup of the riding position and jokingly offered to race the motorcycle at the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man the following year.

Hailwood and Wynne came to an agreement, but Mike was so unsure about his chances in the race that he wanted to compete using a pseudonym. Wynne purchased three motorcycles from Ducati that were part of a small batch of twenty 900s prepared for endurance races. Built in Borgo Panigale and prepared by the best mechanics, the bike delivered 87hp of power, a little less than the Honda four-cylinder, built specifically to win the first Tourist Trophy world championship.

The Isle of Man is home to one of the world’s most challenging road circuits, a concentration of sheer adrenaline. Riding his 900 SS, Mike Hailwood battled another great rider of the time, Phil Read on the Honda, and was ultimately able to beat him, against all the odds.

A spectacular victory achieved at the age of thirty-eight, exactly twenty years after his motorcycle racing debut. A tale that has become part of motorcycling legend.