Ducparts9

When discussing Ducati’s with a possible buyer I often tell them of its advantages, abilities and the enjoyment they can offer the rider. Quickly, we’ll cover the advantages: Inexpensive to purchase. Parts are available, as are speed parts. It’s Lightweight. Possible power output. Power-to-weight ratio. Ease of maintenance. Dependable. Fast. Impeccable handling. There it is, every reason why a Ducati 250 is a good choice for 250GP racing.
Okay, so your considering 350GP. So take into consideration the machines with in the class, such as Team Obsoletes AJS 7R, which is very fast; Syd’s 350 Ducati, which too is very fast; and our Ducati 350. But... beware of our 250 Duc in the 350GP class, as its know for spoiling a number of 350 riders day by leaving them in the weeds. With that said, one can buy/build a 250cc machine and compete legally in both 250GP and 350GP classes, as I use to do, and still do on occasion. I must say that racing a 250 against the 350s can be far more fun and rewarding than racing heads up with the 250s. Dave Roper and I have had some outrageous races, such as Las Vegas and Steamboat Springs. One year at Steamboat I broke my 350 on the warm-up lap, then made a mad dash for the paddock to get the 250. Due to time, none of it, I would have to start from the pit lane, that is after the 350GP class and the Classic 60s class went by. By race end I was third!
The difference between the 250 and the 350 is very little, the stroke being 75mm instead of 57.8mm, while the bore is only 2mm larger. Other than that, they are the same, 99% of the bits being interchangeable. However small the differences, the grunt of a highly tuned 350 is a bit stunning when compared to a 250. Though the 350 doesn’t spin as high, approximately 8500 rpm redline to the 250s 10,500 rpm, a good 350 can clearly out-run a 250, and our 350 has out-run Team Obsoletes AJS on more than a few occasions. Its just plain fast, producing in excess of 40 bhp, and weighting in under 240 lbs. In order to run in 350GP with a 250, one has to ride the wheels off it!
When discussing 250s and 350s with customers, I try to make them aware of the differences, both in performance and ride ability. The 250 you have to stay on top of it, meaning; you must be in the right gear always, and keep the motor lit. On a 350 you can screw up in the middle of the corner (being in the wrong gear), then just open it up and it’ll pull away. Another advantage of a fast 350 is the ability to rear steer, meaning; you can steer through the corners with the throttle, something you can’t do with a 250 (as they run on rpm alone). Which one? If your new to all this, quite simply, the 250. Hey, a hot running 350 is a son-of-a-gun to start, and its dependability isn’t that of the 250s, as the 350 uses too many 250 parts, which it will overstress when producing big horsepower. However, if your a big boy, a 250 might not pull you around, thus you’ll have no choice but to buy/build a 350.
Okay, now we have the Premier-500 class, AHRMA’s “premier” class. Depending on the track, a 350 is quite suitable and competitive. Our 350 has finished 3rd and our 250 5th at Daytona in this class, while at other tracks we’ve won outright. As for building a 450, forget it. Here’s one for ya... Reno Leoni, a well-known Ducati tuner, built two really trick looking 450s a few years ago. When I was running tech at Daytona they came through my line, at which point I made the comment of, “If they go as fast as they look, look out Roper”. Jimmy Adamo was riding one of them. Come last race of the day, Premier-500, Jimmy was gridded just ahead of me, and when we hit the banking for the first time, I was ahead of him with my 350. After it was all over, and while speaking with Reno, Jimmy rolled in, Reno saying to him... “I told you we shoulda built a 350, Greenies got da fast 350, no?”. Now, if Reno and Jimmy couldn’t make a 450 go, nobody can, simple as that. So why waste your time and money? Buy a 350 instead.

Here’s another option... in “old” AHRMA days I wrote a set of rules for a new class I thought we needed, one for production machines (a mass produced road bike slightly modified for production racing). We named the class “Sportsman”. Originally we had a 500cc and 750cc class (the 350 class was later introduced because a number of 350cc riders kept complaining they weren’t competitive in the 500 class). Prior to the new class being enacted, and to prove we didn’t need a 350 Sportsman class, I entered my 350 Duc in the 500 race at Daytona, and then proceeded to lap the 50+ strong field up to third place en route to the win! That was 1989. Point proven? I’d say so. But Noooo! During the AHRMA meeting days later, I related a story of what happen shortly after the checkered flag for the Sportsman race. Arriving back in the paddock, my guys, Rob Whitaker and Bret Morshead, removed the yellow number plates and began re-fitting the full fairing for the up-coming 500-Premier race. As these jobs were being completed and the bike was being fueled, I was handed a protest form from the 4th place participant. Since I was the Chief Tech Inspector I looked it over, but once I noticed my name, I referred him elsewhere, though not before commenting on it. Seems this rider, the ‘87 500 Sportsman Champion, if I remember right, had protested all the California guys ahead of him, which included Dan Phillips’ B50 BSA in 2nd, and Dave Walden’s T100 in 3rd place. I asked him... “Well, why am I on here? I was riding a 350”. “No way is that a 350!” came his reply, “you walked away from those 500s at the drop of the green! I saw you go down the banking!” With that, I began to ask some questions: “How much do you weight?” 240?”, “I’m 130, thus you’ve already given me a 110 pound advantage”. “What does your Triumph weight?” He replied... “Oh, about 350 or more”. “Okay, my Ducati has another 110 pound advantage”. “How much horsepower does the Triumph have? 35?, 38?, 40?”. 32 was his reply. “Well my man, that 350 is pushing 40 plus! And with a 220 pound weight advantage, your dead meat! Think about it. Anyway, there is no way you can push a 350 Ducati up to 500cc”. Later he’d drop his protest against me, but lost his money on Dan and Dave’s bikes, they were legal. The point? A fast 350 is competitive in 500 Sportsman. AHRMA thought otherwise (as a Board Member at the time, and the author of the Sportsman class rules, I voted against the class). Competing is Sportsman is an option however.

Food for thought: The way AHRMA is structured at this moment in time, with a few exceptions, every machine can compete in two classes in a given race day. In days gone by we’d show up with two machine and race five classes, but after a few “Mike Green rules” were put through (where they limited machines to two of the same classes in a single day), we can no longer run Sportsman and GP on the same day on the same machine. When making your choice as to what machine your going to buy/build, consider these class options:

Machine/Displacement      Class-1      Class-2      Notes
    Ducati   200cc                 200GP       250GP     Competitive in both classes, even a possible winner in both.
    Ducati   250cc                 250GP       350GP      Ditto
    Ducati   350cc                 350GP       Premier     Ditto
    Ducati   350cc                 350SP        500SP       Competitive in both classes (Sportsman).
FYI: Our 250 Ducati won the 500-Sportsman race at Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 1991.
So, now you know your options and have a choice..., which classes will I compete in, and which machine will best suit me and my purpose? Think about it. At least you have this going for you; whichever route you choose, at least your machine won’t become obsolete after a season like so many machines of today.