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Ducati
Mike Hailwood Replica
One glorious victory led to a
string of desirable specials
(Ian Falloon, via Donington
Auctions, March 2025)
Ed's note: the 1982
900 MHR pictured here is the headline lot for the
Donington Auctions April 2025 sale. See it here
and the full
catalogue here.)
It is now nearly fifty
years since Mike Hailwood came out of retirement to
win the 1978 TT Formula One race at the Isle of Man on
an NCR Ducati 900. Against the odds the then
38-year-old Hailwood won the race at an average speed
of 174km/h, with a fastest lap of 177km/h.
After an absence of 11 years from competition it had been, in his own words, “the easiest TT I can remember”. The Ducati factory was so elated by this victory that, as they had done six years earlier after the Imola 200, they promised street Mike Hailwood Replicas. In typical Ducati fashion they took some time to appear, but they duly arrived later in 1979.
The first models were
primarily for the UK market and were ostensibly
modified 900 Super Sports. The one-piece full fairing
replicated style of Hailwood’s NCR 900, as did the
tank and seat unit.
Although the red white
and green colour scheme is often associated with the
colours of the Italian flag, they were used on
Hailwood’s bike to represent the colours of the team’s
sponsor, Castrol oil.
The 900 MHR differed
from the 900SS in that it had Nippon Denso instruments
from the Darmah, but the frame, Marzocchi suspension
and Brembo brakes were shared with the 900 SS.
The engines were also standard 900 SS, but with the optional 40mm Dell’Orto carburettors and Conti mufflers standard. With the same 9.3:1 compression ratio, the claimed power was 72 horsepower at 7500rpm.
As the Replica was
proving to be exceedingly popular, it was slightly
re-vamped for 1981, the most notable improvement a
two-piece fairing. Side covers now covered the battery
and rear carburettor, but essentially the bike
underneath was still 900 SS.
Quieter Silentium
silencers replaced the barking Contis, but the
kick-start Replica was by far the most popular
bevel-drive model in Ducati’s line-up of the early
1980s.
Between 1979 and 1986
Ducati built more than 7000 Mike Hailwood Replicas and
it had an unmistakable style and presence. Even today
this is a bike that gets noticed. And it was all due
to the great Mike Hailwood providing Ducati their
first World Championship at the Isle of Man nearly
fifty years ago.
See our
profile on the later version of this machine, the
MHR Mille.
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