The 1972 Imola 200 Miles: the race that gave birth to the Ducati legend

Racing & circuitsDucati70s

On 23 April 1972, the first running of the Imola 200 Miles saw Paul Smart beat Bruno Spaggiari by four seconds, handing Ducati a resounding one-two over MV Agusta, Norton and Triumph. Both machines were 750 Imola Desmos designed by Fabio Taglioni: a 90-degree L-twin of 748 cm³, desmodromic heads, between 80 and 86 horsepower depending on the source. Won at an average of 157 km/h, that one-two would give birth to the 1974 750 SS “green frame”, built in 401 units. That day, the British rider was celebrating his twenty-ninth birthday.

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A “European Daytona” in Emilia-Romagna

In the early 70s, Formula 750 was the class that fired up the crowds: production-derived machines, pushed to the point of absurdity, turned loose on short, spectacular events. America had its own date with destiny, the Daytona 200, whose commercial impact had the whole European industry salivating. So the idea took shape in Italy: give the Old Continent its own 200 miles, with an international entry lured in by generous start money.

The venue chosen was theAutodromo Dino Ferrari at Imola, a fast, undulating layout of roughly 5 kilometres set in the Emilia-Romagna plain. The distance settled on, 200 miles — close to 322 kilometres —, meant around sixty laps run at sprint pace: a test of outright speed as much as of reliability. The factories turned out in force. MV Agusta, Norton, Honda, Kawasaki, Moto Guzzi, Triumph, BSA, Laverda and even BMW fielded works machines, at a time when the Honda CB750 Four had just reshuffled the big-capacity deck.

The entry list read like a who's who of period racing: Giacomo Agostini and Alberto Pagani on the MVs, Phil Read and Peter Williams on the Norton s of the John Player Team, Walter Villa on Triumph, John Cooper on BSA, Germany's Helmut Dähne on BMW, not forgetting the American Don Emde, winner of the Daytona 200 a few weeks earlier. On 23 April 1972, around 70,000 spectators packed in around the circuit, up in the trees and on the rooftops. Nobody, that morning, was betting on Ducati.

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Taglioni, the desmo and the L-twin

To understand the thunderbolt of Imola, you have to go back to one man: Fabio Taglioni (1920-2001), Ducati's chief engineer since 1954. He is the one who turned the Borgo Panigale firm into a factory of sharp singles, and above all the one who imposed his trademark: desmodromic valve gear. The principle is simple to state and fiendish to execute — the valves are not returned by springs, but closed mechanically by cams. No more valve float at high revs, so more revs and more power. Taglioni proved the idea as early as 1956 on a 125 Grand Prix bike, which won that same year at the Swedish GP at Hedemora in the hands of Gianni Degli Antoni.

At the turn of the 70s, Ducati had to move up to big capacities or disappear. Taglioni put the first sketches of his twin on paper on 20 March 1970 and had an engine running by the following summer, ahead of a complete prototype in August 1970. His solution was as elegant as it was thrifty: two cylinders set at 90 degrees, the front one almost horizontal, which gives the whole thing its famous “L”silhouette. The 90° angle cancels out first-order inertia forces: the engine is naturally balanced, so smooth and reliable. The overhead camshafts are driven by shafts and bevel gears, a Ducati signature.

From this engine came the 750 GT, launched in 1971, a road bike with spring-returned valves. For Imola, Taglioni had specific desmodromic headsmade, assembled onto GT frame bases. The result: 748 cm³ (bore and stroke 80 × 74,4 mm), plus 40 mm Dell'Orto carburettors with accelerator pumps, and a claimed output between 80 and 86 horsepower depending on the source, at revs somewhere between 8,500 and 9,200 rpm and around 176 kg dry. All this technical background runs quietly through the complete history of Ducati.

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How Paul Smart inherited the handlebars

The winner of this race should never have been there at all. In the spring of 1972, Britain's Paul Smart was racing in the United States for the Hansen team, on a Kawasaki 750 three-cylinder in race trim, the H2R. Ducati was after big names; British importer Vic Camp put his name forward. The factory called England — and it was Maggie Smart, his wife since 1971 (and, incidentally, the sister of Barry Sheene), who accepted the invitation in his absence.

Smart himself had no wish to cross the Atlantic to swing a leg over a prototype he had never seen. He gave in when another plan, on the Triumph side, fell through. The deal was modest: the plane ticket and 500 pounds in start money. He discovered the machine on site, four days before the race, and understood very quickly that he had something: in that very first session, he wiped out Agostini's lap record. The Ducati was fast, stable and unbelievably easy to ride compared with the brutal two-strokes he was used to in the United States. He would line up with number 16 and leave, a few days later, with a purse of around 6,000 pounds. And a place in history.

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23 April 1972: the one-two that changed everything

Ducati fielded four riders — Paul Smart, house veteran Bruno Spaggiari, Ermanno Giuliano and Britain's Alan Dunscombe — with eight prepared machines for the event. In practice the surprise was already there: the Ducatis monopolised the fastest times, much to the annoyance of several riders who had turned down the offer to ride this “experimental bike”.

