Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AACERTEST Carl Fogarty's 955 Superbike have the privilege of riding it. This motorcycle could only be Italian. It has brio as well as function, soul as well as performance, a heart as well as an engine, sound as well as fury. It's a living, breathing, booming thoroughbred on wheels that is well-behaved and obedient, yet must be handled with care and respect. Just as a Honda and Cadillac are not Italian, this could only be a twowheeled Ferrari: how apt that Virginio should be its keeper. So no matter how many other works superbikes or GP racers yo~ may have the honor of riding, the Ducati is special, because it's unique - and uniquely effective. Just sitting on it once Carl's mechanic Tony "Slick" Bass has coaxed the deep-throated V-twin into life is different - this is a 955cc four-stroke superbike that feels as small and as taut as a jumped-up 250, only a bit higher off the ground. The riding position is close-cou- (Lett) The Ducatl 955 Is an undeniably beeutlful creation•.. (Below) ...and it looks just as good undressed. Ie lIe By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kel Edge arl Fogarty didn't just defeat his rivals to retain his World Superbike title in 1995 - he blitzed them. Out of the 24 races held at the 12 rounds, Kirlg Carl won 13 of them and finished second in six more. In fact, in the first 12 races of the season, he never finished lower than second, and he actually clinched the title five races early. Total domination. Mind you, great though Carl's riding was all season long, there's no doubt he had an added edge: He was riding a Ducati. The Italian desmo V-twins domi, nated the World Superbike season like never before, winning no less than 21 out of the 24 races - and it wasn't just works-bike riders like Fogarty, Troy Corser and Mauro Lucchiari who did the winning, either, but even Ducati's customers, too: Pier-Francesco Chili scored a memorable victory at Monza on the Team Gattalone privateer 955 Corsa. That's serious, total domination. Such was the Ducati's superiority from the very start of the season that it seemed action was needed to stop the superb show that World Superbike racing has become from self-destructing as a spectacle. So at the fourth round at Monza, two things happened. The FIM, prompted by series organizers Flammini, officially raised the twin-cylinder weight minimum from 319 pounds, to 341, in a token effort to crea te a more level playing field for tearns racing the Japanese fours (minimum weight 356.4 pounds). Unofficially, Cagiva Group bosses sent word down to their race engineers to back off on development, to avoid killing the golden goose - enough C 38 (Below) A nearly unflappable chassis and 8 huge amount of torque made the Ducatl unstoppable In World Superblke racing during 1995. Of course, having carl Fogarty on the bike didn't hurt. was enough. That's why the 1?ig-bore 995cc (98 x 66mm) version of the 916- based desmo superbike was only raced twice, at either end of the season - once in the first round at Hockenheim, allowing Carl to get a jump on the pack into the first turn, en route to two race victories which set up his Championship year, and once again in the final race of the year at Phillip Island as an antipasto for '96, when an incorrect choice of gear ratios prevented the jumbo Duke's hefty extra midrange - 12 bhp more than the smaller motor at 8500 rpm, though about the same 154 bhp at the top end - from being fully exploited. But even with the new weight limits and a self-imposed handicap, 1995 was a Ducati year. Okay, 1 admit it, though 1 raced a twin for a Japanese factory this season, I'm an unreconstructed Ducati freak: TRiXie Yamaha was a good-time gal, but my heart belongs to the Italian lady in red. Even so, after riding Carl's worldbeating 955 superbike at Mugello courtesy of team boss Virginio Ferrari, that passion has deepened further. It's not just the fact that the Ducati is a seriously good motorcycle - the championship coreboard speaks for itself - but the way it fires your blood, thrills YOur senses, makes your heart beat faster when you pled and compact, with lots of your body weight loading up the front wheel and the top of that curvy mini-screen an inch from your visor when you tuck down on the sculpted tank. Click it into bottom gear, take a handful of revs, and get ready for two surprises. First, the clutch: Ducati has fixed the judder and grab that made getting a desmo V-twin off the line such hard work, thanks to the refined version of their slipper clutch that comes into its ·own under braking. Second, the incredible acceleration all the way through the rev range - it's hard to believe that a one-liter V-twin fourstroke can -pick up revs this fast. Keeping the front wheel on the ground while you're gassing it through the gears is somewhat problematical, one reason why the 916's creator, Massimo Tamburini, has concentrated on ~hifting the weight bias to the front as much as possible on the race bikes. But, hey, power wheelies are fun, and on the Duke, they're a fact of life. The vivid response from the lightaction EFI throttle butterflies has to be experienced to be believed, too. The rev pickup at almost any engine speed from 6000 rpm upward is so strong, meaty and instant, it almost doesn't matter what gear you're in, which explains why at many tracks works Ducati riders regularly gear to use just five ratios, or even four, out of the six-speed gearbox. The

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