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/128306
"It's a matte r of expe rience. says Domenicali, the engineer once more. "Once "Are we Europe's HRC?That's a nicestory, in a way, but you can look at the success of the company as being a general com pany, not just a racing company," states the welcoming, if businesslike, DomenicaJi from the conference table of Ducati Corse 's modem offices in Ducati's far-from-modem factory buildings. "Maybe the point is that we are managing Ducati Corse like it was a company producing products. It's not just racing, so it is not just about being enthusiastic and passionate, even ifthat isone of the most important things- but it is not enough." Inco ngruously, the re is no obvious chestpuffing pride from Domenicali as recent successes for both wings of Corse o perat ions are ree led off to him. In some respects for Domenicali, the eng ineer and com pany planne r, the future is his domain , and he seems as com fortable there as everyone else does in the present day. His opinions about the impact of the Desmosedici MotoGP pro ject bear this out. "On the engine side we are now at t he state of the art ; I think we are at a pretty good level, pretty much comparable to Formula One in understanding and designing the engines," he affirmed. "O n the chassis, it still needs time to have a comp lete understanding of performance, which is very comp lex - much more co mplex than a car. The dimensions of the motorcycle industry are far smaller generally than in cars , and Ducati is a medium/small company. But this is where we are spending most of o ur efforts - in making software 'tools' in was a link to the streetbike brand in so me ways and opted for the very one that may actually allow them an edge over at least some of its competitors - the desmod rom ic valve system and its 10 years of des ign software on the subject . "We kept desmodromics beca use we wanted to kee p so mething that was specifically Ducati," asse rted Dom enicali as he looked at the scale models of a 999 and Desmosedici on his desk. "We didn't want to make just another MotoGP bike - we wanted to make it a Ducati MotoG P bike. So we opted for des mod rom ics, with a tre llis frame, L-cylinder layo ut - with those features that make it look like a Ducati. But we had to reinvent every system in order to keep it up to performance ." As Domenicali espoused the benefits of having a good core of engineers all pullingin \ Paol o Ciaba tti oversee s Duca ti Corse's World Super bike effort. As with other industries all over the world , bike racing design relies heavily o n computer assistance nowadays , and Corse has already used the logic of the intransigent a single direction , it was tempting to think that some of Corse's success is simply down to its smaller scale and passionately motivated wo rkforce . Can small and flexible fi rms actually have an advantage over the big and microchip to overcome some potential bureaucraticones? emotional baggage. "We did not just des ign the MotoGP Not so, says Domenicali, who can clearly see how many hours his lieutenants and private so ldiers had to work to get to whe re the company is now. "If I had the cho ice, I wo uld choose a very big number of talented guys, and I would just find a way of managing them all," said the boss. "This project is very comple x, ord er to continue our growth . It fo ur-cylinder engine based on our convic- tion," states Domenicali when asked why he plumped for a four and not a more traditional twin. "We tried to prove t he most on the the oretical side. The MotoGP rule was written to stop the twins from being competitive. I don't know w hy because we were not inside at that time, but racing is about co mpeting for the win, not just being there w ith a twin. The difficulty was the backup to allow us to make the decision. Then with that, the decision is very easy." What Ducati did have to keep hold of so wit h more numbers we could go even deeper - that is very clear. I wouldn't be scared about being too big." A fair point whe n you consider just how much Ducati Corse had had o n its plate recently, in all classes. How tough was it then, developing so many bikes almost simultaneously? you do it once or tw ice, you can make it faster. This is the differe nce in being a bike manufactu rer o r not. Really, our Superbi ke was pretty much a different bike every year... So we had a good idea of how lo ng it would take to make cast ing, do new pistons, deve lop on the dyno, and so on. Our st ruct ure did not start from nothing." So a vast expe rience in World Superbike and a bunch of clever people have gotten Ducati Co rse to its current enviable position. Plus