Thanks. I really feel for Terblanche and his creations (Multistrada included). People don't recognize that he was actually asked to break away from the Ducati quintessential design to compensate for what - at the time - was deemed an obsolete and non technological engine. The design was required to reminisce a lunar module or something extremely technological and innovate. In the end design is a subjective matter: it comes down to personal taste. But technically the 999 (and the multi) are engineering marvels that were ahead of their respective curves at the time of their launch. I'm not familiar with the 999 race pedigree and statistics but I think that I read somewhere that the 999 was the single most successful race Ducati ever surpassing the 916 series (916 to 998) altogether by a long margin.
Good analysis, only slightly tarnished by the fact that seeing the Mk 1 Multistrada for the first time was a little like having a couple of tent pegs rammed up your nose.
.....Yes, the Mk 1 Mutley takes a bit of adjusting to I guess but another great Terblanche designed machine. I know a guy who has 60k on the clock of his Mk 1 and stills regularly tours it in Europe.
Ciao Tommaso Thanks for what I think is one of the most interesting posts of recent times. It could make a perfectly suitable foreword ( or epilogue..) for the book by Carthcart and Cook “ Ducati 999: birth of a legend” , you certainly have added to what most people know about this bike. I am relieved to see that more and more people appreciate the exquisite lines of the 999, the narrow-waisted petrol tank that from the rider’s perspective looks like the torso of a ballet dancer, the seamless integration of the metal frame with the bodywork, even the quirky face with big red ears. It is a testimony of the modernity of this design that only a couple of years ago my son’s teenage friends, who don’t know life before Ipads and smartphones, were looking in awe at my red 999s (now sold, I’m afraid) thinking that Ducati had just released it. They couldn’t believe it was a 2003 bike. It didn’t look “old” in their eyes. I continued my test by showing them photos of the 916 – they thought it was definitely an old bike. I agree with them, it’s beautiful but its headlights remind me of those thick ‘50s glasses worn by Aristotle Onassis or Michael Caine as Harry Palmer. My point: the 916 is a classical beauty, but it’s a bit like Sofia Loren in “L’oro di Napoli”- absolutely gorgeous, however belonging to a time that’s gone forever. The 999 instead continues to surprise us by looking fresher and fresher. Could it be that our taste is changing, and Terblanche’s 999 is becoming the “organic design” of the new millennium?
Absolutely on the button...but it only continues to surprise those who thought it was a loser in 2003,it doesn't surprise the people who saw through all the negative shite of the time and realised it was (and is) a thing of beauty that was way ahead of its time.
Thank you for the kind words, undeserved. For full disclosure I must say that I'm a crazy, nutter, fan of the 998. But I do recognize the incredible commercial value, aesthetic beauty, racing prowess and engineering feat of the 999 and I also recognize the very unfair rap it received for the reasons that I explained in my post. But I'm not sure if a non organic design can ever become easier on our subconscious, instinctively. I will ask Pierre to point me in the right direction as to where I can find organic design research and studies but, perhaps, you could Google it much faster. My understanding is that we, humans, are hard wired in such a way that rounded shapes will always feel more akin to our own nature and, therefore, less alien, less uncomfortable. It's a dodgy topic... Having said that, it is also true that once a design is widely accepted and becomes hailed and revered for whatever reason (max speed, race pedigree, etc) then that, specific, particular, design can become assimilated and iconic, even immortal, also if it's non organic. I'm certainly thinking of the Lamborghini Countach, the Barcellona chair or... We could argue that the 999 has reached that status when we will feel that every bike owner will immediately recognize the 999 as a Ducati as every car owner will immediately recognize a Countach as a Lamborghini. I created a separate thread about this, where I asked this forum community to point out which was "the most important Ducati ever". My lack of command of English language exposed me to correct criticism and the thread should have been titled "The most quintessential Ducati". My bad, sorry. The point is that the majority felt that an organic design (998) better represented the marque and, most individuals, will still recognize the 916-998 series as the quintessential Ducati, not the 999, although race pedigree, etc would suggest otherwise. In short: I don't think that non-organic design will ever become the organic of the new millennium. But I do believe that non organic design can reach icon status and become immortal.
