Racing Ducati Singles - A Blast from the Past

The Bike was my 1st Racer in England back in the 1960s aged17, having had a 125 Monza from being 15.
Back then in England there was absolutely nothing British made that even compared, all the way up to 250cc. If you wanted performance coupled to great looks Italy was the place to be looking & that how my love affair 1st started with Ducati. I had previously been racing my self tuned Monza since 16, along with an older group of keen racers, but more experienced, who i owed a great deal for advise & help, who like myself all had an Engineering Background which would count for so much.
After being ferried around the short circuits in England to race my Monza for best part of a year, i felt that i needed something a little faster if i wanted to win, but it had to be a Duke, which led me to the local importer of purely Racers in the UK - Bill Smith in Chester, an old hand at competing in the IOM TT. When i told him what i was looking for, plus what i had in exchange, he told me that he thought he had the very thing an ex GP 125 Desmo Single, that he had acquired via Kings of Oxford in late 1961, a National Chain of Motorcycle Retailers
The bike came with a whole list of spares. sprockets, pistons, valves ect, but without any technical instructions at all, but he was able to tell me which type of oil it must always use, which was Castrol CasterType R 20s monograde & never 30s or 40s ( Which was the most expensive of all of the 3 diff grades ) & upon start up, it must be fully warmed up before use ! Bill took my other 125 in exchange & i paid £150 from my savings for the Desmo.................................. After charging the battery, the following week we took the bike .to Aintree nr Liverpool where every other Tuesday the Circuit was used for Race Bike Testing. i soon found it had 6 gears, not really knowing the power, but it seemed at its best at 13000 rpm & on the over run went as high as 17000 rpm, with a Grimeca in Front & an Oldani in the rear & far quicker than the 2 stroke Bultacos testing there. The proper Racing had yet to come with trips to Northern Ireland on proper closed road circuits.............. but in a nutshell i was really impressed & looking forward to using it in ANGER................... ! In the meantime i did some research into the bikes previous History which proved very interesting,,,,,,,, Bill Smith had told me that it originally came via Kings of Oxford, so i started there. On speaking to the main dealership in Oxford i was amazed when they told me who actually owned all of the Dealerships in the UK - a Mr Stan Hailwood the father of Mike Hailwood one of Englands Top Motorcycle Racers at the time and being fully sponsored by him personally............... When i explained my reason for the phone call, they very kindly gave me another Tel Number in Oxford to ring....... When i did call i was amazed again that i was indeed speaking to him. I explained the reason for my call regarding the Ducati. He put me on hold for a few minutes & when he came back he asked me what the Frame Number etc actually was........... When i told him it was D1, he went on to tell me it was one of Mikes Ducati's that he raced in 1960 & that it was one of only an handful made by the Race Dept at Ducati in Bologna. It had proved successful in Mikes hand with a number of wins to his credit in1960 including one G.P WIN in Spain. He had now moved up to other Classes & would not be racing in the 125cc Class again. ............ I asked him regarding any Technical information for the bike........... He went on to say. No there was none, as it was maintained by the Factory themselves, which was included when it was purchased by him for Mike, but gave me a name of someone at Ducati to speak to who would help - a Mr Farne