1994 Ducati 916 Strada

• Very early example from first year of production - frame number 25.
• Very little modified from new, including original silencers
• Showing 45,639 kilometres (approximately 28,000 miles)
• UK registered since 1996

When Ducati owner Claudio Castiglioni set about replacing the 888 he needed a motorcycle which would do two things: sell as a road bike; and win the World Superbike Championship. He recruited Bimota founder Massimo Tamburini and set about producing a sports bike without equal. The unique headlights allowed a wind cheating front to the fairing, underseat exhausts gave ground clearance, and the single sided swingarm needed for endurance racing - then still part of Ducati's ambitions - had to be strong enough for short circuit racing. The fuel tank had to allow the rider to tuck in while carrying the maximum permitted fuel load and covering the top of the structural airbox. Castings had to be as light as feasible while, as Tamburini put it, "not look like they came off a dirt bike".

People got used to Tamburini deciding that what had been achieved wasn't good enough, arriving for work to discover a 916 mock-up had been too badly damaged by Tamburini's overnight experiments to continue with it. And as beautiful styled as the 916 is, styled is perhaps the wrong word. When it rained Tamburini would kit up and take the prototype for a ride. On his return he would examine where dirt had collected before redesigning bodywork until all the panels had an identical coating of filth. It was faster than using a wind tunnel and, when the 916 finally met aeronautical engineers, Tamburini's methodology was vindicated.

While the 916 is Tamburini's stand out project for Castiglioni his best-selling Cagiva 125s were what brought the money in while he perfected it. Not that the 916 didn't bring money in; despite costing almost half as much again as Honda's feted Firebird, it sold out within days of launch, even before winning the World Superbike Championship at its first attempt.

Unsurprisingly the first year of 916 production (as the 1994 Strada) is becoming a holy grail for Ducati fans. There was initially no plan for a homologation SP model, and for 1995 the 916 featured a sturdier rear subframe and dual seat (Biposto) to the disappointment of purists, who at least could finally order a 916SP.

This machine features the original silencers, now vanishingly rare, especially since they were stamped with the frame number, most having been replaced with carbon fibre items. The only other deviations from standard are Helibars and braided brake lines. Built in 1994 and sold in the Netherlands (hence the kph speedo) it was registered in the UK in 1996. Fewer than 1500 of these bikes were built in 1994, the first year of production, with this machine having frame number 25 and engine number 87 making it one of the very first of what would become a glorious lineage. Supplied with keys.