RACER TEST- Fabri%io Pirovano's Corona Ducati 748 SP
(Left) The Brembo brakes are the best In the business.
The fork Is set up very stiff - too stiff, In filet, for any kind
of a bumpy surface. Head angle Is set at the minimum
23.5 degrees.
(Below) Unlike Its larger ..".:.>:...:.:
superbike brother, the ":,:> ..
748 doesn't use the
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carbo.n-flber alrbox <;J
fitted to the 916 to ,::§;;
stiffen the
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used to shake their heads like a gypsy
dancer in a straight line because of their
radical steering geometry, Piro's supersport Ducati waggles the bars in your
hands hard on the gas down the
straight, as well as twitching a little
while cranked over around fast sweepers. It's a nervous ride - but the payoff
comes when you slam into a turn hard
on the brakes and revel at the speed
with which it changes direction.
The 748 SP's homologated, meaty
320mm cast-iron Brembo discs with
their top-of-the-line four-pot calipers
deliver stopping power allied with feel
that's unparalleled in the Supersport
class - especially when you use the slipper clutch for the purpose for which it's
intended and max out the engine braking coming down through the gears
from high speed.
Get'ready for a funny click from the
clutch action as you use it coming down
the gearbox, though. No chatter from
the back end however many revs you
use on the overrun, no jounce when the
rear wheel that's been waving in the air
hits the deck again with the engine turning over - just epic deceleration for a
middleweight street bike converted to
track use. Except, that's not what it feels
like if, like me, you're used to racing the
748's single-cylinder sister, the Ducati
Supermono.
The Corona Ducati may deliver
upward of 30 percent more horsepower
and weigh 110 pounds more than my
desmoquattro single, but the two bikes
have a comparable power to weight
ratio and above all, share a family
resemblance in the handling department.
With the excellent grip from the
Pirelli rubber, the altered ride height to
chuck more weight onto the front wheel
(though not as much as the single's
extreme 56/44 percent split), the supersport bike feels like a twin-cylinder version of the sharp-steering, nimble Supermono, allowing you to max out comer
speeds and turn sharply.
How ev ~ f;:::r:
tha toni y reall Y,:":}i;,
works on the Corona:.':::';:;:..
bike on smooth sections bf-':':;,;'
track, because even though' hi·:.:~3.:.~. .
went straight from !Jlotocross' tcr·::: ....
superbikes a decade ago· withotif-;:-.
ever riding the 600cc supersport class ·c':''':'.:':C;~
Pirovano follows supersport convention
":':.'
by setting the suspension up very stiff at
both ends.
That's okay if you're working with
mass-production Japanese components
which may dictate that approach, but
while the forks and rear shock on the
Corona Ducati are both the stock parts
from the 748 SP, they also happen to be
made by Ohlins and can be dialed in a
lot more loosely than on the Pirovano
bike. Fabrizio's 136-pound star midget
fighting weight gives him a big edge in
acceleration and braking in a class with
limitations on tuning and a strict minimum weight limit, but in spite of outweighing him by a massive 40 pounds
on the scales, I found the rear shock just
right for me, even if the forks were still
way too stiff - Piro doesn't like too much
front-end dive under braking, even if he
then has to cope with steering into turns
with the back wheel waving in the air.
What this also means is the bike
doesn't ride bumps very well on the
angle, like in Zolder's turn one where it
chattered the front end every lap over
the ridge, running diagonally along the
racing line. At the same time, anywhere
it's smooth you can just pitch the Ducati
into the turn and it holds the line really
well as you gradually feed in the power.
With more suspension response, I'm
sure it would ride bumps better, too.
The Ducati is a controversial bike in
Open Supersport racing, where some
people who race fours talk about "aiming to win the 600cc class" and seem to
labor under the burden of a permanent
chip on their shoulder. Others just concentrate on the task of beating the Vtwins - and do so. The adjustment in
weight limits has evened things up this
season, and the relative performance of
the Ducatis and 'Yamahas is now very
similar. So too is the two bikes' total cost
of acquisition under International
Supersport rules which permit a greater
degree of tuning than in some countries
like, say, Australia, where Supersport is
effectively a pipe-and-shock, box-stock
class.
The Ducati's 25-percent capacity
advantage is a smokescreen that stops
people from seeing the forest for the
..' :. 'trees: The reason the Italian bike wins
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