2015 DUCATI 1299 PANIGALE S
FIRST RIDE
P48
that had threatened to usurp its
status as the ultimate Superbike.
But it did so at the expense of a
quality long considered to be the
key ingredient of any Ducati mo-
torcycle—the muscular midrange
torque that's been the trademark
feature of all desmo V-twins for
the past four decades. It was
traded away in return for greater
top end power obtainable at the
higher revs, which the Super-
quadro design is capable of
reaching. As a result, a bike that
was indeed super-effective on
the racetrack in Superstock rac-
ing wasn't as much fun to ride on
the street. And even under race
conditions it had to be ridden
extremely hard using a lot of revs
via constant use of the gearshift
lever to keep abreast or even
ahead of the one-liter fours. Not
your typical Ducati, then.
But, never content with what
was essentially a compromise,
Ducati engineers kept working
at delivering the best of both
worlds, and when they invited
me to ride the ultra-desirable
ultra-lightweight limited edition
1199 Superleggera at Mugello
last summer, I realized they'd
succeeded in doing so. That
über-version of the Panigale
weighs a featherweight 342
pounds dry—thanks to a magne-
sium chassis and carbon fiber
bodywork among much else—
with a claimed 200 bhp/149
kw on tap at 11,500 rpm. The
Superleggera had the missing
midrange grunt restored to its
Superquadro motor, allowing me
to lap the Mugello GP circuit in a
competitive lap time—for an Ital-
ian Superstock series grid—with
just four gearchanges between
the end of the pit straight and
the start of it again. So, job
done. Just transpose that to the
stock Panigale, and you're back
in business… right, Ducati?
"THIS TIME THE DEFAULT SUSPENSION
SETTINGS WERE SPOT ON, MAKING THE
1299 PANIGALE SEEM SO UNBELIEVABLY
CAPABLE AND CONTROLLABLE WHEN
RIDDEN HARD—IT'S A VERY ADDICTIVE
MOTORCYCLE."
Ducati engineers gave the new
Panigale more cubes and upgraded
the electronics to manage that
increase in performance.
