Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

series, which you already won witlr one hst year? Domencoli; Because we start from the marketplace, and unfortunately, we are not leading the race for showroom sales. ln fact, we're backmarkers there with the 999. But isn't it mostly because of the way the 999 looks that customers who might buy it are Put ofi doing so, whereas they \,vere happy to buy the 996? Domencoli: I think it's a combination, you know. lt's a mixture of design, performance, weght - all those things, and when we decide to replace the current bike, we want to address all those issues. Weight and design is uP to us - butthe.e's a limit how much we can increase the Perform- ance of a twin to be as fast on the street as a four-cylinder bike of equal capacity, and we've reached that already, That's why we ne€d the increase in capacity to l200cc. lf you don't get that, will Ducati stop Superbike racing! Domencoli: Probably, yes. l'm sorry, but this is not an empq/ threat. Probably we would - because it makes no sense to produce a 999cc model uniquely for racing, when all the bikes we sell will have brgger engines. Crobottir Because our whole business is founded on racing what we sell, and selling what we race - this is the re:Ison that Ducati Soes racinS. You know that we race l''lotocP for brand image, but we race Sr]perbike for product - it's a very clear strategy. Yvith MotoGP dropping to 8(Xkc trom 2007, suP' posedly to reduce performance for safet/ rea5ons, there's a chance that Superbikes could end uP delivering more performance than new-Senera- tion MotoGP machines. ls that an issue here! Domencoli: No, because we don't think this will haP- pen. Anyway, we're ngt aiming for V-twin SuPerbikes to be any faster than they are now only that they have the same performance as at present, at reduced cost - the l000cc fours will stay the same- Anylvay, the ratio of increasing performan€e of a MotoGP bike year after year was, and is, much hiSher than Superbike. So the Perform- ance of the 2006 Desmosedici lYotoGP engine is much higher than in 2003, and the 800cc engine, which we will staft out racing in 2007, is very similar in performance to the 990cc engine we had in 2003, even with less capacity. We already have the engine on the dyno, so we know pretty well what the performance is, and the 800cc lYoto GP bike will remain faster than even our 999cc Superbike. not only because ofthe controltires and the extraweiSht, but also because the engine will be more powerful. What was Fcsport's response when you raised the l200cc-twins issu€ with them? Odbotti. We've discussed it at length with them - Eince the middle of last year - and they agree with us that the Superbike class is about racing what is available for sale in the showroom, and so they would like to find a solution what balances the different r/pes of motorcycle in the marketplace fairly, in order to produce close and exciting racing between different kinds of bikes. They don't want Superbike racing to become iust a four-cylin- der category where all the bikes sound the same, as I'm afraid it will do if the capacity issue isn't addressed. This isn't a threat - it's an inevitability, because the current l000cc fours are still close to the start of their develop- ment cycle, while l000cc twins are at the end of the road, where it's costing a huge amount of money in parts and time to keep them competitive. There used to be four manufacturers running twins against the fours. and now there is iust one - and we won't be able to keep 56 JUNE 14,2006 ' CYCLE NEWS What would Ducati's response be, though, if the lapanese teams made good on their threats to Pull out of World Superbike if you do, indeed, get your

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