Stile Italiano pay tribute to tuning house NCR's last founder

Stile Italiano have built a stunning custom Ducati MHR1000 as a tribute to Rino Caracchi – the final member of tuning house NCR who passed away last year.

If you’re not familiar with the NCR name, they were a group of Italian engineers who built Ducati race bikes when the factory didn’t have a racing programme of their own.

Their work is legendary but the bike they’re most famous for is the 1978 Ducati 900 NCR, which powered a certain Mike Hailwood to a TT win after an 11 year hiatus.

To celebrate Mike’s success, Ducati built the 1000 MHR – the last Ducati production bike to feature their bevel drive system – and it’s this bike on which Stile Italiano have based their tribute.

Built by Loris Lessio, Stile’s mechanic, the tribute bike is a sort of modern reinterpretation of the 1984 machine. The engine remains mostly original but now breathes in through a pair of Dell’orto PHM40 carbs with velocity stacks and breathes out through a custom exhaust made by Virex.

Handling has been given a big boost with an Öhlins FG950 front end mounted in a set of Ducati 888 alloy triples. At the rear the swing arm has been converted to a monoshock, again also courtesy of Ohlins.

The wheels are Marvic magnesium five spoke TT2 replicas shod with a pair of Michelin slicks. Mounted to those is a full Brembo Oro braking system for vastly improved stopping power.

The electrics have been given a good going over too with Motogadget instruments and a new digital ignition. For the full track look the tribute machine has been fitted with a set of custom CNCed rearsets and clip ons.

Arguably the most striking element of the whole bike is the one piece bodywork. This aesthetic is typical of Stile’s previous work and once again the whole thing has been hand formed from sheet aluminium. It was then welded together and worked smooth until it gave a totally seemless finish.

How much? Well a standard MHR will set you back upwards of £10,000 but minters have gone for £20,000+ so if you have to ask…

More from MCN:

• Mike Hailwood Ducati replica auctioned
• 40 years on from Mike Hailwood’s TT comeback
• Racing a Hailwood replica