Ex Nigel Mansell Ducati up for grabs at the Autosport auction

WHEN asked to think of classic Ducatis the jelly-mould bodywork of the Paso isn’t the first silhouette you imagine.

Built in an age when the Japanese big four were ruling the two-wheeled roost, Ducati needed a bike to take the fight to the screaming four-cylinder machines from the far east.

And this was Ducati’s answer, an aging 904cc, air-cooled, two-valve-per-cylinder unit that was as old as you grandma and punted more hydrocarbons into the atmosphere than a small country. It’s fair to say that the Paso was not Ducati’s finest hour, it’d be another few years before that arrived in the shape of the 916.

The bike that’s up for grabs at the Autosport International Sale was given to Mansell during his time racing for the Ferrari F1 team in the late 90s. in his autobiography, he talks about how one day he spotted a Ferrari Testarossa in the carpark at Maranello and mentioned to his host how much he liked the car. The next week one was dropped off at his home in the Isle of Man. With that in mind on another visit, he spotted a Ducati Paso in the factory carpark and again, Mansell showed an interest in the bike and three weeks later, one arrived at his home!

So, what do you get for your £5 to £6k guide price I hear you ask? You get a tidy looking Paso with all the handbooks, MoTs and receipts. There is also a letter from the IoM treasury confirming that Mansell was the owner and a tail unit of the bike has also been signed by the 1992 F1 World Champion.

With tidy, and lower mileage, Pasos on the market for between £3,500 and £4,000, you’d have to be a massive fan of the mustachioed-maestro to warrant paying the guide price for what is essentially a fairly flabby, not very sought after mid-80s Ducati.