Although Bob Brown has been absent from serious racing for some time, in 1986 he took a 750 Fl to Daytona and very nearly beat the factory Fl of Marco Lucchinelli in the Battle of the Twins race. "The Americans conspired against us and Dan Chivington had to start from the back row. But everyone, including the factor}' honchos of Taglioni and Fame, were amazed when our 750cc bike was as fast as the factory 820 on the banking," says Brown.
For those who followed Superbike racing in Australia the performance of the Bob Brown Pantah at Daytona was no surprise. Kevin Magee cut his teeth on the Pantah (picture at right) and on tight circuits like Winton often gave Malcolm Campbell and Robbie Phillis on their factory 1000cc Superbikes something to think about. After Magee earned a factory GP ride, Aaron Slight and Robert Holden gave the Brown Pantah more success. "Although Magee was the most gifted rider, he didn't really have a killer instinct," says Brown. "Slight was fantastic but probably the best of them all was Robert Holden. He was a great person too and should have made it to the top."
The Ducati association began when Bob Brown saw a 250 Mach 1 in Pratts in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. "I rode it to work every day and pulled it apart to go racing. But after I crashed at my first meeting I realised I wasn't much good at it and was better off playing around with them."

Later Brown began to develop bevel-drive twins but was always experimenting. 'That was the beginning of our crankcase problems," he says. "Every Ducati I have raced has suffered from crankcases cracking and breaking. As you get more power out of them they can't take it. Even today, while the engines are much better, the crankcase design is absolute shit."
If the bevel-drives were too fragile, the Pantah was super reliable and Brown made the move to 851s as soon as they were available. Caught up with the new technology Brown simply didn't have the resources to overcome the problems and the 851 was a disaster. "The 851 should have been up and running but it was just a dog. We spent all our money fixing problems. Even the factory struggled back in 1988 and '89 and, in retrospect, we should have waited until they sorted it out. The 916 is 10 times the motorcycle of the 851."
Has that experience soured him?
"Ducatis have been part of my life. I have never really been interested in anything else and I still love the bloody things!" replies Brown.

(This article has been taken from the larger article entitled "The Australian Connection" which appeared in the magazine "Italian Motorcycles" Volume 8, published by FPC Power, a division of Eastern Suburbs Newspapers Pty Ltd.)