nucati
released
a
photograph
of
its
lJSOOcc l'4otocP
challenger on Sunday,
April 20, at the
Turkish MotoGP in lstanbul,
and the bike
i5
significantly
smaller thah
the
current
990cc bike.
Ducati's new bike uses
a radically differ-
ent chassis to the
one h has us€d sinae they
a.rived in
MotoGP four
years
a8o. The cur-
rent chassis was reyamped tiis
year
using
smaller
and lighter tubes for a
"birdca8e"
e{fect, with the tubes continuing to mount
down
on the crankcase top and using the
engne to support the swingarm.
The new 800 obviourly
goes
even
fur-
ther. usinS an even more
minimalist trestle
ahassis. Look carefully at thir
picture
and
you
will see that the
thinnei liShter carbon
seat is mounted to
the back of the cam box.
That, in tum,
means that the fiame
no
longer stretches that far,
saving more
weight by shoftenint the
chassis so that it
now mouBts uP
on the cy'inders. Look
able. and thatwill help in the search
for more
top speed with the new, rmaller enSines.
Ducati stands to
gain
more than the
oth€r
teams with the revised capa
