I have a confession to make; I am a DUCATISTA.

There, its out in the open at last!  It is a relief to be able to admit it to my friends, OK I might get some funny looks from now on, but who cares?  I donít!.  I just hope that my example will be the catalyst for others to come out and admit it as well.

Ducatis have been a long time passion of mine, both on the road and on the track and you will find within the main part of this website a listing of the parts I supply to help out others with the same affliction.   

As I have raced a Ducati since I first started in 1985, I was delighted when the chance to buy the 'Ex-works' Formula 750 machine that I currently race, came out of the blue one day in Ireland when I was racing my 750 SFC Laverda. I was offered 'The ex works Bruno Spaggiari Imola winning Ducati', I was intrigued if a little sceptical. Anyway, on my way back from the meeting I was racing at, I called into this guy's house and was escorted to the garage where I saw the bike, and no, it wasn't the tatty old 860GT I had expected, I was not sure what it actually was, but I was sure it was a works bike of some sort. Feigning a disinterest I did not feel, I opened negotiations over price. Eventually we agreed on a mutually acceptable figure and I threw the bike in the van and drove off fast before he could change his mind. The factory verified its history as having been the third of three bikes produced for the 1973 season, apparently it was the spare bike, and as such has little known history until it was supplied to Coburn and Hughes, the then UK importers in 1975 for Percy Tait to ride. Percy has confirmed this, he also said that when it first arrived it had the short stroke motor fitted, but after much trouble and many return trips to the factory, it came back with the 1972 specification motor currently fitted. Percy then got his Triumph ride back and the Ducati lay unused until he sold it to an Irish hotelier who sponsored Steve Cull on the bike for a few seasons, it was on this bike that Cull established his International reputation, being timed at 155MPH at the North West 200 one year. After it became uncompetitive it was passed down through the ranks of Irish riders until I was lucky enough to buy it.

If you own a Ducati, or even a lesser bike come to that, you ought to try racing, it really is a lot of fun, and you get to meet a lot of nice people, but there again I am a bit biased I suppose.

My other Ducati (non racing I'm afraid) highlights include a ride on the first Monster pre-production prototype at the factory when I visited with Alan Cathcart who was doing the first road test by an outsider, I suppose I was the second (unofficial) outside tester, and a few days later seeing the first 916 in the styling studios and being absolutely gobsmacked by it. I rushed home and told Sports Motorcycles, the then UK importer, to multiply their current order by a factor of at least five, as the bike was sex on wheels and was bound to be huge success, not a difficult prediction to make really !.