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Ducati 1199 Panigale: Italian Revolution
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It took over thirty years for Ducati to re-consider and re-engineer the dated architecture of its V-twin engine. Going back to the drawing boards was the right and probably the only option left for the Italian bike-maker. With a painfully long development period which lasted more than four years, twice as much of any other model in its line-up, Ducati finally unveiled its successor to the 1198, the 1199 Panigale at the 2011 EICMA motorcycle fair. Adil Jal Darukhanawala explores the new class-redefining motorcycle that holds the might to change the way we know superbikes today
A short stroke arrangement translates into higher rpm resulting into more horsepower but reducing stroke also means a much larger bore in order to maintain the same cubic capacity. Larger bore also allows for the use of larger valves which means better and smoother flow of gases in and out of the combustion chamber, thus further increasing the power from the engine. With years of experience in racing and developing some of the finest V-twin engines the world has ever seen, all these innovations put together helped Ducati squeeze those 20-odd extra horses from the new V-twin engine than what any other Ducati production V-twin makes. The massive bore size meant use of bigger inlet and exhaust valves made out of titanium to lessen the initial inertia, which is where Ducati’s patented Desmodromic valve operation technology came to the rescue of the engineers. The level of precision and efficiency required for smooth functioning of the big valves at extremely high operating speeds could not be achieved with the help of conventional valve closing springs. But the simple-yet-efficient Desmodromic valve mechanism by Ducati with its mechanical functioning could very well deal with the large valves even at extremely high operating speeds, with high precision.
Apart from the extreme bore and stroke ratio, the other significant change in the SuperQuadro motor powering the 1199 Panigale is the replacement of trademark Ducati cam belt drive for a more advanced combination of chain and gear driven cam mechanism. Tensioned automatically in order to reduce service and maintenance costs, the chain and gear drive system has allowed for efficient and smooth functioning of the cams drastically improving engine performance and reliability. While the power and reliability was taken care by smart technologies and use of exotic materials within the engine components, for reducing the overall weight of the engine an equally radical approach to integrate many of the components like cooling water channels and oilways inside the engine itself was adopted – ‘compact engineering’ as Ducati calls it.
Whatever the company might call it, an interesting way to describe this gorgeous new contraption from Bologna is the way Ducati’s test rider Alessandro Valia, who tested the machine at Mugello circuit and the Nardo test-track in Italy for over a span of eighteen months, calls it, “Astronomical”. What else can one call a motorcycle that pumps out 195 horses and weigh just 164kg dry? It is nothing short of a crotch-rocket boasting class-leading power-to-weight and torque-to-weight ratios of 1189.02PS/tonne and 811Nm/tone, respectively. Bathed in technologies, some of which have been developed for aerospace industry for instance the use of polymeric-like carbon (PLC) on the Desmodromic rocker arms for reduced friction and increased strength just goes on to say how imperative and crucial the 1199 Panigale is to its maker. With the development on the 1198’s V-twin technology reaching its peak, Ducati had little choice than to build an all-new engine from ground up as a worthy successor to the 1198 as well as a new platform for future models. And for which, there were no compromises made. The money rolled in, the right people with the right information and skill set were roped in for the 1199 Panigale project. As Domenicalli clearly states, “This sort of bike is Ducati’s focus and it is very important for us. We are a sports bike manufacturer so we wanted to offer a product that gets better and better. There was no other way of making a massive step without investing in a fresh new engine.”
To put things in perspective, two years ago the BMW S1000RR did a fairly decent job of raising the bar and stealing the crown from the Japanese majors in the race for performance numbers. But the Ducati 1199 Panigale does a lot more than just post fastest laptimes. It brings to the fore a new breed of racing motorcycles for the street that shall play a big role in determining the direction the future of superbikes might take – LED headlights for a cleaner and sharper look, an advanced braking system for improved safety, Ducati Data Analyzer+ System with built-in GPS that links to the on-board laptimer in Race Mode, electronically adjustable suspension, Engine Brake Control borrowed from Ducati’s MotoGP learnings, TFT fully-digital advanced dashboard and so on, the list can go very long, quite like the Ducati 1199 Panigale’s service interval schedules stretched for a whooping 24,000km! There is no way any motorcyclist in his right mind would disagree that this has been the most significant development from Ducati since a long time and that the 1199 Panigale is the latest benchmark, the new yardstick which has raised the bar well beyond just the realms of speed and performance. A masterstroke by Ducati, the 1199 Panigale borders on perfection of a road-bike but clearly surpasses the boundaries of thrill and innovation. Enough said.
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