An ex-Nicky Hayden Ducati GP8 MotoGP bike heading to auction
The bike was sourced in a dismantled state directly from the Ducati factory, but has since been built and just needs to be recommissioned.
A stunning, and quite possibly unique, Ducati Desmosedici GP8 is heading for auction, with the ex-Nicky Hayden stars and stripes edition boasting a very healthy auction estimate.
The bike is heading over the auction block at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale, with the hammer set to fall on Saturday, August 16. Offered in assembled but ‘show bike configuration’, the seller notes that should you want to ride it again, the work could be carried out to allow that to happen.
The bike is a historically important model for any race bike collector, thanks to it being the first Ducati MotoGP machine Hayden tested on track. As is customary, riders are often allowed to test the bikes of their new team at the end-of-season test. Due to the contracts that riders, teams, and sponsors have, Hayden could not test the bike with Ducati’s sponsors on the fairing, leading to the bike being painted up in this typically patriotic manner.
There are also numerous nods to the bike’s provenance dotted about the machine, with a number of labels and stickers (such as on the frame, wheel rims and brake lines), featuring the letters “NH” - denoting the parts as used by Hayden.
The listing confirms that the frame is a genuine 2008 item, with new and unused engine casings and crankcases making up the business end of the bike. It’s thought that the engine would be where most of the work would go should the next owner want to return it to working condition.
Links to one of America’s most famous modern-era MotoGP racers aside, the bike also offers the new owner the chance to be one of only a handful of people to hold the keys to a GP8 MotoGP machine. That, along with the links to the ‘Kentucky Kid’, means that this bike will not be selling cheap, with Sotheby’s placing an estimate of between £165,000 and £240,000 on the bike.
You can check out the listing for yourself over on the official website.
Images - RM Sotheby’s
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
