VOL. 52 ISSUE 10 MARCH 10, 2015 P49
It turns out it wasn't that easy,
because the engineering solu-
tions in the Superleggera didn't
all lend themselves to volume
production. Some did, though,
which is why the new 1299
Panigale unveiled at the EICMA
Show last November (and now
in production) incorporates at
least some of them. But the
ultimate solution to resolving the
one disappointing element in the
1199 Panigale package, via the
new bike, came from a step fa-
miliar to any performance engine
tuner: just add cubes!
So on the 1299 Panigale
Ducati engineers have increased
the cubic capacity of the Super-
quadro engine from 1198cc to
1285cc via a 4mm overbore—
employing even more massive
pistons than before. This move
has implicitly been made to ad-
dress the problems customers
encountered riding the 1199 Pan-
igale on the street or in track day
use. (Since the new bike has no
potential for competition use per
se—the maximum twin-cylinder
capacity is 1200cc for Superbike
racing—Ducati has also pro-
duced a new 2015 version of the
1199 Panigale R to go Superbike
racing with.)
Cubing up not only has result-
ed in a claimed 10 bhp increase
in horsepower (to 205 bhp at the
crankshaft at 10,500 rpm) and a
key 10% increase in peak torque
(to 144.6Nm at 8,750 rpm), but
most crucially a 15% increase in
torque in the 5,000-8,000 rpm
midrange area, according to
Ducati.
And to better manage this step
Switching to race mode made the
Panigale seem like a supercharged
version of itself.
