Our TT 1000 Build, Italianiron & BritIron Classics Value Proposition
Posted by Scot Wilson on Jul 14th 2021
One of my favourite builds has been this TT 1000 with Ducati Monster 1000 cc S2R DS engine and now purpose-built for either spirited track or road riding. I have always been a fan of the big Ducati twin cylinder engines that started with my 1973 Spaggiari Scuderia inspired 750 cc bevel drive desmo racer through to my 2001 Ducati 996 rs racer. The Taglioni "L" twin configuration exhibits that quintessential balance between light weight, torquey and high-revving power delivery. At the track, on the dyno or up our mountain roads, this engine has that exotic "Ferrari of Motorcycles" race finesse in its exhaust note and loads of "grunt" while pulling hard through the gears. Using our chrome-moly TT frame, bodywork kits and some other "go fast" light weight bits allowed us to shave 50 + pounds of weight off of a stock Monster S2R. Maximizing Power:Weight ratios is one of the keys to race success but also a key to having a great deal of fun on a brilliantly performing, trackable machine. This engine pulls like an absolute "freight train"!! To review this build as well as many others, view the step by step photos of this build found in my TT 1000 album on my Scot P Wilson/Italianiron FB page.
Like many of our projects that we have built or projects that we have assisted customers with, the process starts with a good Ducati donor bike. In this case, we started with a 1000 cc Monster S2R engine. This engine puts out loads of torque when using our 36 mm SmartCarb billet flat-slide carbs and we find them to be the best performing flat-slide carburetors available in the market today. The SmartCarb2's maintain the velocity that we need in this spirited race engine as it builds extremely impressive power up and down the rev range. The SC2 is not the most expensive carb, but it certainly is not the cheapest, but it is the best based upon our experience. We found 11% more HP on the dyno using our 36 mm SmartCarbs over other larger carburetor options and even fuel injection! As a dealer for SmartCarbs, I have written 12 blog posts to date on the successes that we have had using our SmartCarbs and available for review in the blog post section of my Italianiron.com website. Additionally, a "thank you" to Toine Biggelaar aka Dr Frankenstein, of Biggelaar Performance in The Netherlands, who provided us with the electronic management module for the electrical components of our S2R DS engine. This module was required as we wanted to use carbs for our application as we had scrapped the fuel injection system. Shown below is our chrome-moly TT frame.
https://www.italianiron.com/products/ducati-tt-1-tt-2-tt-900-chrome-moly-frame-only
Our TT frames will accept all Ducati 2 valve or 3 valve, belt driven engines from a Pantah 600 cc to a Monster 1100 cc. Currently we are in the development stage of harnessing the power of a 1200 cc Ducati engine in a TT frame. However, do know that we have assisted many racers and builders who use Ducati 650 cc, 750 cc and 900 cc engines with OEM wiring looms that mount very simply and successfully into our chrome-moly TT or Pantah racer frames or complete chassis kits. Currently we offer our chrome-moly TT frame with 25 mm tubing for Pantah 500 cc through 750 cc Ducati engines. We use 28 mm tubing on the TT frames that we use for Ducati 750 cc to 1100 cc, engines at present. It is my belief that part of the appeal of our "value proposition" is that most anyone can build an iconic and unique racer or race rep for the street and do it very inexpensively. Another appeal is that the power displacement of our class of racers, in my opinion, is ideal for the majority of amateur racers. For pricing economy, we offer complete chassis and bodywork kits, however, we also sell all of our items "cafeteria style" or offer those items for sale separately. We are also excited to see how many race series worldwide welcome our racers.
Do know that our primary mission is to support that racer competing in the sport of Vintage Motorcycle Racing internationally. As a result, we provide "state of the art", light weight, quality race bits. The race track, whether competing in MotoGP or enjoying vintage racing, can be a cruel "mistress" if your equipment is not up to demands of the track. We error on the side of structural integrity, modern metallurgy and greater reliability from superior manufacturing processes versus what is cheapest. At Italianiron.com we have everything that you may need to build a quality, light weight TT 1, TT2 or TT 1000 racer for the road or track. We make our chrome-moly frames that are faithful copies of Tony Rutter's world famous racers. We also offer complete bodywork kits. Additionally, we offer both aluminum TT 900 "shallow sump" fuel tanks for use with modern Ducati 2v and 3v engines and aluminum TT 2 "deep sump" fuel tanks for Pantah based engines where the carbs attach to the rear of each cylinder. The builder of our aluminum fuel tanks make each fuel tank by Hand using a mallet, sandbag and an English Wheel. Then the fuel tank is gas welded which we have found to be a superior method of construction.
