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The evolution of the Ducati 1199 Panigale

The new super sports car from Ducati

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Ducati test driver Vittoriano Guareschi at work: The Ducati 1199 Panigale is given the finishing touches on the racetrack. PS takes a look behind the scenes of the Ducati development department and already has a glimpse of what the beauty will be made of.

With a rumble of thunder, the black bullet approaches the home straight, shortly before the end of the curb, the pilot can pull open again. Now the machine turns off properly, up, higher and a little higher, the two-cylinder roars down the endless straight from Mugello. That legendary place, where numerous race victories have been celebrated, but also tragedies suffered.

The Ducati test crew is almost living there in the -Boxengasse these days. The final driving tests of their new top model, the 1199 Panigale, are pending. And not only do the usual suspects around long-term test rider Vittoriano Guareschi compete, but also none other than ex-Superbike world champion Troy Bayliss. Who else but the ultra-fast Australian could really get to grips with the new Oberbrenner from Bologna? Or to put it another way: If Bayliss can do the 1199, then Otto Normalheizer can do the usual race training.

And Troy really worries her, shifts through the gears at exactly 11500 rpm and drives the Panigale to over 280 km / h on the home straight. After a few laps, which were obviously pretty fast, the test machine, completely disguised as an ugly monster, babbles back into the pits. Satisfied faces everywhere, the stopwatches seem to have spoken favorable oracles.

Kone doubt: Ducati wants to open a new chapter in the history of their fast 90-degree V2 with the Panigale. The performance data that have now been determined are beguiling: 195 hp at 10750 rpm are the highest value that a two-cylinder engine with road approval has ever achieved. This new level of performance is just as big a step as BMW took two years ago with the S 1000 RR. You simply distance the competition by 20 hp. Any questions?

Most powerful V2 of all time It quickly becomes clear that new paths had to be broken for such a top performance. Just this much: the pistons, which slide up and down an insane 11,500 times per minute, measure 112 millimeters in diameter. Nobody in large-scale engine construction has yet managed that. That’s why Ducati has one thing on the agenda above all: testing, testing, testing. The Panigale has to hold. 

And for this, thousands of test bench hours and hundreds of thousands of test kilometers have been and are being completed. And what one should not underestimate these days, of course, is that homologations, i.e. compliance with the limit values ​​for exhaust gas and noise, also generate a lot of effort. But Ducati seems to have made it. The first series Panigales will roll off the assembly line in February. The production lines are currently being set up in the factory.

The chassis development also meant enormous effort. Landing gear? Which landing gear? Okay, the Ducati no longer has a frame, but the monocoque screwed to the front cylinder and the swing arm with the side-mounted shock absorber must somehow work. And above all: they shouldn’t just break, even after many thousands of kilometers. Ducati has purchased a new test bench specifically for these tests. A so-called hydropulser simulates a rough road by shaking the two wheels with two stamps. Looks spectacular and can run 24 hours a day. There’s a dummy on top, let’s call him Giorgio. Giorgio wears overalls and looks unmoved even after ten days of shaking. Humans would only endure the ordeal for a few hours, HP test drivers maybe a day. 12,000 kilometers of hopping slopes are simulated, more than any Ducati ever has to master in its life. The Panigale also passed these tests in the past twelve months.

Ducati

Ducati 1199 S Panigale Wheelie Abu Dhabi.

So Troy could calmly pull the cable. Or what he felt as a cable. In reality, a powerful electric motor controls the throttle valves. And it receives its commands from a control unit. And that not only conjures up a much better throttle response than before in the engine, but also different performance curves. There is 120 hp for driving in the rain, 195 with a gentle response for the road, and the Aggrogas for the slopes. In addition, there is also a traction control that not only controls the throttle valve, but also gently doses power via the ignition. The automatic gearshift for upshifting is also controlled with it.

Monza in the test bench The Ducati people save the fast laps on the racetrack with recording and thus feed the dynamic engine test bench in the factory. This then simulates the route with the greatest precision. The Monza test is currently running. This high-speed track is not only Vittoriano Guareschi’s favorite territory – the author still remembers Guareschi’s disgraceful overtaking maneuver at the end of the Curva Grande with a subsequent demoralizing acceleration drift – but also an endurance test for the engine. Only Nardo is worse. Here it goes around twelve kilometers in a circle, if it has to at full throttle. Incidentally, the Duc runs about 300 km / h there, the wind tunnel work for the delicate device seems to be paying off.

