Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128098
Oucati 996R Testastretta opment of the old-style SPS-derived motor, at the same circuit just three months previously, I also had a reference point from which to assess the potential of the Testastretta version and after just a single lap, you swiftly realize it has lots of that. I'd expected the short-stroke engine to be peakier than the older SPS street version, but while it is true that it has a less muscular power delivery low down, and you have to work the gearbox just a little harder to max out motion, there's still plentiful torque on hand by street-legal sportbike standards, en route to the 996R's peak output in homologated guise of a claimed 135 hp at 10,200 rpm at the crank - 13 hp more at 200 rpm less than the 996SPS, says Ducati. In fact, the bikes we were riding were equipped with the optional power-up kit included in the $23,400 By ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS BY KEL EDGE r;y)othing lasts forever. After turning u:.J the accepted truth of Superbike racing on its head and proving that twins can beat fours, with a little help from the rules, Ducati had to look ahead to the future. Hence the debut of the Italian company's new-generation short-stroke Testastretta desmoquattro engine - developed to replace the 888/916 hierarchy which has won eight World Superb ike titles in the past 13 years - in accordance with the established 15-year design cycle of its V-twin desmo engine family. Ducati has just commenced manufacture of the limited edition Testastretta-powered 996R launched at Intermot in Munich last September, all 350 customer versions of which sold out within six hours on launch day via the internet - with another 150 bikes in the 500-off 2001 production run held back by the Italian factory for competition, development and promotional use. It should make a promising Superstock/Supersport contender, where not ruled out on account of price. So while conceived initially as a homologation special targeted at regaining the World Superbike supremacy wrested from them last season by Honda's "not-a-Ducati" RC51 V-twin, the so-called Testastretta (literally, 'narrow head,' in tribute to the new motor's more compact build and modern cylinder-head design), in fact represents the third generation of Ducati's 90-degree Vtwin desmo dynasty. This began with Fabio Taglioni's groundbreaking bevel-drive OHC desmodue 750cc version back in 1971, which after growing to 900cc and then, for a short while, a full 1000cc, was in turn supplanted by Massimo Bordi's equally innovative DOHC desmoquattro format, which first appeared in 750cc, form in 1986, progressively increasing in capacity through 851 cc, 888cc, 926cc and 955cc to its present 996cc configuration. While the first 350 examples of the 996R will be reserved for those quick enough on the draw with their computer mouse to sign up for a place in the queue for delivery in 2001, 20 n APRIL 4,2001 • cue I • The Ducatl's 91H5R, fenurlng the ItIIllan company's new9_ratlon, short-stroke Testastretta desmoquattro engine - the replacement package for the 888/918 package that won eight World Superbike titles in the past 13 years. _ .... s there's little doubt that, from the next model year onward, the Testastretta engine will form the basis of Ducati's future volume-production sportbike range. The chance to ride one of the first pre-production examples of the 996R off the Bologna factory lines in a limited-invitation press test at Spain's Valencia circuit, just a couple of days before the bike's competition debut in the first round of the 2001 World Superbike Championship at the same track, was thus a window on Ducati's future desmoquattro world. Having tested Troy Bayliss' works 996 Superbike, fitted witlL1he final devel- price, delivering an extra 6 hp and comprising a pair of great-sounding 'track use only' (yeah, sure) Termignoni carbon silencers - with ECU remapping to suit. The broad spread of top-end power, and the progressive but speedy way the revs build, is a real testament to the success of the Ducati engineers' work in so effectively revamping their traditional engine format. The 996R (which, since the short-stroke engine actually measures 998cc, is something of a misnomer) actually pulls cleanly from lower down than the SPS, from around 4500 rpm, just not so strongly till the needle on the analogue