Old Berliner racing single?

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beng
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Old Berliner racing single?

Post by beng »

Hello,
Anyone know anything about this Ducati road racer? I am sorry I do not know what race this is at. But I am guessing that it has something to do with Berliner's racing efforts about 1965-66, because the Norton is Heinz Kegler's who was head of Berliner's Norton racing in the 60s. I think the car in the background is about a 1965 Pontiac. I can not see enough of the guy bent over the Ducati to make any positive I.D.. Thanks!

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Last edited by beng on Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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BevHevSteve
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Re: Old Berliner racing single?

Post by BevHevSteve »

'65 pontiacs had stacked headlights, '64 had side by side headlights... Fender shape indicates side by side.. `-*
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beng
Cucciolo - the Lil Pup
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:15 am

Re: Old Berliner racing single?

Post by beng »

Good catch Steve, so then the photo could be as early as 1964.

I have been trying to track down what Berliner did as far as road-racing in the 1960's for some time now. A lot of the history has been lost along with the passing of those who were involved. I have had a few nice conversations with Kenny Hayes, Frank Scurria and Ray Hempstead, whom raced for Berliner, and I do not think they knew anything about this bike.

Berliner's was an underdog, racing underdog brands against other distributors and marques with a lot more financing and superior numbers east of the Mississippi.

I think the front brake on this Ducati later ended up on the front of the Norton in the photograph, a 9" Oldani 2ls job.
beng
Cucciolo - the Lil Pup
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:15 am

Re: Old Berliner racing single?

Post by beng »

I looked at some photographs of Pontiac's and what Steve said about them does not hold true. In 1964 Pontiac made automobiles with both stacked and side-by-side headlamps. The small GTO style body had them side-by-side and the larger Pontiacs had stacked. If you look at photographs of larger Pontiacs, you will see that the car in the photograph is a 1965 with Stacked headlamps, not side-by-side. It's profile and parts perfectly match that of a 1965 Pontiac full-size automobile, and that means that this photograph is from very late in 1964 and the car is just off the showroom floor or a year or two later.

Kegler had put the Ducati front brake on his Norton for the 1967 season so that narrows the photographs down to probably either 1965 or 1966.
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