VOL. 51 ISSUE 47 NOVEMBER 25, 2014 P69
the opportunity to split the throttle
operation in half. In Superstock
there isn't the option to operate
each pair of throttle bodies on a
four-cylinder bike independently
of the other, via its own electric
stepper motor. This means that
the Kawasakis that the Barni
Ducati run against can only ever
be four-cylinder screamers, com-
plete with added grip issues, not
a twin when it suits as Tom Sykes'
works ZX-10R Superbike can be
when it wants to.
So over and above the basic
Panigale, the R-version forming
the basis of Mercado's title-win-
ner goes a step further in speci-
fication, with DLC-coated rock-
er-arms and titanium conrods
rather than the steel ones fitted
to other versions, which save an
overall 1.6 pounds in weight and
together with a flywheel weighing
1.8 pounds less, result in a sig-
nificantly lighter crankshaft as-
sembly for the 90-degree V-twin
engine, saving 2.14 pounds in to-
tal. Because of this, the Panigale
R's heavily oversquare motor revs
another 500 rpm higher, with the
soft revlimiter for the RBW throt-
tle set at 12,000rpm on an en-
gine carrying the largest-diame-
ter pistons presently fitted to any
production vehicle, two wheels
or four. This lighter crankshaft as-
sembly also allows engine speed
to pick up much faster, in turn
leading to enhanced accelera-
tion, which was really noticeable
swooping out of the long, long
downhill left-hander leading on
to Mugello's long front straight.
This was also aided by the slight
increase in compression ratio to
12.8:1 that Barni has been able to
deliver by using thinner cylinder
head gaskets on the otherwise
stock engine. Together with an
all-new Termignoni race exhaust
introduced this season, which
with its massive 70mm-diameter
central tubone section fed by
Mercado's Ducati dishes
out 208 horsepower. Top
speed? About 186 mph.
and his boys took a stock Pani-
gale R and blueprinted the liquid-
cooled 90º V-twin Superquadro
engine, whose 112 x 60.8mm
dimensions in fact deliver a cu-
bic capacity of 1198cc. Thanks to
the sky-high revs by twin-cylinder
standards permitted by its radi-
cal ultra short-stroke dimensions
combined with the added bene-
fits of desmodromic valve opera-
tion, the Superquadro delivers
substantially improved horse-
power compared to the older
L-twin. Giugliano's 2011 title-win-
ning 1198SP made 184 bhp at
10,500 rpm at the rear wheel,
while, according to Marco Barn-
abò, Mercado's 2014 Champion
produces 208 bhp at the gear-
box at 11,700 rpm, which trans-
late to approximately 200 bhp at
the rear wheel.
"Rear wheel measurement is
never completely accurate, be-
cause of tire slip," asserts Barni.
"I only measure dyno readings at
the gearbox pinion."
That's about the same as the
fleet of Kawasakis, which cur-
rently make Superstock grids
anywhere in the world a sea of
green, in a motorcycle weigh-
ing 379 pounds with oil/water,
no fuel. But unlike in World Su-
perbike, where an RBW digital
throttle that may be fitted under
the rules to four-cylinder volume
production bikes, which don't
come with this as standard, gives
