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/128232
As it tran sp ired , the Ducati factory t eam of ret u rn ee rid er Hodgson and h oldov er teammat e Xaus dominated the 200 3 World Su p erb ik e se aso n , w it h Ho dg son sew in g up the W orl d ti tle decisiv ely aft er winn in g t he first n ine rac es in succession, and I I of th e first 12 , on his retu rn to the fact o ry team afte r rein venting himself as a ri de r abo ard th e se miprivateer GSE T ea m ' s HM Pl an t -b ac k ed 998 F0 1 D uc at i last season, en route to thi rd p lace in the championship ahead of a wh ol e h eap of w o rks r iders. Th e c ha nce to ri d e h is F i l a Du cati 999 F03 at M i sa no th e da y after N e il' s debut-race crash of the season left t eammate Xaus t o do th e d ouble answ ered th e inevitabl e questions abou t wh eth er all Br itain 's best had to do was to t urn up and st ay on to wi n t he ti tl e. After 20 lap s in 90- d eg ree tem peratures, I'm here to te ll you tha t t he Lan c ashire lad , n ow re sid en t of t he Is le of M a n, deserves a b ett er shake tha n he's been getti ng for h is race -w inning ach ievem ent s this seaso n - beca use wi th so little testing , this is v ery fa r from being an easy bik e to ride at th e sort of sp eed s you need to in order to beat the likes of T os el and , Ch il i, Lac o n i and Wa lk er o n well -prov en , we ll -so rted exam ples of th e previo us gener ati o n of V -twi n desmo hardwa r e, le t alone the co n sis tently im pr ov ing next ge nerat ion o f o ne- lite r Supe rb ik es, represented by Gr eg or i o La villa ' s Co ro n a Su zu ki GSX -R I 000 , wh ich I happen ed t o be t estin g sa me day , sa me t rack, as th e F ila Du cati 999 . Th ou g h it s sens e o f refin ement and ra cetra ck presenc e is such that you co uld be forgiven for thin king that it' s a produ ct of the no -h olds M otoGP f our -strok e sch o ol , rather than a r ac er directl y deriv ed from a street l egal motorcyc le (it' ll be interestin g to see how ma n y su p po se dl y fast er MotoGP ra c ers su c c eed in b eatin g N eil Hod g son 's seaso n-opening la p t imes at Ph illip Isl and and Va len c i a later in t he yea r ), th e fact is that the F 0 3 i s d i rectl y d e ri ve d fr om t he Terblan che -design ed 999 st reetb ik e . Th is m od el has not only ca used gr eat controversy among du catisli be cause of its inno vat iv e looks. it also represents th e fi rst t im e in a decade that tall er r id ers h av e b een able to fe el comforta b le o n a Du cati spo rtbi k e beca use of its Sou th Africa n desig ner's cl ean -she et approa ch to desrno quattro arc hit ectu re . I'm o ne of th os e, hence m y ap preciatio n o f the street 999 - but it's quite an other thing to d ial i n such a rad i cal new des ign ap proach to r acetrack compliance , as I discovered at Misano , Fo r while th e fact is t hat t he 999 F03 is not on ly th e first D uc ati Su per bik e in a dec ade w ith a riding positio n th at I ac t ually fitted and fel t co m fo rt able sitt ing in, rath er t ha n o n, it' s also th e o ne abo ard whic h I had t o wo rk ha rdest physically to ride at any so rt o f pace. Th is is a very demanding bi ke to lap fa st on , on e where you must constantly be m o ving yourself about back and forth as well as sid e to side , as usual. And woe betide y ou the 999 has so me t ricks up its sleeve if y o u don't position y our body weigh t ready to p la y on y o u if you get too correctly at a given mom ent o n th e pl eased with yo urself. After riding it, I wouldn 't c all th is a nervous -handling racetrack, be cause th e 99 9 F03 will tell yo u fo r sure t hat yo u screwed up bik e - as some have done with out sita nd sl ap yo u r f a c e f or d o i ng s o, t ing o n it - bec au se it rid es bumps telli ng you to wak e up and pay att en we ll and stee rs bri lliant ly. It 's more a b i k e t ha t r e qu ir e s eve n gr e at er t io n, stupid - or else ! It's not an easy bi ke t o get t he be st o f , esp ec ia ll y th ou gh t a n d care in r i d ing it th an usu al o n a fin el y hon ed factory racer c om pared to its well -sorted 998 pr ede cessor, wh ere yo u're m o re wed ged - let alo ne an ex t ra degree of ph ysi c al in p ut from the rider. in p la c e o n t o p o f the bi k e wi t h a I realized this o n m y fir st flying lap h i gh er - se t s eating pos iti on plu s a at M isan o, after braking hard for the t alle r rea r ride height, all c om bin ing fi rst left-hander where th e da y before t o force m or e of yo u r bod y w eigh t N eil had fa lle n off in th e lead o f Rac e o n to your a rms and t h u s th e fro n t On e. The 999 st ops brill iantl y - and wheel. On the 999 , b y co n t ra st, y ou 're not just because of t he great bite yet sitting noti ceab ly l ow er in a m or e g o od fee l from the Bre mbo rad ial spacious seat, whi ch doe s, how ev er, brak e pa ckag e, which in Ne il's case off er t he lu xury of t ucki ng y o u rs elf en t a i ls sma ller 305m m fron t di sc s, th e lar