The story of racing at Racing Night: here's who's behind SPR Collection

Tuesday, 28 July 2026 at 19:00

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At the CIV 2026 Racing Night, a parade of two-wheeled gems curated by SPR Collection was not to be missed: an interview with the owner, Simone Piccoli.

Historic beauties at Misano: SPR Collection, a branch of the workshop SPR Motorcycle owned by Simone Piccoli (former kart driver and motorcyclist by passion), brought to Misano true Superbike and GP jewels, retracing the evolution of racing motorcycles over time. Not all of them belong to Piccoli—some are from collector friends—but it’s an exhibition that lets enthusiasts feast their eyes. On one side, all Grand Prix bikes, from the early years of the World Championship to the present day.

On the other, the story of the evolution of production-derived Superbikes, from the Ducati prepared by NCR for privateer Lauro Micozzi in the ’70s (similar to the factory Ducati that won at Imola in ’72 with Bruno Spaggiari), to the multiple world title–winning TT2 with Toni Rutter, up to the V4. We spoke with Piccoli, who also told us a bit about his life, and below are all the bikes seen during the CIV 2026 Racing Night.

Tell us about SPR Collection.

It’s a collection that started privately more than 20 years ago. I began by buying bikes and keeping them in my home garage. Then things evolved and in 2017 SPR Motorcycle was born, a workshop in Verona where we look after Italian bikes, historical ones, that kind of thing. We then thought about developing the collection with a museum, a dedicated space. At the beginning they were street Superbikes, so all the Ducati R versions, the Honda RC30, RC45 and NR, the Kawasakis, the Yamahas... All the brands. Over time we thought to pair each street bike with its corresponding race bike, eventually moving on to Grand Prix bikes and MotoGP.

Where does this passion come from?

All my passion for motorcycles and mechanics was passed on to me by my father. But he didn’t want to buy me a bike, so he had me race karts. I raced go-karts in the ’80s with drivers who later became famous in Formula 1: Alessandro Zanardi, Luca Badoer, Vincenzo Sospiri, Massimiliano Papis; I even did a few races with Michael Schumacher. Then it would have taken the big leap, but as a privateer and at my dad’s expense it was difficult... Maybe I wasn’t even that much of a talent, the kind that teams come looking for.

So the motorcycles came later

I bought the bike in secret! A 1985 Yamaha FZ 750. I took it to a body shop friend whom my dad visited every day: he immediately realized it was mine and said, “Listen, bring it home.” He fixed it up completely for me and that’s how my ‘motorcycling career’ began—but only as a collector. I never raced motorcycles in championships, just on the road or a few laps on track. But I also watched the races on TV: at GP level, I remember a bit of Agostini because my father told me about him, but I remember more of Lucchinelli, Virginio Ferrari, Franco Uncini starting from the ’80s. Superbike arrived in ’88, so I experienced that more closely.

Do you do various events with SPR Collection?

We are mainly the official team of ASI [Italian Social Sports Associations, formerly Italian Sports Alliance], so we go to their events, like the ASI Motoshow in Varano with the Ducatis, plus other major historic motorcycle events in Europe and around the world—this has been the case for a couple of years now.

ALL THE BIKES AT MISANO

Ducati, from the early days to Superbikes
750 SS Carter Quadro, Lauro Micozzi, 1976
TT2 600, 1980s (four world titles with Toni Rutter)
888 prepared by NCR, 1991
916 racing, 1995
748 racing, 1997
998 RS, 2002 (Bayliss replica)
999 F07, Troy Bayliss, 2007
1098 F08, Troy Bayliss, 2008
1198 F12, Davide Giugliano, 2012
1199 RS, Nico Terol, 2015
1299 RS, Xavi Fores, 2018
V4 RS, Danilo Petrucci, 2025

From the 1950s to modern MotoGP
Gilera 4-cylinder, Geoff Duke, 1950s
Benelli 4-cylinder, Renzo Pasolini, late 1960s
MV Agusta 3-cylinder (replica)
Yamaha OW31, Daytona 200 winner ’82 with Graeme Crosby
Yamaha ROC, Lucio Pedercini
Suzuki XR45, Franco Uncini, 1985
Suzuki RGV Γ 500 (XR76 model), Kevin Schwantz, 1990
Cagiva C588, Raymond Roche, 1988
Cagiva C594, John Kocinski, 1994
Honda Open, Nicky Hayden, 2014
Ducati GP06, Troy Bayliss, winner at Valencia 2006
Aprilia RS-GP 2019, Andrea Iannone

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