UNLIMITED FORGOTTEN ERA DUCATI TT2
New Caledonia, a French territory comprising dozens of islands in the South Pacific, isn’t a place you’d associate with Ducatis, until you speak to Gilles. “Our Ducati Owners Club there has 90 members and around 150 bikes,” said the former club president. As New Caledonia only has a go-kart track suited to pocket bikes, Gilles travels to France to race both modern and vintage Ducatis.
He was racing at Phillip Island courtesy of Aussie Al Harper. The pair first met at a French vintage racing endurance event and last year Al visited Gilles’s Pacific home and rode 500 miles around New Caledonia with 24 local Ducati club members.
Gilles was on Al’s 1981 TT2, an original racer built up in Germany for Battle of the Twins. It only has a 598cc motor but Gilles was mixing it with the big boys all weekend.