https://www.italianiron.com/products/ducati-tt-2-street-bike-fairing
At Italianiron.com we love working with craftsman in an age where everything seems to be mass produced in a "cookie cutter" manner and without the skill and attention-to-detail that only the human touch and skill can impart. I can share a "real world" experience of premature aluminum failure due to Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) of a new aluminum, TIG welded fuel tank. I was so surprised when this newly purchased aluminum "Imola" fuel tank for my Ducati 750 ss bevel racer cracked at the frame mount as I was pulling into the pit garage after the race. This was the first race event for this new tank! What a mess when all of the residual fuel from this large capacity fuel tank was dumped all over the floor. I was lucky that the break had not taken place during that BOTT race at the Mid-Ohio race track as there could have been some real fireworks!! Our new aluminum TT 900 "shallow sump" fuel tanks for use with modern Ducati engines remain hand made, gas welded and can claim a capacity of 3.5 gallons.
https://www.italianiron.com/products/ducati-tt-900-aluminum-shallow-sump-fuel-tank
The capacity of this fuel tank is critical for effective use when riding on one of our local Ducati Desmo Southwest club rides. Additionally, since I use 36 mm SmartCarb flat slide carbs on this TT 1000 racer, I can safely go on longer rides as we have experienced the claimed 30% savings in fuel economy stated by the engineers at Technology Elevated, manufacturer of the SmartCarb! We do continue to manufacture a race full fairing or a street full fairing with recesses for headlamps for an additional charge. Carbon fibre bodywork is also now available. We also like using modern aluminum 3 or 5 spoke Brembo wheels that are common with a good Monster or Supersport donor bike on our TT racers that will spend time on the road. Most OEM wheels mount well with just a bearing change to work with the 41.7 mm Marzocchi M1R forks that I had selected and rebuilt for this build. Many companies continue to manufacture 300 mm front rotors which makes putting together the front end of this racer less traumatic. We continue to offer 280 mm and 320 mm rotors for our TT racers, Ducati Pantahs and Bevel Drives.
https://www.italianiron.com/products/norton-850-750-commando-aluminum-fastback-fuel-tank
We are also having a great deal of fun supporting Norton Commando enthusiasts worldwide with world class race quality items through our subsidiary, BritIron Classics. Like our aluminum Ducati TT fuel tanks, we offer a very comprehensive portfolio of quality aluminum fuel tanks for a wide range of Norton Commando motorcycles as well as for the Molnar Manx. We offer quality aluminum fuel tanks for the Norton Commando "Fastback", "Roadster", "Interstate", "Norvil" racer, a "Mini-Manx", and for the "Sprint" motorcycles. The builder of our aluminum fuel tanks in the UK makes each fuel tank by Hand using a mallet, sandbag and an English Wheel. Then the fuel tank is gas welded which we have found to be a superior method of construction. We maintain our commitment to only offering quality manufactured aluminum fuel tanks that are designed to look brilliant and to fit your machine correctly straight out of the box.
At Italianiron & BritIron Classics, we offer a wide spectrum of race quality spares for the Ducati TT, Pantah, F1 racers as well as for the Norton Manx and Norton Commando racers. We also have a large amount of OEM items for vintage Ducati's and Nortons. Shown above is my Norton 920 cc JPN build with numerous specialty billet and engine components. Check out our Italianiron.com website for Ducati and BritIron bits. We remain committed to supporting the world of Vintage Motorcycle Racing as well as to supporting those specialty bike builders as a supplier of quality chassis, bodywork and specialty racing spare parts. At Italianiron.com, let us "Fuel Your Race Passions" is not just a slogan but a commitment whether you are building a vintage TT racer for competition or a Ducati F1 vintage street bike. We are also excited to support enthusiasts for Norton Manx and Norton Commando racers through Molnar Manx and BritIron Classics.
