Hannah Paton

The origin of the Paton lay in Mondial's withdrawal from racing in 1957 which prompted Pattoni and Lino Tonti to design and build a 125cc racer, which in the hands of Mike Hailwood secured 7th place in the 1958 TT. Following this success and despite the sale of a few machines, Tonti left the partnership to pursue his career elsewhere and Pattoni joined a Lancia dealership. Charged with running the owner's saloon car racing team he had access to a well equipped workshop which enabled the creation of the first pure Paton, a 247cc twin, which in the hands of Alberto Pagani took a 3rd place finish at the 1964 TT. Thanks to this result and its attendant publicity Pattoni was able to secure the support of British businessman Bill Hannah who sponsored a team to run the newly developed 350cc and 500cc Paton twins, a relationship that would see a Paton finish fourth in the 1969 World Championship and secure victory in the 1967 Italian 500cc championship. The new engines featured double overhead camshafts and in developed form, with a capacity of 483.68cc pumped out 65bhp at 10,500 rpm rising to 70bhp when equipped with four valve heads. The overhead camshafts were driven by a centrally mounted gear train and final drive was via a six speed gearbox.

Paddock GP tell the full story of Pattoni, Paton including the brief coalition with Bill Hannah.

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