‘They told me I was lapping faster than Ago’s GP bike’ WHAT’S THE IMOLA 200?
we were desperately short of time,” recalled Smart. “The first time I saw the bike I thought ‘This thing is so long it’s never going to go round a corner’, the bikes’ frames weren’t even painted and they were fitted with Dunlop TT100 road tyres as the team didn’t think race tyres would last the 200 miles!”
But there were positives, too: “I was taken aback at Ducati’s setup – after the tight Hansen Kawasaki team it was quite a shock to have some 30 staff around and 10 bikes for four riders - two each plus a couple of spares. They were naïve in some ways but very serious about it…”
Smart had never been around Imola and initially the bike felt horrible. He came back into the pit thinking he’d been “dog slow” but was met with another shock.
“In the garage they were all jumping up and down. I didn’t know what was going on, then they told me I’d been lapping faster than the record set by Agostini.” And that record had been achieved on a 500cc grand prix bike, with race tyres.
“I found it deceptively fast. Ducati had obviously put a lot of effort into it. It just felt slow revving, like it fired every lamp post.”
At Imola, on the Friday before the race, Spaggiari was fastest in first practice and, along with Smart, fastest again on Saturday. Things were looking good, a feeling compounded by the envious looks Smart was getting from riders who’d turned the Ducati down.
“On race day I couldn’t believe how many people were there,” Smart continued. Official estimates vary from 70-100,000. “The atmosphere was electric and full of noise like only the Italians can make. The track is one of my lasting memories. It was a wonderful old style grand prix circuit which ran round the hills at the back of the old town of Imola.
“Before the race the team manager, Spairani told Spaggiari and me: ‘Listen, you and Bruno are going to be first and second. I would just like you and Bruno to agree to share the prize money for first and second when we win.’ To top it off he said if I won, I could keep the bike!
“When the flag dropped Ago’s MV shot off but I was cautious as I wanted to keep both the clutch and me in one piece.” (Agostini and the MV later retired). “Bruno and I quickly moved to the front. The biggest problem we had were back markers and in a tortuous 200 miles we were always dodging bikes retiring and running out of fuel.
“Spaggiari came past me but I went straight back and he didn’t press me again until the last lap when he tried to ride round the outside of me coming out of the Aqua Minerale.
“At that part of the track we were completely flat out. I saw his front wheel coming alongside and I just let it drift wide. I didn’t see him after that and when I did look back I wondered if he had gone through the hedge or something.
“Bruno and I crossed the finish line first and second and I relaxed for the first time since boarding the plane in Atlanta. The realisation of what you have done really hits when riding the bike back into pit lane and seeing the faces of the race team, especially Taglioni and Spairani.”
It was the biggest win of Smart’s career and a pivotal moment for Ducati. The win validated the big desmo V-twin, inspired the 1973 750 Super Sport, the most coveted of all classic Ducatis, and was a springboard for Ducati’s future. As engineer Taglioni said in 1974: “When we won at Imola we won the market, too.” It was the Imola victory that set the stage for Ducati’s subsequent success.
As for Smart, the amiable Kent racer was swept up in exuberant celebrations, given the honorary freedom of Bologna and paraded around the city in an open-topped bus before later going on to race for Suzuki. He retired in 1978 to concentrate on a successful motorcycle business and later became involved in son Scott’s racing team. In the late 1990s and 2000s he frequently acted as a Ducati ambassador appearing at events such as World Ducati Week.
The Imola 200 was intended as a European version of America’s hugely popular and prestigious Daytona 200 200-mile event which had been the USA’s premier motorcycle road race since 1937.
Run to the new production-based F750 formula which was adopted by the FIM in 1972, the first Imola 200 took place on April 23rd of that year with a huge budget, major public relations campaign and record prize money of 35million Lire (then approx. $60,000) and was widely advertised as ‘The Race of the Century’.
All of that was sufficient to attract 11 factory or factory-supported teams including hot favourite 500cc world champion Giacomo Agostini and his MV Agusta, Phil Read and Peter Williams on the John Player Nortons, the Beezumph triples, Kawasaki, Honda, BMW and stars such as Gary Nixon, John Cooper and Daytona winner Don Emde.
The first Imola 200 is reputed to have attracted 100,000 fans and the F750 series became a European championship in 1975, then world championship in 1977. However, despite hopes it might replace 500cc GPs, the dominance of Yamaha’s TZ750 after 1975 and growth of AMA Superbike racing after 1976 diluted its significance and appeal and the FIM discontinued the series in 1979.
The Imola 200, however, continued as a stand-alone race until 1985 and in 2010 the Imola ‘200 Miglia Revival’ began as a classic event.