This is the Vance & Hines Ducati 996 AMA race bike. It raced with V&H for the 2000 season and for HMC Racing for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
In 1999 and 2000, the AMA campaigns were run by Ducati Corse alongside the WSB team. This bike was built at the end of 1999 for the 2000 season at Corse alongside the factory bikes, but to AMA specification.
In 2001, Corse delegated the running of the AMA campaign to Mitch Hansen's HMC team and Ducati North America. This bike was one of four(?) that went to the new team as part of the deal.
The bike has full provenance from HMC and is traceable directly from the team to the (very lucky) current owner. The motor has just a few hours on it and will be run a few times a year at Ducati trackdays and events like Goodwood.
Let's have a proper look!
One of the first things that stands out is that this bike runs Marvic wheels. They're original and were run by HMC and maybe by V&H - it's hard to see in any of the pictures of the race bikes that I can find.
This is Ben Bostrom on a 1999 bike. It's difficult to see if they're running Marvics or Marchesinis, but it's a great picture all the same.
I understand that linking the bike to riders at V&H is close to impossible. The bikes were assigned to riders like all teams, but the bikes history and race settings were recorded against labels on the yokes, not through frame numbers, as most teams would use.
After each race, the bikes would be stripped and checked. I am told that no one frame or motor would be assigned to a rider, but that all riders would ride any frame. Thus, both Rapp and Bayliss were likely to have ridden this bike during the 2000 season.
The picture above shows the Magnetti Marelli dash. Very cool. But no disco lights like the Falcon.
The bike has lots of beautiful parts - some expected, some not so much. At the front, the RS dash/top fairing support contains the ECU (red), but also the data logger boxes, above.
Just visible in this picture (below) is the temperature strip on the left calliper.
Ducati Corse stickers are all over the bike, but here, they're proper!
Next up, the throttle bodies. Unlike the WSB bikes, these are single injector and 'only' 55mm rather than the larger 60mm used on the WSB bikes. This reduces the top-end, but makes the mid-range more usable. I would expect this bike to make around 150bhp - not massive by todays WSBs, but not too bad for a design that's getting on for 15 years old.
The air tubes are enormous!
The bottom of the airbox can be seen here, above the horizontal cylinder: it's huge. Also visible is the stepped radiator. This allowed the factory to increase cooling capacity without having to add extra depth. This picture should allow you to zoom in to see the quality of the welding: unlike the 749, this is a proper tig welded frame made by Pierobon.
As with any Ducati, there's so much to look at - you see something new each time you see it. For me, this is one of the coolest things about this bike: the engine builder has scratched 'OA' (orizontale apertura - horizontal, opening) into the casing. These bikes use conventional width belts - the wider belts came in with the Testastretta motors.
This box connects lambda sensors to the ECU. It trims the fuel mixture in real-time. These were cutting-edge at the time and I'm told that only the Factory bikes had them.
Loving the molten rubber on the back on thousands of pounds of kit! The welding on the Termis is beautiful.
Beautiful mag swingarm.
Above are the quick release fuel connectors, almost identical to the ones used on the 749RS.
Just couldn't stop taking photographs!
In 2001, Corse delegated the running of the AMA campaign to Mitch Hansen's HMC team and Ducati North America. This bike was one of four(?) that went to the new team as part of the deal.
The bike has full provenance from HMC and is traceable directly from the team to the (very lucky) current owner. The motor has just a few hours on it and will be run a few times a year at Ducati trackdays and events like Goodwood.
Let's have a proper look!
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One of the first things that stands out is that this bike runs Marvic wheels. They're original and were run by HMC and maybe by V&H - it's hard to see in any of the pictures of the race bikes that I can find.
This is Ben Bostrom on a 1999 bike. It's difficult to see if they're running Marvics or Marchesinis, but it's a great picture all the same.
I understand that linking the bike to riders at V&H is close to impossible. The bikes were assigned to riders like all teams, but the bikes history and race settings were recorded against labels on the yokes, not through frame numbers, as most teams would use.
After each race, the bikes would be stripped and checked. I am told that no one frame or motor would be assigned to a rider, but that all riders would ride any frame. Thus, both Rapp and Bayliss were likely to have ridden this bike during the 2000 season.
The picture above shows the Magnetti Marelli dash. Very cool. But no disco lights like the Falcon.
The bike has lots of beautiful parts - some expected, some not so much. At the front, the RS dash/top fairing support contains the ECU (red), but also the data logger boxes, above.
Just visible in this picture (below) is the temperature strip on the left calliper.
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Next up, the throttle bodies. Unlike the WSB bikes, these are single injector and 'only' 55mm rather than the larger 60mm used on the WSB bikes. This reduces the top-end, but makes the mid-range more usable. I would expect this bike to make around 150bhp - not massive by todays WSBs, but not too bad for a design that's getting on for 15 years old.
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The bottom of the airbox can be seen here, above the horizontal cylinder: it's huge. Also visible is the stepped radiator. This allowed the factory to increase cooling capacity without having to add extra depth. This picture should allow you to zoom in to see the quality of the welding: unlike the 749, this is a proper tig welded frame made by Pierobon.
Note the two positions on the rocker - for linear and rising rate. The owner has the spec sheets for the bike and they show that both positions were used throughout the season.
The oil catch tank and seat support. The tank is similar to the 748RS but much larger.
Loving the molten rubber on the back on thousands of pounds of kit! The welding on the Termis is beautiful.
Beautiful mag swingarm.
On to the tank. It's carbon, obviously. hinged at the back with a quick-release pin. At the front, there are catches on the frame and levers that are pushed towards the back of the bike to disengage.
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Just couldn't stop taking photographs!
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That looks terrific!
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