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FIRST DETAILS OF THE DUCATI V4 SUPERBIKE EMERGE
D
ucati CEO Claudio Domeni-
cali has given the first sly de-
tails of the upcoming Ducati V4,
due to replace the Panigale as
the company's flagship super-
bike for the 2018 model year.
Speaking at the 1299 R
Panigale Final Edition unveiling,
Domenicali was coy about exact
details of the V4 machine (that
Cycle News released spy photos
of recently), but did say the new
Desmo valve machine will have in
excess of 200 horsepower.
"We will have a bit more than
that [200 hp]," Domenicali said.
"The V4 has been in develop-
ment for about four years. We
took inspiration from our Mo-
toGP project but this engine
is completely different. It's the
same concept, but it's been
made in order to achieve a rea-
sonable production cost and a
reasonably long service interval.
That is what matters for the typi-
cal customer.
Domenicali would not confirm
or deny rumors the V4 will come
in a 1200cc and 1000cc engine
format, only saying "that's too
secret." A 1000cc machine
would allow the V4 to compete
in all forms of superbike racing,
however Ducati has a history
of bringing out larger capacity
sportbikes than the current rac-
ing rules allow—so you can read
into Domenicali's comments
what you will.
Domenicali did however
say the machine will debut at
EICMA in Milan this October,
and there were no plans—at
this stage—to start developing a
smaller capacity V4 engine for
use in the current 959 Panigale
chassis. CN
Claudio Domenicali was
coy on the exact details
of the V4, but did say it's
been in development for
"about four years."
