My memory of Monty and Ward goes back to about 1960. I am fairly certain one of their bikes was a unit construction 500 in a 250 Ducati frame. When the stroke gets down to 63mm, the power characteristics can be horrible. Percy Tait on the works 500, actually finished ahead of a 500cc MV in one race. I think it was on Spa - a power circuit ? One thing I found with my 500, was, once it was really going, it seemed to continue going faster but at a slower rate of acceleration. At Phillip Island I found myself to be passing guys at the ends of the straights. It was a bit strange. I think the inlet port size was miles too big for the capacity of the motor.
When Allan Greening raced it at Bathurst he reached the end of Conrod straight going so fast that he was in trouble. He had to choose between going left or right, and either wat, the angle was the same. He chose to go around instead of the escape road. When he got to the top of the mountain the bike bounced him off the guard rail. He broke an arm and a leg.
Very few other guys ever rode my 500. My brother found he could not get around a corner and ran off. On the same day , another more experienced rider did the same thing.
en.wikipedia.org
