Hello Can anyone answer this?

[Nic B]

Hi my name is nic and i own a ducati 748sps. I'm giving a lecture on the Ducati marque and remember reading that there is a link to the ferrari prancing pony badge (Ducati used it on their early bikes) I know it comes from the italian WW1 ace Francesco Baracca and given to Enzo Ferrari around 1923, but cant find the remaining link, any help I would be great full.

[Macdesmo]

Nic,
Baracca came from the same town as Dr. Taglioni and was a distant relative. The horse appeared on the Ducati factory works desmo 125 in 1957. I would guess that the prancing horse has some connection to an Italian WW1 fighter squadron. I will have a look today to see what I can find.
Ian

[Macdesmo]

Nic,
The rancing horse symbol 'cavallino rampante' was adopted by Enzo Ferrari in 1930. Enzo has said the Baracca's mother told him to use the symbol after he won his first car race in 1923 at Ravenna near Dr T's home town of Lugo. It was a symbol of luck. The origin of the horse is unclear and the subject of conjecture. My guess of a squadron symbol is one, whilst it was Barraca's own flying signature is another and another is that it came from a German plane he shot down. The plane came from Stuttgart which has the black horse as the city symbol. Enzo added the yellow background adopted from the colours of the city of Modena.
So, I guess the horse( without the yellow background) on the 125 racer was for good luck in the same way as it was given to Ferrari.
Also I had the date wrong for its use by Ducati as the bike first raced in the Swedish GP at Hedemora in October 1956, lapping the entire field in record time. I hope there is something here that you can use.
Ian

[Nic B]

Thanks for the infomation, and your time spent researching it, it will help alot.

[BevHevSteve]

* I moved this topic from INTRODUCE YOURSELF to here in the RUMOUR MILL [general Ducati related chat] where it belongs. THANK YOU