Ducati 916 SBK World Superbike worksracer Carl Fogarty Eddie Roberts photo

Description

A superb and rare photo of the motorcycle of magnificent former multiple Superbike world champion
Carl “Foggy” Fogarty
- his
Ducati 916
Desmoquattro World Superbike works racer next teammate Eddie Roberts’ motorcycle.
Carl Fogarty
is a brilliant rider that as no other could exploit the limits of the Ducati Desmoquattro works racers. He won the
World Superbike Championship
in
1994, 1995, 1998 and 1999
with Ducati!
Carl 'Foggy' Fogarty
is the most successful World Superbike racer of all time in terms of the number of championships and number of race wins. Now retired, he is renowned for his high corner speed riding style, combined with an aggressive competitiveness, which netted him 59 victories and four World Superbike Championships (1994, 1995, 1998 and 1999). His greatest success came with the factory Ducati team. In 1991 he raced for Neil Tuxworth's Honda UK team in World Superbikes, finishing 7th overall. The team pulled out in 1992, and Carl nearly found himself without a ride after a promised deal failed to materialise. He did ultimately take his first
WSBK
win at
Donington
Park
, and finished the championship 9th overall despite only completing a partial season. 1993 was the beginning of his era as a factory Ducati rider. He battled with Scott Russell for the title, winning 11 races to the American's five, but losing out on consistency (Russell came 2nd twelve times compared to Fogarty's two) to finish behind him. In 1994 he missed the Hockenheim races with a broken wrist, but fought back to pip Russell and Aaron Slight to the crown. Winning 6 of the first 8 races in 1995 helped him seal that title with 5 of the 24 races to spare, and he clinched it with 3 races to spare in
1999. In
1996 he raced for Tuxworth again, now with Honda factory support, but he struggled and was only 4th overall, well behind team-mate Aaron Slight. In 1997 he returned to Ducati, finishing second overall to the Honda of John Kocinski. 1998 was his closest title - after a disastrous weekend at the Nürburgring he lay just 6th in the standings, but fought back to overhaul Troy Corser and Aaron Slight in the final round. This was especially notable as his team was in its first year of
WSBK
competition. Surprisingly, his first victory in any form of racing at Brands Hatch did not come until 1995. He had much greater success at Assen, winning all but 1 race there between 1995 and 1999. Large numbers of British fans would travel to the race on the ferries at this time. Early in his career he won the Formula One World Championship for bikes, which was gradually fading after the 1988 commencement of the World Superbike Championship. In 1990 it dropped below the six races required for the FIM to class it as a Championship, rather than merely a Cup; again, he won it. He made a handful of starts in Moto GP, filling in for Pierfrancesco Chili on a ROC bike for a while in 1990, with a best finish of 6th at the Swedish Grand Prix. He also contested the 500cc British Grand Prix several times. In 1992 he ran 6th before crashing on oil. In 1993 he qualified on the second row, and ran second early on after Alex Barros, Mick Doohan and Kevin Schwantz crashed on the first lap. He was set for third when he ran out of fuel, coasting over the line in 4th behind three Yamahas. He was entered again in 1994, but withdrew pre-race - citing a hand injury but later admitting that he felt the ride was uncompetitive. Fogarty broke the lap record at the Isle of Man TT in 1992. His lap at 18 minutes, 18.8 seconds (123.61mph) on a Yamaha 750cc wasn't broken until seven years later by Jim Moodie from a standing start riding a Honda RC45 in 1999, taking the record to 124.45mph. In 1992 he teamed with Terry Rymer and Michael Simul to win the 24 Hours of
Le Mans
. They went on to win the World Endurance Championship for
Kawasaki
. Riding for Ducati, Fogarty finished second at the 1995 Daytona
200 in
the
United States
. Scott Russell crashed during the first lap of the race but was able to remount and pass Fogarty for the win. Fogarty said that the pace car regrouping following the yellow flag allowed Russell to close the gap significantly. Fogarty was forced to retire from racing in 2000 after a racing incident at
Philip
Island
when he hit privateer Ducati rider Robert Ulm and crashed. He suffered multiple injuries, including a serious shoulder injury which failed to heal well enough to allow him to race again. He was replaced in the factory Ducati team by Troy Bayliss. In 2002, Ducati released a special limited edition model (only 300 units were built) in his honour, the Monster S4 Fogarty.
The
Ducati 916
was manufactured by Ducati from 1994 to
1998. In
contrast to Japanese inline four-cylinder competitors of the time, its V-twin engine produced less outright power, but a more even torque spread. The 916 model was replaced by the 996 model in 1999. The first development of the 916 model family can be traced back to the development of the four valve Ducati engine, the desmoquattro, through the development and racing of the earlier Pantah models, to the road-going 851 and 888 models. The chief designer of Ducati motorcycles since the 1970s was the late Fabio Taglioni (1920-2001). He introduced the Pantah in 1979; its engine was updated in the 1990s in the SuperSport (SS) series and all modern Ducati engines are derivatives of the Pantah, which employed a set of revolving cams to actuate the engine's valves (eliminating valve springs), called desmodromic. Taglioni, did not, however, have an interest in four-valve head engines, and so this was left to his successor. The eight-valve V-twin was the work of Taglion's successor, Massimo Bordi. Making its debut in 1994, the Ducati 916 was admired because of its new design and outstanding technical features. Designed by Massimo Tamburini and Sergio Robbiano and his team at the Cagiva Research Centre in
San Marino
, the 916's water-cooled engine was a revision its predecessor, the 888, with larger displacement, a new engine management system, on an overall smaller motorcycle with a chome-moly trellis frame (which was shared with the Ducati
748 in
1995 and beyond). This was accomplished by increasing the crankshaft stroke from 64mm to 66mm. Using the same 94mm bore size as the 888 resulted in a capacity of 916cc - although by the time the 916 was introduced the final 851/888 Corse engines had also had their bore sizes increased to 96mm resulting in 'race only' capacities of 926cc and 955cc respectively. This combined with a striking new bodywork that featured aggressive lines. It was later replaced by the 996 and 998 with similar design but revised engines and even more power. Design of the Ducati 916 was a balance between function and form. The single-sided swingarm was beautiful, but designed to make wheel changes faster during races. The underseat exhausts improve aerodynamic performance, and resultantly gave very clean lines. Massimo Tamburini went on to design the MV Agusta F4, the bike which is seen as his replacement for the 916 range, and it shares many similarities with the 916 especially in the tail section.
This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Ducati ‘s rich motorcycle history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 10" (ca. 20 x 26 cm). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing!
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