Phil Reed and the Ducati 500GP

You sometimes wonder what Fabio Taglioni did all day; attend to his beloved orchids? Because while Colin Seeley sorted the Ducati 500GP’s handling another motor was sent to Renato Armaroli’s workshop in downtown Bologna for a power boost. Renato had built a 250 Ducati single in 1964 with a four valve head and belt drive to the camshaft, and pulled off the same trick with the 500GP bike, reducing the included valve angle from 80 to 30(!) degrees in the process, partly by ditching the desmodromics. He recorded 74bhp at 12000rpm, a long way short of the MV triple’s 88bhp at 13000rpm but a damn fine first effort. The full story, including a visit to Renato’s workshop is in Benzina 14, available via my bio link. I even got to ask Phil Read what it was like – a good bike, but needed more power apparently – and persuade him to race it with #14 number boards especially for inclusion in Benzina 14. I might have made that last bit up

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