Which, per se, does not imply that it is not admired (perhaps the contrary) but it does suggest that it's not the quintessential Ducati.
You can buy projector units that have hi/lo beam if you want to go single headlight but retain both functions (no idea how good/bad they might be) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hi-Lo-Bea...422025?hash=item3f5b1aca49:g:SOAAAOSwqYBWoHOQ
I didnt think anybody other than a fellow countryman would have heard of that, hence not mentioning it!
Can't help it! I truly love many Ducati. Including the stupendous 999, but my heart lies with the 998. At the time I was a strategic corporate consultant and amongst my clients I had motor industry manufacturers. This led to becoming friends with top Ducati commercial management who, in turn, introduced me to the Bimota owner. His core business was a pharmaceutical trading operation with Africa and Latin America, where his net investments were considerable. It was that pharmaceutical company that owned Bimota. I created a turn around business plan for Bimota and we even contacted the Maestro & founder (Tamburrini) who approved the plan and expressed interest if we laid down a credible business proposal and the necessary funds. The strategic plan was three pronged: 1. entering MotoGP, 2. Returning to origin & diversify engines (at the time 100% of Bimota engines were Ducati), 3. diversifying the motorbike line-up to include non racing models (as Ducati had done). We also had discussions with a renown English tycoon and investor to design and engineer niche toys that he would market. We were even negotiating which brand to sell them under (Bimota or the investor's own famed brand): recreational jet light aircraft, water jet bikes, and other innovative toys for rich boys. At the time, we had also managed to secure concrete offers from BMW, an Austrian engine manufacturer and (at the time I was living in Japan) Kawasaki engines. The best thing of these agreements was that we would get the very latest engine development step while, with Ducati, we were only allowed to buy their previous developments step and we could never install the current year's engine. I was the proponent of the Kawasaki agreement, through my friend Okuyama (Pininfarina Design director). My plan was to diversify engines procurement and to return to the marque's origin: designing and engineering frames that were faster and better than the originals (hence my praise for Terblanche's 999 frame that is an engineering & chassis-geometry marvel. If you were to strip off the fairing and compare it, it would become evident). In the mean time the Bimota owner had begun entrusting me with mandates on other endeavours and I was collaborating him on a very large investment, elsewhere in the world, in pharmaceutical production plants. This was yielding egregious results with very low risk. When time came to issue the financial instruments for the Bimota plan, I was professionally obliged to recommend to the owner that his Group's strategic interests did not lie with the risks associated with investing in the motor industry. The results in pharmaceutical investments were delivering clear proof of my proposition and he, very sadly, decided to sell Bimota. I looked for buyers and he eventually found a Swiss investor who then bought Bimota and entrusted it to his own nephew. Tamburrini by that time was no longer interested and the engine deals were not confirmed to the new ownership. The former owner was a very smart guy but he was also very busy with other enterprises and his relationship with his own Bimota executives was always troubled. He even suggested that I take over but at the time I was better off with, and more interested in, strategic consulting. The former Bimota owner and I eventually eventually created an Oil&Gas trading joint venture which never took off but, from there on, I then created my own, independent, Oil&Gas trading house, based in your great country. I was about 30 something and stupid enough to think that racing was my calling. I also raced formula 3 with Maglioli, in Italy, before moving to Japan. Terrible crash in Monza... I never mentioned that it was impossible. In 2 posts, in this thread, I actually mentioned examples (Lamborghini Countach) and affirmed only that it is harder. The tail is, per se, a well designed concept. However, the reason why the bike is not slanting forward as the 916-998 design is actually a wanted and desired element. The "flat" perspective of the design (headlights to tail) was necessary to: 1. Offer greater riding comfort 2. Balance the weight for track use (*) (*) this could also be achieved with a forward leaning design/fairing but