the commodity Domenicalidid not mention, but is self-evident anyway: the sheer balls to take on Honda in MotoGP the same way it has in Superbike. But Honda is the biggest, the proven best, for many years in GPs, and if it decides to get hypers er ious, t hen might co mpanies like Ducati, no matte r how clever or experienced , just get swamped? This strikes a nerve with Domenicali, who has very definite ideas about that scenario. "I think that it is not a written game," he exp lains. "If I thought that if it were never possible to win this batt le, then we wo uld have neve r have started . It will be very to ugh, and it is taking some time , but it is possible. We are learn ing day by day, and we are getti ng more strength, and this is helping us in te rms of getti ng more external support, and that will help us with develo pment. Ithink we are in pretty good shape. It is a batt le with us and the other companies, and the cleverer, more experienced guys with the best riders will win. I don't see us as a loser, for sure." LIVID SUPPO REO STORM RISING Sitting on a packing case in the Rio pit lane, dragging on one of the spo nsor 's products, Livio Suppo is as unmissable Italian as the bike being wheeled past his right shoulder. He's worked in a lot of places though - cars, bikes, other stuff, in other countries. Not by , any means a lifelong Ducati guy he is possibly better placed than most to ask about Ducati's HRC-style approach to racing. "I think it was in their minds to build up a company which was only concerned with racing," allows Suppo . "Racing for Ducati is import ant , more importa nt than for othe r brands . Ifyou also make scooters, t hen racing is not so important fo r you, but ou r products are prem ium spo rts bikes, and we have a great tradition of racing. Ducati Corse was built up before the MotoGP rules. T he best example I can give about Ducati Corse's appro ach is that in America peop le are much more spec ialized than in Europe. If you are a docto r, then you know som ething very detailed abo ut one field of medicine that you know almost everything about, and we are something like t his." No stranger to GP paddocks, Suppo was more expansive than Domenicali abou t why most of the other manufacture rs haven't enjoyed the same success as Ducati so far. "It is difficult to talk abou t other manufact urers becaus e you do not know how much they have to spend and so on," said www.cyclenews.co m Suppo by means of explanation, before continuing, "maybe for some of them theyhad to build t he bikes a certain way beca use of the mar keting de partment . Ou r technical guys were left to do the bike t he way they felt it need ed to be, w ithout inte rferen ce fro m the marketing depart ment. Mar ket ing is important, but the most important thing is to be co mpe titive." PAOLO CIABATTI F ILA THE FORCE LikeSuppo , Ciabatti has more of a marketing and comm ercial background than an engineering o ne. With the overall tec hnical aspects of bot h MotoGP and World Superbike operations directed by R&D chief Filippo Preziosi, Ciabatti spends his time looking after the needs of the World Superbike tea ms, and like Suppo, he has had special influence in Ducati Corse's unique way of - literally - selling its image to othe r companies. This is one truly important difference between HRC and Ducati, which generates its own mo ney from more than just the parent company or sales/leases of machinery. "When we started Ducati Cors e, there were a lot of engineers plus a few peo ple work ing o n sales and marketing," he said. "With Livio and I in there now, the group is a little bigger. So we sta rted to make packages for the interested com panies - we wou ld se ll the racing expos ure plus the benefit and uniqueness of Ducati. Everything wou ld be bene ficial for the overa ll image of Ducati, so then we could do some merc handising deals to spread the image and to help make some profit for t he company." The fiscal side Ciabbati knows very we ll, but that does not go all the way to explaining why a company like Ducat i can succeed with limited bike sales to back it all up. "I think the reason we are a successful company is that we are a smallish group of people, very young - I am the oldest at 46 but the average age in the company is 29, 30, some thing like that," he said. "We are highly motivated , knowing that racing is the best way to promote the company. In the end we alllike what we do. This helps because some time maybe you have to work more than you eN would like to do." The man behind Ducati Corse ' Claudio Domenicali. The CEO stand s in front of two of his charges, Livia Suppa and Ciab atti . CYCL E NEWS • JANUARY 14, 2004 41