Today in motorcycle history, March 20, 1970

  

  

  On March 20, 1970, Fabio Taglioni made the first sketches for the layout of a new Ducati V-twin.  By April his drawings were completed, and by July, there was a running motor.  By August 1970, there was a complete prototype motorcycle.  Fabio Taglioni and his team had designed and built their own complete bike in only six months!  Crazy-fast in corporate time.  

  Fabio Taglioni was chief designer and technical director of Ducati from 1954 until 1989.  He began by designing Ducati's OHC four-stroke singles, and in 1963 designed the prototype V4 Ducati Apollo. This led to the 1972 Ducati 750 Imola Desmo, and the 1970's and 1980's production Ducati L-twin motorcycles. His desmodromic 90° V-twin engine design is still used by Ducati. 

  Taglioni began his career designing engines for Ceccato motorcycles. Who shot who and what now?!  You read that correctly, Ceccato motorcycles.

 

  Ceccato was founded in 1947 by a former pharmacist, Pietro Ceccato, who was passionate about medications, engines and innovative management ideas.  Ideas such as making changes using input invited from employees (hey, Boss, you reading this?).  The first of Fabio Taglioni's engines to be realized, was a Ceccato 75cc OHC single (designed with the help of Fabio's Technical Institute students). 

  The company got out of the motorcycle manufacturing business in 1962 but, it successfully started producing compressors and today Ceccato air compressors are famous around the world.