Massimo Bordi

Massimo Bordi is an Italian mechanical engineer and company executive, born in Bevagna in 1948, whose reputation rests on his work for the motorcycle maker Ducati. After graduating in mechanical engineering at the University of Bologna with a thesis on a four valve desmodromic cylinder head, he worked in teaching and at the Terni steelworks before joining Ducati in 1978 to lead research on industrial diesel engines. He became technical director and then general manager of Ducati and of the Cagiva group, under the Castiglioni brothers. From his thesis came the Desmoquattro engine, developed with Pierluigi Mengoli, which first ran in the 748 IE prototype and underpinned the Ducati 851 and 916 families that revived the company in Superbike racing. In the early 1990s he oversaw the Supermono and the Monster, the naked motorcycle credited with restoring the type to fashion. He left Ducati in December 2000, then led SAME Deutz-Fahr, MV Agusta and Maschio Gaspardo.