NCR Motorcycles

NCR was founded in 1967 on the western outskirts of Bologna, Italy, by Rino Caracchi, Giorgio Nepoti, and a third partner named Rizzi - the initials of their surnames became the company name. Rather than an independent manufacturer, NCR operated for around three decades as Ducati's unofficial racing department: through the 1970s and into the early 1990s, when Ducati itself stepped back from competition, its engines and chassis were handed to NCR's engineers, including Franco Farnè, to be developed into race-winning machines. The best known result was the Ducati 900 NCR, on which Mike Hailwood won the 1978 Isle of Man TT Formula 1 race - a result built on a batch of 25 900 TT1 bikes NCR constructed that year. NCR-built Ducatis remain some of the most sought-after and valuable Italian racing motorcycles from that era.