This great racer-based Ducati may be painted to celebrate the Imola 200 victory of Paul Smart, but it wasn’t a case of just buying the expensive and collectable Ducati PaulSmart 1000 LE which the Italian firm released in 2006. Instead, owner Kevin Palmer created this race bike competing in the Ducati DesmoDue series, which somehow seems far more appropriate. And he’s ended up with the convenience of a modern bike which arguably looks closer to his inspiration than the official tribute machine.
Kevin built the bike over the Winter of 2010. He got the idea from the Imola project produced by Baines Racing, whose kit could be added to a Ducati Monster or Supersport kit bike. Baines originally built a one-off special race version for a Ducati DesmoDue racer named Geoff Spencer ten years ago, and this was what Kevin had fallen in love with. Although the cost stopped him at the time, he kept track of the machine as it passed through the hands of a couple of other owners and survived the occasional crash, until the latest owner planned to strip it for parts including the motor, loom, ECU and alloy swing arm. Despite the heartbreak of seeing his dream bike being broken for bits, it did mean Kevin was able to pick up useful parts to create his own, including the alloy tank, tank cover, seat unit and exhaust. And unlike the kit bikes, the original project tank cover was carbon fibre rather than fibreglass.
He already had a Ducati 900SS for a planned cafe racer road bike project, but by this stage Baines had stopped making parts for the Imola kit, and a combination of the parts needed and cash flow meant that the 900SS ended up being sold. But the plan still remained, as Kevin was already competing in the DesmoDue series on a Ducati SuperSport which already had a cafe racer style fairing.
So why not convert the current race bike? Over winter, the SuperSport racer was stripped down, and the dilemma of modifying the standard frame for the modified bodywork was solved with a swap deal for the owner of the Baines bike who was planning a stock SS race bike. So now Kevin had the Baines frame, plenty of parts, and the only challenge was that it was designed for a 620 injection engine, whereas the race bike was a 583cc carb model. The larger engine bolt holes were solved with a trip to B&Q for some tube to make some spacers, and the rest was relatively simple. Until the rear sets didn’t fit properly and some later SS ones had to be acquired. With the 583 motor fitted, black bodywork and the Class B yellow number boards it was ready to race, picking up a few trophies and helping Kevin to win his first event.
After 8 years in the DesmoDue series, Kevin had planned to move up to Class A only after winning his first race, so now that was achieved he went out in the last meeting of the year with the attitude to win it or bin it. And in the pouring rain, he binned it! But on the bright side the Class A rebuild meant it wasn’t any extra work.
The step up required some new parts donated from an ex-race 620 engine including the wiring, and also included some adjustable forks from a Ducati 900 which were restricted from use in the lower class. As it was going to be racing in 2012, the 40th Anniversary of Paul Smart’s famous Imola win, it seemed fitting to paint the bike as a tribute. So once more it was stripped for the frame, fairing bracket and swinging arm went to the powder coaters to become green. That helped to hide the modern 900SS alloy swing arm.
At the same time the wheels were powder coated to look like old chrome examples, all the alloy was polished and drilled for lightness, and as a final touch, Kevin officially changed his race number of seven years to the 16 used by Smart.
It’s been 2 years since the bike started racing in the Paul Smart colours, and it has got a lot of attention. At the Festival of a Thousand Bikes at Mallory, it got the seal of approval from the Ducati legend himself, who said he wouldn’t mind a go if he’d had time, but settled for signing the racer. But best of all Kevin’s opinion of his bike? ‘It’s great’.
Paul Smart’s Imola Win:
Kent-born Paul Smart started racing in the latter half of the 1960s, winning his first MCN 250 cc championship in 1966 and racing in a variety of classes and championships including the Isle of Man TT races, and racing in North America in the early 1970s on air-cooled Kawasaki H2R two-stroke triples.
The Ducati ride was apparently arranged by Paul’s wife Maggie, the sister of Barry Sheene, to ride the new Ducati 750 race bike based on the GT750 roadster. This was the arrival of a new Fabio Taglioni V-twin engine. In 1971, the Ducati GP performance had been spoilt by a run of gearbox and ignition problems.
But the 200 Mile race at Italy saw a first for Paul Smart, and second for team-mate Bruno Spaggiari which gave the Italian firm masses of positive publicity and set the approach for engine and racing development for years to come. Not only were the Italian firm confident enough of a 1-2 that they agreed before the race to pool all prize money and share it equally, but the race-winning machine had been promised to Smart. He still owns it today, and it’s currently on display in the Ducati museum in Bologna.
Ducati Paul Smart Replicas:
After the Imola win the first year of mass production for the Ducati Super Sport was 1974. Just 401 bikes were produced and set new standards as effectively production racers with the minimum amount of street legal concessions.
In 2006, the limited-edition PaulSmart 1000 LE was produced as part of the SportClassic series designed by Pierre Terblanche. In addition to the retro styling, the wire-spoked rims were fitted with special Pirelli Phantom tyres with an exclusive retro tread pattern.
Production was set to 2000 models using the same 1000 Dual Spark engine as the rest of the Sport Classic range but with a range of extras including multi-adjustable Ohlins front and rear, steering damper and lower clip-ons.
The limited numbers make it a rare and therefore expensive bike to own, with adequate performance and a lot of style. But if you wanted to get around a track quickly, you’d have more luck on Kevin Palmer’s special detailed above.
Leave a Reply