Ducati mechanics riders who have made their mark

In telling the story of Ducati we often come back to mention the usual and famous names of those who actually wrote the most important pages of this incredible Italian epic: next to them, however, they played an important role characters that we cannot consider minor, as their role in the success of the Ducati brand was, if not as much, at least very significant , but which are not as well known. In this article, therefore, we talk about the mechanics who most distinguished themselves in the preparation of Ducati motorcycles, those of the racing department who worked under the ordersof Ingegner Taglioni.

Most of these are also remembered in the role of rider such as Franco Farnè,or flying support driver, such as Recchia, Scamandri, Alberto Farnè, Malaguti and others who have written precisely the history of ducati sport. rider

But there were also mechanics who never ran, even though they tried the bikes they had built within the department from time to time.

One of them was Renato Armaroli,who, in addition to being an excellent mechanic, was also a successful designer so much that he made a 500 grand prix that won important results. The bike, which used transmission belts,a detail that Taglioni at the time hated for their initial fragility, was perfected with the supervision of Taglioni himself and had interesting developments also thanks to Read who carried it on the circuits. Armaroli, as mentioned, also did not play the role of test driver and did not compete in the competitions of the time.

RENATO ARMAROLI

He was born in Bologna on May 24, 1933 and since he was a child he has been passionate about motorcycles. The first approach by means of competition had him in the dealership of Leopoldo Tartarini,who also managed his own Ducati racing team, in which some Bolognese drivers converged.

The initial contact with Tartarini took place in the 1950s, even before Poldino became rider Ducati driver.

In those years, Tartarini’s father ran racing Moto Guzzi and the young Armaroli was fascinated by Guzzi engines that could be equated with today’s Ferraris for fame and interest in mechanics and enthusiasts.

It was precisely to observe the Guzzi engines up close, and discover the secrets, that Armaroli, at just 14 years old, began to attend the workshop and the Tartarini dealership: he found himself in the most important center of Bolognese motor life and has not come out of it since. From Tartarini’s workshop, Armaroli moved to Mondial (obtaining as liquidation two tuts used with the words Guzzi) and there he grew further as a mechanic operating on the commercial line, but also on race engines.

In 1957, he set foot for the first time in Ducati, thanks to his knowledge with engineer Taglioni, where he remained until 1961; then, due to the downsizing of the sports programs of the Borgo Panigale brand, it passed to Benelli. At Ducati he helped to realize and develop the 125 that have made the history of the WorldChampionship, led by Hailwood, Ferri, Gandossi, Taveri, Chadwik.

In Benelli he remained a few years, then, from 1964 to 1969, he flew to Spain together with other former duchies: at the Mototrans of Barcelona, in fact, realized a 285 cc (it was a 250 increased) which dominated in Spain with Swagger and Mandolins,while in the 125 gave the winning bike to the future world champion Angel Nieto.

In 1972, he was on the verge of returning to Ducati, called by the then general manager Spairani,who wanted to revive the racing department, but at the last moment nothing was done because he understood that the situation was very different from that in which Taglioni’s jewels were born.

He worked as an external collaborator, creating a 500 twin-cylinder without the conical pairs that gave excellent results to the bench, but did not have a future on the track; the engineer Taglioni in fact did not like the fact that it worked using transmission belts.

Taglioni hated them and carefully avoided them because he considered them unreliable: partly he was right, because, until the transmission belts had reached absolute levels of reliability, many races were lost precisely because of their loss.

Armaroli’s 500 was a two-cylinder, 4-valve cylinder that delivered 75 horsepower. Although it did not have the developments that was hoped for, it still contributedto the Ducati affirmation in Superbike,because Lucchinelli’s bike we can consider, in part, daughter of the 500 designed and built by Armaroli.

As an external technician, Armaroli then collaborated with Ducati,operating in his own workshop founded together with his brotherly friend Negrini:since then, Armaroli has abandoned his bikes and dedicated himself exclusively to racing engines for cars, obtaining excellent results in prototype sports races.

OSCAR FOLESANI

Born in Monte San Pietro, a few kilometers from Bologna, on November 6, 1924, as a child he attended the workshops that were near the house where bicycles and motorcycles were adjusted.

After various work experience, in 1943 Oscar was drafted into the Navy, making 28 months of war on board the destroyer “Fortunale”.

As soon as he is discharged, he finds a job at Ducati,in the tooling department:after some time he moves to the Central ResearchDirectorate, where he can finally give vent to his inventiveness. It is at DRC that he has the first contact with racing bikes, because in the same period Ducati begins the production of the Puppy.

He works alongside racing mechanics, such as Pedrini and Recchia,who do the first elaborations, just by empowering the Puppy. Folesani also lives the adventure of the Cruiser, scooter 175 cc four times,very advanced as a conception, but that had no luck.

In those years, Ingegner Taglioniarrived at Ducati, exiting mondial, and Folesani found himself working first on the 100 single-tree cams in the lead,then at the 125 desmo that will make history in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing. When Ducati, in 1958, decided to provide some racing bikes to Mike Hailwood, Folesani is chosen as the trusted mechanic of the English ace: he was entrusted with the management of the means in the three months of races in England and Europe, which Hailwood played with his Oxford Castle as a technical basis.

He also participated in all five editions of Motogiro:in the first he competed with a Puppy 73 cc,in the second with a 98,in the third with a 100,in the fourth and fifth with a 125; these were always experimental bikes that were entrusted to him by the company.

Folesani, at Oxford and also on the various circuits, has almost always worked alone, on some rare occasions flanked by Recchia and Armaroli,as on the occasion of the Tourist Trophy in which Hailwood competed inall classes : in the 125, 250 and 350 on Ducati, in the 500 with norton.

The first year he ran with the 125 single cylinder and then move on to the two-cylinder desmo which was then sold to other ridersducati, at the request of Sir Stanley Hailwood, built specially for his son Mike a 250 cc desmodromic twin that was unrivalled and cleaned up titles in Britain.

The further step forward was the realization of a 350 cc, obtained by pairing two 175, which, after an initial use by Hailwood, was sold to Ken Kavanagh, an rider driver who thanks to it dominated the home championship.

In 1959, in a parenthesis of his engagement to Hailwood, Folesani was also shipped to the United States; had been explicitly requested by importer Berliner because he knew English well.

Folesani closed the Hailwood bracket (from 1958 to 1961), because Mike moved to MV with which he won his first world title.

Back in Borgo Panigale, however, he stayed there a few months, because he was diverted to the “triumph program” which involved the import of such cars into Italy: this type of work he did not like and so he decided to move to the ATS,a newly formed F1 team, which was based in Bologna, but soon withdrew due to lack of funds and internal disagreements.

After many years of work, and collaborations also with Malanca, having reached the necessary years, Folesani preferred to retire to devote himself entirely to the family, which until then he had neglected.

The passion for mechanics, however, never abandoned him and as long as his health allowed him to build and modify motorcycles and cars in a friend’s workshop in Sasso Marconi. Folesani disappeared at the end of 2016.