Beschreibung:

One of the more unlikely developments in modern-day classic racing has been the re-emergence of the Paton as a formidable contender at the highest level. Founded by ex-Mondial men Giuseppe Pattoni and Lino Tonti after that company’s withdrawal from racing, Paton built its first racing motorcycle – a Mondial-based 125 – in 1958. Stan Hailwood was one of Paton’s first customers, purchasing a 125 for his son, Mike who finished 7th on it on his Isle of Man TT debut that same year. The first Paton bicilindrica (twin-cylinder) racer - a 250 - appeared in 1959 but was not successful and was soon replaced by a smaller, lighter version that was ridden to a remarkable 3rd place at the 1964 TT by Alberto Pagani. Paton was never anything more than a shoestring operation - for 20 years Pattoni had just one full-time mechanic, Gianemilio Marchesani - so the achievement of such a result against the might of the Japanese factories was nothing short of miraculous. That early-1960s 250 established the pattern for all succeeding Paton four-stroke parallel twins: vertical cylinders with generous finning; twin overhead camshafts driven by gears from the centre of a 180-degree crankshaft; gear primary drive to an in-unit, six-speed, cassette-type transmission; and wet sump lubrication. A 350cc version was bought by Liverpool car dealer Bill Hannah for his sponsored rider, Fred Stevens. Impressed by the 350, Hannah commissioned the production of a 500, which Stevens rode to a memorable victory at the 1967 North West 200. He also won the 350 class on the Hannah-Paton and went on to finish 6th in the 500cc World Championship that year. Pattoni sold only a handful of bikes to customers, and although seldom able to challenge MV Agusta at Grand Prix level, the Patons were always in contention for top-privateer honours in the late 1960s. Occasionally Pattoni was able to turn the tables on his bigger and better funded rivals, Angelo Bergamonti’s 1967 Italian 500c Championship title being a particularly sweet moment. Pattoni continued to develop the four-stroke twin, producing an 8-valve version in the early 1970s that was ridden with some success by Roberto Gallina and Virginio Ferrari By this time though, two-strokes were ruling the Grand Prix roost in all classes and Pattoni was forced to change tack, introducing his own 500cc stroker in 1980. An innovative design, the Paton was a single-crank V4, the unusual layout of which was later copied by Honda for its NSR500. By this time the chances of a low-budget independent effort like Pattoni’s succeeding against the likes of Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki were slim indeed, though Vittorio Scatola managed to pull of an heroic victory against a full grid of Japanese strokers at the Misano round of the Italian Championship in 1989. Shamefully, Paton was excluded from Grands Prix in 1997 despite having scored a point the previous season. After Giuseppe Pattoni’s death in 1999 the racing effort continued to be run by his son, Roberto, whose idea it was to recommence limited production of the 500cc 8-valve four-stroke twin in honour of his late father. Since then the reborn Paton has proved itself to be more than a match for the single-cylinder, predominantly Manx and G50-engined opposition, as evidenced by Ryan Farquhar’s back-to-back wins in the Manx Grand Prix’s Senior Classic race in 2007 and 2008. Another rider who has enjoyed considerable success on the Paton in recent years is seven-time World Champion, Phil Read, MBE, whose own machine we are privileged to offer here. Riding ‘008’, Phil won the INCA 500cc race at the Salzburgring in August 2006 and the Schotten hill climb (Classic 500 class) later that same month, and finished on the podium in the Classic 500 race at the Donington Park ‘See Red’ meeting in September 2006. Phil secured another INCA win in 2007, never finishing off the rostrum that year, and in 2008 won the Jack Findlay Memorial Race at the Le Mans round of the MotoGP World Championship, with 2nd