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
T he only po te ntial s urpr ise abou t the performance of the Ducati V-four Des mosedici in its 2003 debut season is that it we nt from zero to hero status in just six races to register the only defeat suffered all season long by Honda's all-conquering RC2 11V title-winner. But after winning nine World Superbike Champions hips in 15 years, and besting Honda to win the majority of those, Ducati's ability to get right on the pace in MotoGP fro m the very beginning was never in doubt. After all, the company had both an expert staff and a $36.6 million race budget in place - and that was before Marlboro, Fila and Shell came along with sufficient spo nsorship to red ress no less than 77 percent of that . Let's just say that mo ney was never an issue. Under the direction of Ducati Corse boss Claudio Domenicali, development of the Desmosedici (literally, desmo 16 - as in valves) was focused and purpose ful. It was also fast, with little more than a year elapsing between the final outline of the engine appearing on a comp uter screen for the first time and the bike's first race inSuzuka, when Loris Capirossi took the bike to a fantastic third place on its very fi rst outing. Prior to that, Ducati engineers spent I 100 hours running the 90-degree V-f r desmo motor on ou the dyno, coupled with 120 hours of wind tunnel tests at its neighbor Ferrari's new state-of-the-art facility. Meanwhile, test rider Vitto Guaresc hi covered 11,470 miles in 37 days of testing, beginning in June , 2002, at by the immediacy with which it has overtaken and outclassed the m. We had the chance to ride the bike for the first time a day after the season-ending Valencia race. Although it wo uld have been better to have ridde n the bike on a circuit where it could stretch its legs a little , it didn't end up matteri ng much. Even if I'd only making a lot of noise. The result is much more of a sense of visceral excitement. The re aren 't many other bikes ever built that provide such a thrill to ride as the D esmosedici. In fact, the Dems mose d ici sou nds and feels like exactly what it is, a pair of halfscale desmo V-tw in Superb ike engines . from 8-9000 revs up, according to Corrado. Exiting the last turn onto the pit straight in bottom gear then gassing it hard for the ', dr ive out of the turn did bring up the fro nt w hee l, a drawback repeated at th~next two gea r changes, but using higher gea rs and short-shifting between tu rns to use the engine's fantastic torq ue made it more con- (Left) TIN-coated Ohlins forks and six -p isto n Brembo front brakes a re the standard fare up front. (Center) The rea r disc on Capirossi's machine (shown) is smaller than Bayliss' because the Italian hardly ever uses his . (Right) Distinctive nose is th e res ult of over 120 hours in the Ferrari wind tunne l. the Michelin test track at Ladoux, then was later assisted by Capirossi and his former World Superbike Champio n teammate Troy Bayliss in the run-up to Suzuka in April. This is no lightweight Latin froth to MotoGP's cup of cappuccino, but instead a desmo dromic espresso as refined and purposeful as any car built with a prancing horse em blem on the side. It has succeeded in leavinga bitt er taste in the mout h of Yamaha, Suzuk i and Kawasaki, as we ll as its Aprilia compat riots, gotten fourth gear dow n the front straight (actua lly, I managed a true fifth!), it was worth it - just to throw a leg aboard the Italian speed king of the Mot oG P class. It's natural to want to compare the bike to the leader - the Honda RC21 IV - but where the Hond a meta phorically bows politely before spiriting yo u to improbable lap times with typical Japanese unders tated efficiency, the Ducati is all Mediterranean in its fi amboyancy, waving its arms aro und and That's true even if the two-up 180 -degree "Twin Pulse" firing order was jett isoned be fo re t he start of t he season, says Cecch inelli, on the gro unds that it gave no dynamic advantage but was harder o n com ponents than the 90-deg ree format now used. There are no numbers on the Marelli dashboard display's tachometer sweep en route to the 16,200 rpm revlimite r, but it' s enough to say there is power practically anywhere - though strong power comes www.cyclenEWs.com tro llable. The Ducati has a peak torque of 73.8 foot -pounds/22,4 pounds de livered at 14,000 rpm , en route to a peak power output of "over 220 horspower" (sure - but how much over?!) at 16,000 rpm , making this the highest-rewing bike on the MotoGP grid. Ride the tor que curve and the Ducati is stable and balanced, but rev it up hard and you then begin to realize this is a very powerful bike, even compared to the Honda (which in spite of having more cylinders , CYCLE NEWS • JANUAR 14,2004 Y 35