Ducati TT's are somewhat misunderstood. They are not named after the Isle of Man and the TT2 came before the TT1 (TT stands for Tourist Trophy and the 2 is for Formula 2, the 1 for Formula 1, the classes that bikes were built for) The bikes were factory racers, completely handbuilt by the original NCR team, who were Ducati Corse at that time. The production line was in the factory raceshop. They are the closest thing Ducati has EVER offered to what the factory was racing at the time. Produced in extremely low numbers and hand built by Rino Caracchi, Giorgio Nepoti, and Franco Farne, they have the highest pedigree of any Ducati's ever made. Officially, in 1982 and 1983 about 20 TT2's were built and even fewer TT1's thru 1984 and 1985. Impossibly small numbers by todays standards.

They are known for their straight to the racetrack details, both pure function and beautiful at the same time

The F1, road going version, was inspired by the TT race bikes, and so they were out in force here as well. This year is the 25th anniversary of the F1

From the moment we walked in, it was clear we were in for a day of interesting motorcycles and even more interesting people

That's Ralph Stechow, our host and the owner of more than a few of the really important (historically) bikes on display

The Gurus. When it comes to TT's, these guys are the "brain trust". That's Rich Lambrechts on the left, who came up from Florida to attend, and Lou Saif on the right, without whom this event would not exist.

Not just TT's and F1's came out to be admired. First thing I see when we arrive? Jimmy Adamo's 1985 Team Leone bike that won the '87 Battle of the Twins championship and the Daytona Cup with Reno Leone, from the Bar Hodgson Collection. Bar brought a number of really nice bikes