A Look at Ducati’s History

On July 4th of 1926, Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati had its simple beginning in Bologna, Italy when the three brothers, Adriano, Marcello and BrunoDucati started a factory to produce vacuum tubes, condensers and other radio components. The years 1955-1958 were limelight years for Ducati after the engineer Fabio Taglioni is employed on May 1st,1954.In 1955, Ducati wins the III Motogiro d’Italia with the Marianna 100cc. In 1956, Ducati wins, for the second consecutive time, the Motogiro, with the 125cc version of the Marianna. On July 15th of the same year, the 125 Desmo enters and wins the Grand Prix in Sweden. On November 30th, the Siluro wins 46 speed records at the Monza circuit. The production of the 125 Sport begins.

The company, after many years of challenging times, has later on evolved to become the only non-Japanese motorcycle manufacturer to win in the Superbike World Championship(SBK). Their victory hasn’t been as ordinary as their beginnings though. They’ve been champions 16 times since 1988 up till the present.

The Ducati Series hadn’t been merely manufactured with performance in mind. Coupled with speed and power is the fancy for style, a very -much part of Italian nature. “Sinuous, seductive and flexible lines with a permanent, timeless quality that sets an unsurpassable standard”, that’s how the manufacturer describes what they have been manufacturing for the past six decades.

Photo Gallery of Ducati’s Historical Time Line

1926 July 4th: The Cavalieri Ducati brothers, Adriano, Bruno and Marcello, founded the Company Scientifica Radiobrevetti Ducati. During the same year, the design of the first condenser, the “Manens”, was created.	1935 June 1st: The building of the Borgo Panigale Factory began. 1939 The Company reached the total number of  seven thousand employees.
1944 October 12th: The factory was destroyed after a bombing.	1946 The production of the “Cucciolo” began by March.
1954 While Ducati is under state control, the Company was split into Ducati Elettrotecnica (Ducati Energia) and Ducati Meccanica (Ducati Motor).  In September 1957, two Ducati employees, Leopoldo Tartarini and Giorgio Monetti, left for a trip around the world on their Ducati 175 motorbikes. This feat was achieved in just one year.	1958 The Ducati 125 Desmo, raced by Bruno Spiaggiari, won the 125 Italian championship. 1960 The Ducati 250 two cylinder Desmo was designed for Mike Hailwood ©.
1963 Engineer Taglioni designed the Apollo, featuring a four cylinder engine.	1968 The first Desmo road bike, the Mark 3D, was produced. The Ducati Scrambler was introduced to the Italian market.
1971 Ducati’s first two cylinder racing bike, the 500GP, was presented. During the same year, the first two cylinder roadbike, the 750GT, was launched.	1972 On April 23rd, Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari won the 200 Mile race at Imola with the Ducati 750 Desmo.
1974 The first two cylinder road bike with a desmodromic system, the 750 Super Sport, was presented.	1977 The American Cook Nielson won the 200 mile race at Daytona with the Ducati 750.
1978 On June 2nd, Mike Hailwood © won the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man with the Ducati 900SS.	1980 The 600 Pantah TT 2, the first racebike with a trellis frame, was launched.
1986 Marco Lucchinelli won the Battle of Twins at Daytona with the 750 F1. The four valve, two cylinder propeller called Desmoquattro was launched. 1988 On April 3rd, Ducati won the first Superbike World Championship race with the 851, raced by Marco Lucchinelli.	1990 The French pilot, Raymond Roche, won the first Superbike World Championship Driver Title for Ducati with the 851.
1993 On March 5th, the production of the Ducati Monster began.	1994 The 916 was launched on the market, and for the first time the Superbike World Title went to Carl Fogarty with the 916.
1998 The Ducati Museum and the World Ducati Week were created.	1999 Ducati Corse was born.
2002 The MotoGP Desmosedici prototype was presented.	2003 June 15th is the first historic victory of the Desmosedici, raced by Loris Capirossi.
2006 Ducati Corse won its 14th constructor title, its 12th driver title and over 250 victories in the Superbike World Championship. In the MotoGP, Ducati wins the first two positions with Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi and gets the third position for the constructor and driver world championship. On November 13th of the same year, the production of the 1098 begins.	2007 The Virtual Museum was created. Gabriele Del Torchio took over from Federico Minoli at the helm of the company. The fifth World Ducati Week was attended by more than 50,000 visitors. No fewer than three new models went into production: the 1098, the Hypermotard and the Desmosedici. On 23 September, at the Motegi racetrack in Japan, Casey Stoner claimed the first MotoGP Rider’s title for Ducati, while we also bagged the Team and Manufacturer’s titles.