Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Left) The Testastretta motor is the heart of the beast. (Right) This cutaway shows how much more compact the Testastretta heads (bottom photo) are than the previous generation's (top photo). A lot of this is due to the redesigned beltand-pulley system for the cams. The cams now spin on plain bearings instead of roller bearings. Note the old twin-injector throttle bodies (top), and the new single F-1 showerstyle fuel-injector throttle bodies (below). The new throttle bodies are actually 40mm shorter. Thankfully, we weren't on vacation. We arrived at the track early in the morning only to discover that it was really cold out, but luckily it wasn't raining. Ducati had a bunch of the new 998 Testastrettas to ride, but had also brought along some 2001 996s to compare them to. Also for comparisons sake, they brought along a 2001 996SPS. I'd never ridden the Buttonwillow track before, and it took me a while to get up to speed. At this point, the 998s were fitted with street-compound Dunlop 207 Sportmax tires, which weren't up to the task of racetrack duty. I rode for a couple of session, and was fairly impressed with the bike, but it was the next session that would determine if the bike was really better than the 996. In that next session, I took a 996 out and was blown away by how much slower the bike was than the new Testastretta. There were a couple of places on the track where you would crest a rise that would cause the bike to whee lie. On the 998, I was trying figure out how to keep the front end down, and short-shifting up a gear was the solution. Okay, since it was so much fun, I'll admit that I didn't do this every lap ... On the 996, however, this wasn't an issue. The bike just didn't have the power to make the crest anything dramatic. And there were other areas on the track where you could also tell that the 998 had a much bigger head of steam going than the 996 was capable of - with braking suddenly getting a bit more tense. There were also a couple of places on the track where I had to start changing my lines because I was running wide on the exits due to the extra speed I was carrying on the 998. The new bike also makes its power a little bit higher in the rev range than the old bike - which is what it's supposed to do - but still has the midrange-torque punch that you would expect from a desmo twin. Photographer Tom Riles can attest to the torque delivery of the 998, even though he never threw a leg over it. He was shooting us exiting a corner that was off-camber and downhill. I came around the track on the streetcompound tires, and believed they were warm enough after the initial warm-up lap. I was wrong. As I picked up the throttle down in the midrange of the motor, the back tire lit up and snapped far more sideways than I thought would be savable. After not throwing it down the road, I passed Riles and looked over at the surprised look on his face, highlighted by eyes the size of saucers. It was a good save, I must say, and when I came by on the next lap, there was a big, black, smile-shaped rubber deposit on the track - either that, or it was something that had dropped out of the seat of my leathers. To make a long story short, there's still plentyatorque, but an extra helping of horsepower has been thrown on the plate as well, and it's all very welcome. The 998's chassis hasn't changed much from last year's bike, but it was hard to compare the handling of the 998 and the 996s that were on hand because they had completely different tires mounted on them. Last year's 996s were mounted with Michelin Pilot street-compound tires, and the profile on the front was completely different than the Dunlops on the Testastretta, so it was difficult to compare the two. To be honest, I preferred the Michelins to the Dunlops in this case. Not only did the front end feel more planted, but I felt the grip from the Michelins was better on the cold track. Still, it wasn't really a fair comparison. One of the Ducati's best attributes is the midcorner stability that the chassis offers. Once you pick your line, the bike sticks to it like glue. In addition, the chassis and suspension components work really well together; the bike handles midcorner bumps with aplomb. As for the brakes, I really like the feel of the Brembo setup that Ducati has been using for years, and the power is excellent. They work so well that you don't have to think about them on the track, allowing you to fret about other things - like your lines. I rode the 2001 996SPS that they had brought along as well, and was very impressed with the bike's brakes, but even more so with its excellent front forks - Ohlins as opposed to the Showas on the standard 998 - but the motor on the Testastretta blows away the 996SPS's power delivery. At the end of the day, a Michelin representative showed up and mounted a couple of sets of the their newest Pilot race tires on a few of the Testastrettas. The bike was transformed from a really good bike into an outstanding bike. I hopped on the bike that Tom Montano, the 2001 AMA Pro Thunder Champion, had just rolled in on, so I didn't need to worry about getting the tires up to temperature. The bike was awesome on the Michelins - cue. e all of a sudden, every component on the bike was working perfectly in unison. Turn-in was quick from the sharpprofiled front tire, and once leaned over, the grip was amazing. I was able to push the bike hard for three laps and was able to get a better idea of what the bike is really capable of. My conclusion: I can't think of a bike I would rather ride on a racetrack. TESTASTRETTA So what does "Testastretta" mean anyway? The translation is narrowhead engine, which is obvious when you see the old motor and the new motor side by side. The dimensions of the heads are now much more compact than the previous generation's, and this is exactly where most of the changes to the engine were made. The new heads on the right are a lot more compac:1, due to the design of the desmodromic ac:1uator layout. Note how the valve-opening rocker anns have been moved to the outside wall of the new cylinder heads. n e _ S • JANUARY 9, 2002 41

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