How dainty the 1199 turns out can be seen with a first seat test. Gone are the days of the handlebar stubs lying far forward. Gone are the agonizingly elongated sitting position in city traffic. You can take it easy on the new Ducati, the handlebars are higher, wider, closer.

Consistent lightweight construction Fully fueled and equipped with integral ABS, the Ducati weighs only 193 kilograms according to the factory specifications. This is an absolute top rate. Most 1000cc four-cylinder weigh at least 15 kilograms more. The frameless chassis design alone, in which the engine is fully supported, should save five kilograms. But also with the brakes, with all attachments and the new engine, the kilos should be tumbled. The V2 is now much more compact and also has an automatic decompression device, which enables a lighter starter plus a smaller battery.

And that’s not all in terms of top performance. The Ducati 1199 Panigale also offers an electronics package that has never been seen before: ABS, DDA +, EBC, DES, DTC, DQS, RBW, TFT. In words and in German: Bosch anti-lock devices, data storage, engine brake control, electronically adjustable spring elements, traction control, automatic gearshift, electronically controlled throttle valves, color display with menu control. The good thing is that with the three driving programs Wet, Sport and Race, all of the electronic helpers are automatically configured accordingly. That helps against the voting overkill. So far, this has only been rudimentary on the BMW S 1000 RR.

Who would have thought that Ducati would one day bring such a blast? Perhaps the older ones of us, who still remember the sacred Ducati 916. That was also such a groundbreaking motorcycle back then. Although she was immediately behind in terms of performance, the four-cylinder never gave her a chance. But she beguiled us with her optical charms like no other. The new one also succeeds. Maybe not quite like the 916 back then. But with outstanding performance values. PS is looking forward to it.

technology

Ducati

Ducati 1199 engine: cast surfaces that stretch like a skin over the underlying technology and turn each reinforcement rib outwards, develop an extremely sober aesthetic.

 Big pistons, little stroke: According to this formula, engines have always been more powerful. The trick: the thicker pistons mean that larger valves can be installed, which in turn promise more filling for the combustion chambers. Easy? In principle yes. Why doesn’t everyone do it that way? We asked ourselves that especially with the BMW S 1000 RR. Because their performance also comes from this philosophy.

Mechanical limits also come into play with the two-cylinder. The Ducati 112 pistons are subjected to extremely high loads. Just imagine a single cylinder of this size: with 599 cubic meters, half a Panigale engine would produce an incredible 97.5 hp. And that with Euro3 exhaust and relatively quiet. Incredible!

New for Ducati: The camshafts are now driven by timing chains. Tricky: The two cylinder heads are identical and are mounted rotated by 180 degrees. The timing chains drive the camshafts on the opposite side of the connecting rod. That saves overall width.

The cylinder heads are tight. The two huge, 46.8 millimeter titanium intake valves and the 38.2 millimeter exhaust valves, which are also generously sized, are controlled desmodromically. This is done using specially coated opener and closer levers. According to Ducati, only such a desmodromic system can open and close the valves with these timing and sizes; this would not be possible with valve springs.

The oval inlets are enormously large: intake throats measuring 67.5 millimeters open when the pilot opens the shower completely. This then generates 195 hp at 10750 rpm. The torque is also intoxicating: at 9000 rpm the V2 pushes 132 Nm.

The engine is limited to 11500 rpm. This is done gently via the ignition, so that overspeed up to almost 12,000 turns are possible.

Interesting: The decompression lever can be seen on the exhaust camshaft at the front. The motor, which starts much more easily, allows a smaller starter plus a smaller battery. Saves over three kilograms.

Also new: gearbox, wet clutch and the cylinders cast into the crankcase for more rigidity. These wear wet liners.

Nice to see: Ducati saves on hoses and cables as much as possible with a water-cooled engine. The black bread box on the side is an oil / water heat exchanger. Not very pretty, but well hidden behind the panel.

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