DUCATI DESMOSEDICI RR

2003 (52) Ducati Desmosedici RR Troy Bayliss GP3 is offered to you for sale in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, finished in red this Ducati Desmosedici RR Troy Bayliss GP3 is one of the many rare and coveted bikes that motorbike dealer The Bike Specialists, Sheffield, South Yorkshire have available for sale. THE BIKE SPECIALISTS, TRADING STANDARD AWARD WINNERS 2023. Bike ID: #9323 (£289,000 +VAT) We have the pleasure of offering for sale this super rare opportunity to own our 2003 Ducati GP3 Racing Motorcycle ridden by Australian legend Troy Bayliss. The Desmosedici we offer is 'GP3TB1' (GP3 referring to the 2003 model), its number being recorded on the tamper-proof metal sticker on the frame, a feature missing from Ducati's show bikes. Only applied when bikes were built up and ready to race, this sticker, together with others applied pre-race, testifies to this Desmosedici's competition history. As is common practice, each rider had two bikes available at each race, this one being Troy Bayliss' main bike. It can be dated to the early half of 2003, as the frame design changed partway through the season when the rectangular engine mounts changed to a round design. This Desmosedici has undergone a comprehensive engine and gearbox overhaul and is ready to parade. Only motorcycles from the first few years of MotoGP, like the GP3, can be run easily by privateers; anything more recent would require the resources of a top-flight race team. And to make it even more practical, this GP3 is fitted with cast-iron brake discs but does come with its original carbon discs. "With shapely bodywork painted in the coveted Marlboro colours, just like Ferrari, and sounding like a close relative, Ducati returned to GP racing after spending some three decades away from it." Ducati had been absent from Grand Prix racing's premier 500cc class since the category went exclusively two-stroke in the 1970s. Ducati lacked the resources to develop a Grand Prix 500, and in any case they had not built two-strokes for many years and then only lightweights. The saying "Win on Sunday sell on Monday" had been around since the dawn of powered transport, and so Ducati had been favouring a class of racing that had a direct link with its production models: superbikes, for which its water-cooled 8-valve v-twin-engined sports roadsters - the 851, 888 and 916 family - were ideally suited. When the FIM announced that the new MotoGP premier class would be four-strokes only from 2002, Ducati already had all the experience it needed to build a competitive four-stroke racer. Clearly a twin would be unable to achieve an adequate power output, so Ducati opted for a V4, retaining the 90-degree angle between the cylinders and desmodromic (positive closure) valve gear of the successful twins to create the 'Desmosedici' (desmo, 16 valve). Ducati's new prototype missed almost the entire 2002 season and it was not until the final round at Valencia that it was seen and heard in action. Works riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi tested the Desmosedici over the winter, and both lined up on the grid for the first race of 2003 at Suzuka. Winner of the 1999 British Superbike Championship aboard a Ducati, Bayliss had been drafted into the Italian manufacturer's WSB works team in 2000, replacing the injured Carl Fogarty. He went on to win the championship in 2001 and narrowly missed out to Honda-mounted Colin Edwards in 2002. Despite his lack of Grand Prix experience, Bayliss seemed a natural choice to ride the new Desmosedici. Loris Capirossi, on the other hand, was a seasoned GP campaigner, having first raced in the 500 class back in 1995. He was already a three-time World Champion, with victories in the 125 category (1990, 1991) and the 250 class (1998). The first Desmosedici bucked the accepted trend in racing motorcycle chassis design, using a tubular steel trellis - just like Ducati's superbikes - rather than the ubiquitous aluminium beam frame; its V4 e

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