gest -di ameter ventilated ro tors a way b eh i n d the sm ooth ly r ak e d sc reen in a way I've ne ve r been able Bre mbo offers, thus co m bating br ak e fad e o r distortion du e to overhea t ing. t o do o n a desm oqu attro Su pe rbik e But t wo additional key factors are the si nce 19 9 3 , a nd t he l ast of t he old 88 8 s. Th at a lr eady m ak es t h e b ike D ucati 's grea t sli pper c lu t ch , w h ich faste r in a st ra igh t line than th e old y ou c a n f eed ou t progressive ly t o 998 , even before t he im p ro vem ents reall y maxi m ize engi ne br aking with o ut chatt ering the bac k wheel un der to the F03 's eng ine pa ckage wrought reverse t orq ue , even with those b ig by Du c at i Co rse eng ineers, but in Neil p istons, and t he lower seating pos i Hodgson's c ase it also m eans he c an t i o n , which in t u rn r ed u c es weig h t ta ke fu ll advantage of his 12 5 -d erived t ra nsfer und er brak in g . Thi s m ean s ri di n g t e chn i q u e , whe re h e mo lds yo u ca n sto p t he Du c at i ve ry hard himself t o th e fuel tank / airbox c ove r and lat e, but with lo ts of st ability th at and eve n fl atten s hi s elbo ws along its all ows you to p ick a line and st ic k t o f l a n k s. N ot a lo t ta ller th an N e il , I it - it doesn 't m ove aro und as much c o u ld m ak e a pa ssab le imitation of as th e o lde r bike, unl ess like Rub en d o ing that do w n M isan o's two X au s y ou use a l ot o f back brak e str aig ht s, just as I rem ember be ing ~---~ slowing dow n. su r p ri se d I co u l d do wh en I Howev e r , bec au se th e fi rst rode th e prototype 999 seat is so sp aciou s on st reetbike at M onza six months b efor e i t s th e F03, you have to w ork hard a t launch - but beware so , position in g d o ing yourself b e caus e within th e bike. Nominally - th e ri der sits 25mm further forward th an on th e 998, bu t you 've got what fee ls like more than twice this amount to play wi t h back a nd forth , in spite o f the thic k rear pad Neil now uses on the seat. You need to le t yo u rse lf slid e fo rwar d o n thi s under heav y braking to load up th e fro nt w heel for ex t ra g ri p i n th e t urn , becau se w ith le ss we ig h t tr an sfer o w in g to th e low er , mo re ae rod y nam ic r idi ng p o siti on , yo u m ust deli berately c om pe nsate for t ha t phys ic ally wh il e slowing for th e turn w it h th e a id o f th e front brakes an d t he slip p er c lutch - lik e N eil , I do n't use th e back brake to stop the bike. I c ouldn 't co m pla in abo ut th e front suspens ion sett ings on the 999's 4 3mm O h lin s fork s, w h i ch a llowe d m e to keep up what seemed like pret ty respectabl e t urn speed, eve n trail brak in g o n t he ang le in to th e ape x . B ut t he n , midt ur n , yo u mu st ga uge t h e rig h t mom ent t o p us h yo urse lf back in t he seat via t he c lip -ens and main ly the o ut er fo otrest, to load up the back wh eel w ith you r bo dy we ight, for extra traction under acceleration. T he D uc ati steers okay in the t urn, bu t it' s imp o r t an t t o pu ll it upri g h t as earl y as possi b le for t he exit, t o u se th e fat part of th e rea r M i ch elin f or m a ximum tr a c t i on , bec aus e otherwis e you risk getting a slide if you throw all that fabu lous V· twi n engi ne 's g runt at th e side of th e ti re o u t o f t he ap ex - espe ci a lly a sta n dar d 1 6 .5- in ch re a r , su ch a s Michelin gave m e fo r m y test: Ma ybe N eil' s tr icker rea r t ire might have bette r side gri p tha n t he o ne I used . Ok a y , n o w y ou 're a c cel erat ing , m otoring o ut o f th e turn brilliantly under the waves of usable torque that have alwa ys been Du cati 's tradema rk t rum p ca rd - but wa t ch out , bec aus e th er e's a fin e bal an ce between having y ou r bo dy we ig ht m ov ed ba ckward in th e sea t for ext ra t ra cti o n and sta nd ing o n t he footrests to k eep t he fro nt wheel on th e grou nd , which yo u obvi ously ca n' t do w ith th e bik e crank ed on its sid e. After a co up le of leaned ove r pow er -wh eel ies and subseq ue nt crossed -u p land ings led to fits of t he sha kes - me and t he bik e, bo th! - an d subseq uent ta nk -sla p pers exiti ng th e slow M isa no ch ic ane op pos ite th e pits in bottom gear, I rea lize d I needed t o touch th e back br ak e o n th e exi t to k eep t he wh eel dow n . Fin e, but don't t hen get a ll p lea sed with yo urself and for get to push yo urself forward again in the s eat going down the next strai g ht , or else sure as red stands for It aly you 'll g et the Ducati dancing from side to side in what seems lik e a determined attempt to flip yo u off t he ba ck. When that happens, it's absolu tely impossible t o w restle it into submiss ion and sto p t he fron t In the cockpit: Hodgson'S 999 differs fro m its predecessors by offering a more roomy layout. It also sits low e r, making it easier for the rider to cheat the a ir by hiding behind the w indscreen. cu e I e n e _ s • S EPTEM B ER 1 7 , 2003 45