VOLUME 57 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 21, 2020 P37
Ducati Superleggera V4 To Make 2020 Debut
D
ucati is pushing the performance boat
right out with the announcement of
"Project 1708," otherwise known around
the traps as the Ducati Superleggera V4.
Project 1078, named so as a homage to
the date work first started on the project
(2017, August), will be the most powerful
and straight-up exotic motorcycle ever to
come from Bologna with a license plate.
Perspective owners have already been
contacted by the brand, with an exclusive
micro-site set up to register buyer interest.
Ducati is claiming a whopping 224 hp at
15,250 rpm and 83 lb-ft of torque at 11,750
rpm, with a retailing price of $100,000
here in the U.S.
The Ducati Superleggera V4 will feature
a carbon fiber front frame, subframe, wheels and
bodywork (that also features the bi-plane wing-
lets off the 2016 Desmosedici MotoGP machine
for a claimed 110 lbs of available downforce), for
a claimed dry weight of only 335 lbs. By com-
parison, a 2020 Panigale V4 R has a claimed dry
weight of 379 lbs.
As expected, you'll get almost every best-of part
with the Superleggera V4. Akrapovic's full race titanium
exhaust, and Ohlins NPX25/30 gas-charged forks
and TTX36 shock with a titanium spring will see to that.
Brembo has also donated their Stylema R calipers,
and you even get a Chaz Davies-style MCS mater-
cylinder with a remote adjuster for extra coolness.
Ducati is saying the Superleggera V4 is their
first carbon fiber frame that's gone into production.
That's partly true if you consider the 1299 Super-
leggera never really had a frame, as such, being
a monocoque design, where the airbox attached
to the steering head and that to the front of the
engine. The alloy-framed Panigale V4 broke the
monocoque mold when it was released back in
2018 with the front frame design. Think of the front
frame as half a twin-spar design—the engine is still
a structural chassis member—but the thick, beefy
front frame allows the engineers to vary torsional
and lateral rigidity separately to make the bike
handle the road surfaces with better stability.
Only 500 units of the Superleggera V4/
Project 1708 will be made worldwide, and
at that price tag, it's unlikely you'll see one
being thrashed around a racetrack in any
form of anger (we live in hope, though).
Still, the Ducati Superleggera V4 will be
one hell of a machine, either being ripped
around a racetrack or being kept in some-
one's living room as a work of art.
Rennie Scaysbrook
Ducati says the
Superleggera
V4 will make its
debut this year.
