| Afraid I have to disagree with Jools on this one (sorry mate); as the fortunate owner of both a 916 (now 996R) and an MVF4 I can agree there are styling similarities but you can't deny that both are stunning bikes, to design an in line four that is so narrow and compact is nothing short of genius IMHO. Both have two wheels, single sided swinging arms, the very sensible QD fairings and underseat exhausts but apart from that they are quite different.
The other big consideration when making the comparison between the two designers, during their time at Ducati, is the level of technical support and engineering avaiable. Anyone who has visited the factory both before and after the influence of the input from the Americans will appreciate the relatively archaic manufacturing equipment at Mr. Tamburini's disposal. I also get the impression that he did most of the design detailing himself whereas his succesor gets a lot of help from others on the design team. I'm not knocking Mr. Terblanche but for me Tamburini is da man.
Italians seem to have a flair and passion for design that few other nationalities seem able to emulate or understand. Germans can design very technically advanced vehicles but seem at a total loss to make them look appealing, take the Audi TT, a high performance car that looks like a jelly mould, the French aren't much better, who the hell designed the back of the new Renault, talk about "shakin that arse" should have been shaken by the throat !!!
Guess there is always the need in manufacturing to make something that looks different but the modern trend seems to be towards the hideous and aesthetically brutal.
I'll get me coat...........  |