DUCATI PANIGALE 1199 RS13
RACER TEST
P90
(which lets their engines behave
like twins in turns, but faster fours
in a straight line).
The Ducati only enjoys 50
percent of those benefits, which
means it's vital to maximize cor-
nering speed all you can via the
Panigale's more forward 53/47
percent weight distribution ver-
sus the evenly balanced 1098R
– but that invites disaster, once
the tires get worn, or you try too
hard. Checa's Phillip Island race
crash was a fine example of the
frustrations, and dangers, of that.
So, when Sykes passed me
into the first turn at the end of the
Jerez pit straight (easily done, for
him), leaving me yards behind his
Kawasaki's back wheel as we hit
the apex, he then took four times
that amount out of the Ducati ac-
celerating along the short straight
to turn two. Okay, part of this was
rider talent, but I can twist the
wrist as well as anyone once I'm
straightened up and flying right.
It's not a question of weight,
either, because all Superbikes
now scale the same give or take
a couple of pounds – and Sykes
isn't a lot lighter than me. It's en-
gine performance.
Riding the RS13 – no longer fit-
ted, be it noted, with any restric-
tors as it was for what amounted
to political reasons until the Imola
round midway through the season
- it simply felt very similar in accel-
eration and overall performance
to the Canepa Superstock I'd just
been riding. With that being so,
it's easy to believe that there's
just seven horsepower differ-
ence in peak power between the
two, as is apparently the case.
At the point that Kawasaki boss
Ichiro Yoda says the title-winning
ZX-10R makes 240 hp at 15,500
rpm at the gearbox, the V-twin
Ducati's 216 hp at 11,700 rpm is
exactly 10 percent less powerful.
That's a big cross to bear when at
the same time you don't anymore
have the legendary torque and
above all rideability that was the
trump card of successive desmo
V-twin World Champions.
So not only is the new Ducati
Superbike now missing its pre-
decessor's legendary grunt out
of turns, it also has a serious top
end speed deficit that comes into
play on faster tracks.
It's not that the Panigale RS13
wasn't flexible and easy to ride
out of a turn with the engine run-
ning as low as 5000 rpm – it
pulled cleanly from down low, but
just not very fast. It seemed I had
to get the engine turning above
8500 rpm before there was seri-
ous power on tap, without how-
ever the same jump out of a turn