the 999 draft designs that I saw, where Terblanche kept the forward slanting design angle (headlight to tail) but centralized the rider mass, looked very ugly. The 999 conveys a very balanced proportion with centralized rider mass. This was key in test lap times to offer both greater traction out of turns and better balance (less tyre stress) under heavy breaking. I never proposed otherwise. If I had enough cash laying around I would buy a yellow 999. Yes, but now I have to dash and I don't have the time that you deserve to reply accurately. Pininfarina have made extensive research on colour and how humans react. In fact not only colour has choice ramifications but more importantly the mix colour-shape induces interesting reactions. *** EDIT *** Red, organic shapes and headlights are powerful clues to the human brain from when we lived in caves and we needed to rapidly assess 2 fundamental opportunities: Food and sex. Nourishment and genotype transmission. In Italy laws have been introduced (hate crime) for making affirmations that are discriminatory or offensive against a group, so this is a disclaimer: I intend no offence, explicit or implicit (again, I wish we had Italexit). In nature, especially in human nature, the female selects the male sexual partner amongst competing proponent specimens (females have to choose carefully as they get one shot only to moving genes and then they are burdened with many years of offspring care while men can diffuse their genetic material without the same burden). Sorry for lengthy disclaimer. A) Headlights: ... so, after the disclaimer, I relate that studies suggest that men are the proponents of sexual activity but female are the decision maker. Female eye (headlights) contact is important because it signals interest if & when the female looks back, directly and continuously towards the proponent. In nature, this response, indicates sexual availability. Men stare at females and females flirt back if they believe that the proponent's genes are desirable. Headlights that look straight are clues of sexual concessions. Later about why we have colour vision. Organic: Curvaceous bodies were indication of (a) well nourished and, therefore, potentially a good maternal nucleus where to raise an offspring and (b) wide hips to safely deliver a child without death by asphyxiation at birth (very, very common until caesarian and other delivery methods were developed) Red: Humans' diet was mainly fruit. Animals and fruit plants evolved in symbiosis: red signalled ripe (more sugar). So animals developed a preference for red and plants developed stronger red markings when they required animals to eat them to disperse seeds. This is also why animals that include fruit in their diet, have colour eye vision. Conclusion: The human brain will react to a rounded, red, bike with 2 looking headlights way better than to any other design. This was a long winded, polite and documented paragraph to say that the 916 design was so successful because men only have sex and food on their minds!
Now that I edited my previous post adding references to sex and food, I'm sure that you're going to fire back at me with more technical question as why the 999 swing arm was engineered differently or why the 999 engine was moved back, or... British riders/market have greater attention for engineering than the Italian market and, I being Italian (sorry, nobody is perfect), prefer to talk about design, girls and food. But not in that order.
Two questions from all that - one which you skipped when I asked before: 1) Were you involved with Bimota when the Mantra was born. 2) You have obviously had a successful career - wtf don't you have enough spare cash to afford a Yellow 999
1. No. The studies were there but it was not called Mantra and I was not part of any design team. I am not a designer, far from it. I suck at drawing! *** EDIT *** The Mantra was dead by 2001 and I begun active collaboration later. Later there were studies for a follow up model, with a different name. But I did not participate in those studies. Mr. Okuyama proposed splendid designs (he was number 1 on the potential designers list). However the financing of the project didn't come around. Shame... because Ken had amazing engineering concept proposals which are still valid today and which no manufacture has yet thought of. 2. I invested in a fund yielding 24% net, annually. The fund went bankrupt when the owner (Khodorkovsky) challenged Putin for Russian presidency and was jailed for, basically, being a democrat in Russia. The effects still linger... How about you, Exige? Bikes? Preferences? Wrong investments/girls (which amount, more or less, to the same thing)?
