Chasing Down a Legend
by Gaven Dall’Osto

 

Author Paul Barden is a friend of Brook Henry and Paul Taylor and volunteered to scribe their re-incarnation of the ‘Chequered Flag’ NCR Ducati ridden by Mike Hailwood in his legendary 1978 IOM comeback win. Initially printed as an extended handbook for the 12 lucky owners who each purchased a replica, nicknamed ‘The Hailwood’, it is now a general publication. The first pages still include congratulations to the owner from Pauline and David Hailwood (Mike’s wife and son) a space for their signatures, the Engine Number, Frame Number, Date of Delivery and a short tribute to Pauline who passed away in June 2020 follows.

The book itself can best be described as a jigsaw puzzle of two stories. Firstly, Paul pieces together the background story of Mike’s comeback win. Each paragraph is a story about an individual, their background and their contribution. Many facts are repeated as they mesh into the stories of other characters. Valuable insights from Steve Wynne (owner of Sports Motorcycles) who paid for and tweaked Mike’s NCR Ducati and Giorgio Casolari (who worked for NCR at the time) included a snippet of how Rino Caracchi carved a slab of foam to sculpt the long-range fuel tank around a young Virginio Ferrari. Ted Macaulay (Mike’s close friend and journalist) explains the deals he negotiated to get Mike a bike and entered into the IOM TT. Pauline Hailwood gave her insight into race day and life with Mike. Ducati had no spokesman but enough information was found to credit Franco Farné as the most likely to have designed and covertly arranged the manufacture of the special Ducati endurance engine as management banned any involvement with racing at that time.

The second story is of ‘The Hailwood’ project. The most significant piece to this puzzle was the chance discovery of Giuseppe, an Italian Maestro who somehow acquired the original drawings, casting patterns, raw aluminium castings and even a complete Ducati ‘Endurance’ engine all housed in his workshop. Access to these components gave Brook Henry the tools to remake a replica of Mike’s engine which he called ‘Riturno’ (Return in English). Brook was originally content to build Riturnos for customers. Paul Taylor (a friend, bodywork and exhaust guru in the US) spoke with Miguel Galluzzi (creator of the Monster) who suggested that they should make 12 replicas of Mike’s bike (12 being Mike’s race number based on his then number of TT wins) for the 40^th Anniversary of his 1978 win. Subsequently in the UK, another friend (motorcycle designer) John Keogh proposed the idea to Pauline and David Hailwood. Their full support initiated the research on unravelling the details of Mike’s actual ‘Chequered Flag’ bike. The original had been damaged and rebuilt several times. This bike, a damaged original faring, the original engine, spare engine and sister bike are now all owned by American collector Lawrence Auriana who gave full access to the project. Photos from the Jim Greening photo archive were acknowledged as invaluable showing the stripped-down machine and the modification to left foot gear lever for Mike’s good ankle.

The recreation of wheels, frame suspension, brakes, bodywork and even Mike’s windscreen-cleaning split tennis ball with sponge is described in detail, claiming ‘The Hailwood’ as faithful a replica possible. ‘The Hailwood’ was introduced at the IOM Classic TT for the 40^th anniversary. The Lawrence Auriana Hailwood was also there and ridden on a parade lap of the IOM course by John McGuiness.  The actual christening of ‘The Hailwood’ was at the Vintage Festival in the US where it competed admirably on its race track debut.

The final chapter returns to where it all began with a blow-by-blow of the 1978 race. The Epilogue follows, detailing the tragic death and funeral of Mike and his daughter Michelle. Finally, we learn of the first delivery of ‘The Hailwood’ to Melbournian Peter Clark in late spring 2020. Great photos complement this wonderful compilation of history.

Chasing Down A Legend
​​​​​​​By Paul Barden
Hardback 112 pages
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