VOL. 52 ISSUE 23 JUNE 9, 2015 P57
for a day at the glorious Imola
race circuit after comeback king
Davide Giugliano put the factory
Superbike version of this bike on
pole position for the Italian round
of the World Superbike series
three days earlier, I reckon any
Ducatista who can afford that
steeply priced entry ticket to
desmodromic paradise owes
it to himself – or herself – to
check out their bank balance.
This is the closest thing yet
to a street legal factory racer
with lights and a horn that even
Ducati has yet concocted.
Ducati has created the model
because its new 1299 Panigale
model can't be raced – the
capacity ceiling for Superbike
racing's twin-cylinder class is
1200cc. At the same time, this
year's new World Superbike
regulations are focused on
reducing costs by bringing the
motorcycles on the starting grid
closer to the ones in the show-
room which they're derived from.
This in turn means that if Ducati
wants to incorporate certain key
features in their racebikes that
they deem vital to be competi-
tive, they have to sell a customer
street model which incorporates
these – and the new Panigale R
is just such a bike.
I N T O T H E M O N S T E R
The chance to evaluate Ducati's
new racer-with-lights came via
"THE PANIGALE
R GAINS
REVS LIKE NO
DESMO V-TWIN
CUSTOMER
ROADBIKE EVER
CREATED BEFORE,
AND YOU NEED
TO KEEP YOUR
LEFT FOOT
WORKING THE
SWEET-SHIFTING
GEAR LEVER AS
FAST AS ON A
FOUR-CYLINDER
SCREAMER MOTOR
TO KEEP UP WITH
ITS APPETITE
FOR REVS."
Single-sided
exhaust is
a Ducati
Superbike
trademark and
is achingly
beautiful to
look at.
