Beschreibung:

Mike Hailwood’s 1978 Isle of Man TT comeback ride is the stuff of legend. Out of top-flight bike racing for seven years and away from the Island for eleven, he took on and beat the might of the Honda works team to win the Formula 1 TT at record speed. Mike’s mount that day was a Sports Motorcycles-entered Ducati v-twin, and the Italian factory lost little time in capitalising on this outstanding success by launching a road-going replica. Like the race-bike, the MHR was based on the production 900SS, but - inevitably - had much more in common with the latter than the former. Most obvious difference was the full fairing finished in red, green and white, complemented by a glassfibre tank and racing seat. In fact, the ‘tank’ hid a steel fuel reservoir, glassfibre being illegal in the UK for tanks, and the seat’s clever two-piece design enabled it to accommodate a pillion passenger. Mechanical changes were confined to lighter wheels and improved Brembo brakes, and the MHR’s performance was pretty much the same as that of the 900SS: around 135mph flat-out. Its late owner acquired this MHR from its first UK owner in December 1982, delighting in its performance and using the machine to attend various runs and rallies. The accompanying Swansea V5C document records the date of first registration as 29.01.81, while the presence of a ‘km/h’ speedometer would appear to indicate that this machine was privately imported into the UK. Its late owner’s notes record the ‘mileage’ at acquisition as 12,444 kilometres and list various maintenance tasks carried out, including the fitting of Lucas RITA electronic ignition. The machine is offered with Lucas RITA fitting instructions, owner’s instruction manuals and four expired MoTs for the years 1980, 1991, 1996 and 2001.