Fabio Taglioni was technical director of Ducati, the Direttore Tecnico, for 30 years and was responsible for all kinds of engine designs, ranging from a lightweight single-cylinder to a huge V4, but especially the 90-degree V-twins with king-shaft bevel drive for which he is probably best remembered will be.
Throughout his career, Taglioni considered the racing circuit as the best testing ground for the development of successive Ducati models and the demonstration of their value. His kingshaft V-twin models from the 1970s are proof of that reasoning.
They were the mainstay of the Ducati range for the entire decade, achieving many memorable racing successes such as Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari’s dominant 1-2 victory in the prestigious Imola 200 of 1972 and the now legendary comeback victory at the Isle of Man TT by the late Mike Hailwood in 1978.
Personal memories from both Hailwood and Smart of their Ducati successes form the chapters of this comprehensive book.
Alan Cathcart was and is the owner and racer of several of those classic Desmo V-twins. He is also the author of several bestsellers on Ducati motorcycles, including the very first history of the brand in the English language, published in 1983. As such, he became a personal friend and confidant of Ing. Taglioni, so no one is better qualified to write the history of one of the greatest names in motorcycle design.
Fabio Taglioni – Designer of Ducati Legends is a 232-page book with more than 200 photos, most of them in full color. They range from historical factory archive material to modern digital photography created especially for this title.
The history of Ducati and Taglioni’s personal story are covered in detail, along with detailed information about his most famous machines. The story begins in post-World War II Italy and the company’s entry into the motorcycle market with an engine that could be clipped onto a bicycle to provide transportation for the public in a country with an economy struggling to recover from the devastation of wartime.
From there the company shifted its activities to real motorcycles and by the mid-1950s it was just one of many manufacturers of lightweight machines. Then came Fabio Taglioni. He joined the company in May 1954 and within a year he changed the tide with his groundbreaking ‘Marianna’ Gran Sport 100 design.
Its small 98cc single-cylinder engine was technically far ahead of its rivals, with an overhead camshaft valve train driven from the crankshaft by a shaft and bevel gears. This was a configuration mainly seen on 350cc and 500cc racing machines of the time, and was previously unheard of in such a small bike as the Gran Sport 100. It was an instant hit with enthusiasts.
It immediately caught on with the racing-mad Italian public and when he and his bigger brother Gran Sport 125 started winning endurance road races and even excelling in Grand Prix competition via desmo derivatives, sales success soon followed.
Taglioni’s genius had set Ducati on the path to the preeminence that Ducati enjoys today in the world of Italian motorcycle production, for these little GS ultra-lightweights were just the first steps on the journey. Their basic design parameters were used in future successful single-cylinder motorcycles from 250 to 450cc and even in the famous V-twins of the 1970s.
In the early 1980s, some 25 years after his first single-cylinder machines and a full decade after the first appearance of his 90-degree V-twins, Taglioni modernized the V-twins and made them future-proof by with overhead camshaft can be replaced by a belt-driven system. First seen on the Pantah models, this brought Ducati into the 21st century, and that basic architecture is still used on today’s twins.
All of Taglioni’s groundbreaking designs are extensively covered in this book: single-cylinders, parallel twins, V-twins and even a few experimental four-cylinder prototypes – the gigantic Apollo V-four of 1964 and the Bi-Pantah, his last design that never reached production went.
Alan Cathcart was fortunate to have unparalleled access to the Ducati factory and to Ing. Fabio Taglioni during the last decade of his tenure as Ducati Meccanica’s Direttore Tecnico. That’s what makes this book so special.
Fabio Taglioni – Designer of Ducati Legends is available worldwide exclusively from Amazon for €30.00 or local currency equivalent. Sales tax may apply in certain countries. There is also an e-book version available which costs £8.95 in the UK and the equivalent in local currency elsewhere.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.