Cycle News

BARNI DUCATI 1199 PANIGALE R SUPERSTOCK RACER TEST P70 50mm headers and exiting into the metallurgical work of art com- prising the dual-exit silencer po- sitioned beneath the motor, this has increased maximum torque to 14.1kgm/138Nm at 10,500 rpm on the Barni dyno, a useful step up from the stock R-model's 13.5kgm/132Nm at 9,000 rpm. But just because the dyno says this increased torque is de- livered further up the rev scale, don't imagine that there's even more of a hole in the power de- livery than the stock Panigale's undoubted dip in midrange grunt. Quite the opposite. In fact, as I soon became aware driving out of any of the slower second and third-gear turns at Mugello, three of them exiting chicanes, where the Barni Ducati was much less of a top-end drama queen than the stock Panigale, with the dip in engine pickup from 7,000 rpm upwards on the stock Panigale now pretty much filled in. It's still not a tractor like the old-genera- tion L-twin desmo Superbikes. In- stead, it is certainly easier to ride hard on in tighter sections, with improved throttle response while still having that significant extra dose of top-end performance, and speed, that the Superquadro engine delivers. Mercado reg- istered a 186.4 mph trap speed at Aragon in winning the season opener there, equal with Salva- dori's Kawasaki. The power deliv- ery is also improved—it's notice- ably smoother and less layered, with a fatter midrange, which Barni says comes from optimized engine mapping, especially on the fuelling. The team fine-tunes the fueling electronically every time the bike goes on the track, always seeking to enhance per- formance of an engine that re- pays constant attention to keep it at its best via the DDA/Ducati Data Acquisition system. At Mugello, I could feel how well this Superstock bike drove out of a turn, with very little less grunt than the factory Super- bike I was riding the same day, whose main advantage over the Superstock seems to be a little less weight and more aggres- sive camshafts plus quite a bit higher compression. Together, this delivered increased grunt as well as greater top-end speed, but not available to Barni under Superstock rules. But not a lot more. The Superstock bike was arguably better and more forgiv- ing lower down. Mugello has only one slow-ish turn, and the Barni Superstock definitely came out of that better, aided by a re- mapped ECU, which delivers a Fast yet forgiving, says Cathcart of the Barni Ducati. That's a rare combination for a race bike.

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