A superb and rare photo, made from what we believe is the original negative, of the incredible Mike Hailwood, riding a Ducati 750 SS square case bike during the 1977 edition of the Castrol Six Hours race at Amaroo Park, a circuit near Sidney in Australia. Together with Jim Scaysbrook he would finish the race in 6TH position.

The Ducati 750SS was another great design by Fabio Taglioni , a.k.a. Dr. T. Mike is seen later on in his career. Mike Hailwood made a return from car racing to motorcycle roadracing in 1971. The first race he would ride again was at Silverstone, England. Ducati approached him to ride their new 500cc Grand Prix racer. After that, Mike Hailwood sporadically rode with Ducati motorcycles.

In total, Mike Hailwood won an amazing total of 10 roadracing World Championships!

In the early 1970’s, racing with production based machinery was extremely popular in Europe and far abroad, Australia, New Zealand, the USA. These events were responsible for the quick gaining popularity of the heavier sports motorcycles, like the Ducati 750 SS, the Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, the Benelli 650 Tornado and the Laverda 750 SFC, but also British machines like the Norton Commando, Triumph Trident & BSA Rocket 3, but also the Japanese superbikes like the Honda CB 750 Four and the Kawasaki KH two strokes and Kawasaki Z four strokes. Riders that would make world fame, like Franco Uncini and Marco Lucchinelli, all participated in these races before they made the steps to the Grand Prix World Championship racing scene.

The recently introduced Ducati Sportclassic model series is yet another great tribute to the machine shown in the image. The Sport Classic range comprises three different bikes: The limited edition Paul Smart 1000, inspired by the legendary Imola 200 winning machine of 1971 (and the 750 SS as shown in the photo!), the GT1000 (inspired by the 750GT of 1973) and the single seat Sport 1000 which takes its inspiration from the bright yellow Ducati 750 Sport of 1973-1978. All these bikes refer back to the time and main techniques of the model shown on the photo.

Without doubt this is a rare opportunity to obtain a very nice image that reflects a wonderful era of Ducati’s rich history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this image, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 10.7" (ca.20 x 27 cm).