VOL. 54 ISSUE 24 JUNE 20, 2017 P109
torque doesn't fall away—it stops
building, but stays pretty much
constant all the way to 11,000
rpm, by which point the orange
shifter lights either side of the
TFT dash will start to light up
to tell you to hit another gear
before they flash red brightly at
12,000 rpm in the bottom five
gears, to tell you that you're
about to hit the 12,500 rpm soft
revlimiter. Being an RBW digital
throttle there's no cutout—you
just stop building speed and
revs. But with the broad spread
of power and torque the 1299
Superleggera now has, there's
no need to rev it right out to the
limiter like on the smaller-cubed,
less grunty 1199 Panigale—just
ride it like some sort of twist'n'go
mega-scooter by holding third
gear for most of the lap, and surf
that torque curve. The combina-
tion of level 4 DWC and DTC
traction control set at level three
(both out of eight) delivered in-
toxicating drive out of turns, with
the extra torque giving no hint
of understeer under power. The
Superleggera hugs a tight line
as you wind on the revs thanks
to the new DSC (Ducati Slide
Control) program which helps
it close a turn on the throttle,
as well as the dialed-in chas-
sis geometry and the sublime
compliance of the Ohlins rear
shock. Where you point the
Superleggera is where it heads
for; it's an ultra-precise, predict-
able package that's so enjoyable
and rewarding to ride, whose
enhanced electronic rider aides
make doing so even safer and
more confidence inspiring than
before.
For the DSC lets you acceler-
ate harder and earlier through
a corner in a controlled drift,
which in turn means you finish
turning sooner and can thus nail
the throttle wide open sooner,
with the highly effective DWC
doing its job of keeping the front
wheel on the ground to avoid
time-wasting wheelies. I'd like
to be able to tell you that I was
doing this every lap at every
turn, but working your mind up
to doing this is a bit like convinc-
Straightforward and informative.
Only 500
Superleggeras
are being
manufactured
and all have been
sold in advance
of production at
a hefty $90,000
(22% Italian tax)
price tag.
