Racing forms the lifeblood of the Ducati marque, and every significant street Ducati has been derived from a racing machine. Central to this emphasis on racing has been chief engineer Fabio Taglioni and his commitment to desmodromic valve gear. This is the full story of Ducati's involvement in road racing, from their first successful racer, the 98cc Marianna of 1955, to the four-valve V-twin world superbike machines which have dominated in world superbike racing from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, becoming the most successful of all racing Ducatis.