At the start, Giacomo Agostini broke away as expected on the MV Agusta 750, while Smart bided his time to spare his clutch. But the MV gave up the ghost with a mechanical problem, somewhere around lap 41. From then on the race boiled down to an in-house duel in red and silver: Smart in front, Spaggiari glued to his wheel, the two men sharing the fastest lap of the race at 100.1 mph, a little over 161 km/h.

The finish was one for the ages. Spaggiari, driven on by a crowd entirely behind him, took the lead back on lap 56. But both Ducatis were running out of fuel : the engines coughed, spluttered, cut out. Two laps from the flag, the Italian ran wide in a fast curve and saw the Briton go back past; on the penultimate lap his machine dropped out of the fight altogether, dry. Paul Smart crossed the line as the winner, some four seconds ahead of a Spaggiari who literally finished on one cylinder. Third, well back, Walter Villa on a Triumph Trident.

The winner's average speed came out at 97.8 mph, or 157.4 km/h. A tasty detail: Smart, born on 23 April 1943, was celebrating his 29th birthdaythat day. The town of Imola went wild, the crowd literally blocked the winners' procession, and a small Italian factory of single-cylinder bikes had just hoisted itself, in one afternoon, up among the greats.

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From track to road: the 750 SS line

A win is only worth what you make of it. Ducati understood that straight away. The 750 Sport appeared as early as 1972, still with spring-returned valves, but it was the next one that entered legend: the 750 Super Sport of 1974, nicknamed “green frame” because of its frame turned green. Built in an ultra-limited run — 401 units assembled in late 1973 and through 1974 —, it is often presented as the first production replica of a race-winning machine offered by a manufacturer.

The brief was explicit: get as close as possible to the Imola bike while staying road-legal. Same 748 cm³, same “round case” crankcases, same 40 mm Dell'Orto carburettors, Conti silencers, clip-ons, tank with a transparent sight window, bikini fairing. Above all, the 750 SS got the famous desmodromic heads : it was the first desmo road twin of the brand, credited with more than 70 horsepower at 9,000 rpm. Today, a genuine green frame ranks among the most sought-after Ducatis in the world, and the factory even paid direct tribute to its rider with the PaulSmart 1000 LE in the SportClassic range, in the mid-2000s.

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What Imola really founded

Before 23 April 1972, Ducati was a respected but low-profile manufacturer, a specialist in small capacities. Afterwards, it was a sporting brand, with a technical signature — the desmodromic system — and an emblematic engine — the L-twin — that it has never given up since. The line of descent is direct: 900 SS, Mike Hailwood 's win at the 1978 Tourist Trophy, then the 851 and 888, Carl Fogarty 's world titles in Superbike, the 916 by Massimo Tamburini, the popular success of the Monster, then the Panigale and finally the dominance in MotoGP. That whole red thread starts on an April afternoon in Emilia-Romagna.

As for the race itself, it ran for thirteen editions, from 1972 to 1985 (no event in 1979), becoming a playground for the world's stars — Kenny Roberts and Venezuela's Johnny Cecotto both won there three times each, the shared record for the event. Since 2010, the 200 Miglia di Imola has lived again as a classic bike gathering, where the green-framed 750 desmos roar once more in front of the grandstands. For Ducati, this is not a commemoration: it is a birth certificate.

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Summary table

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FAQ — Frequently asked questions

• When was the first Imola 200 Miles held?
  On 23 April 1972, at the Autodromo Dino Ferrari at Imola, in Italy. The event had been created to give Europe the equivalent of the American Daytona 200, over a distance of 200 miles, about 322 km.
• Who won the 1972 Imola 200 Miles?
  Britain's Paul Smart, on a Ducati 750, ahead of his Italian team-mate Bruno Spaggiari, also on a Ducati, by about four seconds. Walter Villa completed the podium on a Triumph Trident. Giacomo Agostini, the favourite on MV Agusta, had retired with a mechanical problem around lap 41.
• Which bike was Paul Smart riding at Imola?
  A Ducati 750 Imola Desmo, derived from the 750 GT road bike. Its engine is a 90-degree L-twin of 748 cm³, bore and stroke 80 × 74,4 mm, with desmodromic valve gear driven by shafts and bevel gears, producing between 80 and 86 horsepower depending on the source, for close to 176 kg dry.
• What exactly was Fabio Taglioni's role?
  Ducati's chief engineer since 1954, Taglioni designed the L-twin from his first sketches of 20 March 1970, with a complete prototype as early as August 1970. He also imposed desmodromic valve gear, which he had proven in racing as early as 1956 on a 125 Grand Prix bike.
• How did Paul Smart end up on the Ducati?
  He was racing in the United States on a Kawasaki at the time. British importer Vic Camp put his name forward to the factory, and it was his wife Maggie, Barry Sheene's sister, who accepted the invitation in his absence. The contract came down to the plane ticket and 500 pounds in start money.
• Which production model was born from this win?
  The Ducati 750 Super Sport of 1974, known as the “green frame” because of its green frame, built in 401 units. Often presented as the first production replica of a race-winning machine, it kept the 748 cm³ desmodromic engine and produced more than 70 horsepower at 9,000 rpm.

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