Legendary Ducati designer Massimo Tamburini passes away

Legendary Automotive designer, Massimo Tamburini passed away on April 5 after a prolonged battle with lung cancer. Tamburini’s work has long been celebrated by motorcycling aficionados the world over. His most famous design being the iconic Ducati 916, which in some ways marked a new chapter for the Ducati brand.

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Massimo Tamburini with Cagiva founder, Giovanni Castiglioni[/caption]

Tamburini has other great accolades to his credit. In 1973 he founded Bimota along with Valerio Bianchi and Giuseppe Morri. Then in 1983, he left Bimota to work with Roberto Gallina’s 500 cc Grand Prix world championship team where he spent 2 years. After that, he went on to work at Cagiva where he started to design for Ducati; his first was the Paso 750, in addition to Cagiva motorcycles. He worked at the Cagiva Research Centre or CRC (Centro Ricerche Cagiva) in Italy where he continued as Head of design before retiring in 2008. There he helped revive the MV Agusta brand by designing the F4.

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Another one of Tamborini’s masterpieces[/caption]

Though he created many masterpieces in the course of his 35 year career, his legacy will continue in motorcycling history in the view of his two most well known creations — the Ducati 916 and the MV Agusta F4 both of which were exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum’s The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit that showcased in 1998 for a full year.