Is the Ducati engine exhausted?

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Is the Ducati engine exhausted??

Is the Ducati engine exhausted??
This is the limit

Ducati’s V2 has almost a liter of displacement – that’s all you can do in the Superbike World Championship. Nevertheless, the Italians want to regain the title in 1998.

Eva Breutel, Lothar Kutschera

12/29/1997

Ducati’s sole rule in the Superbike World Championship is history. Gone are the days when the V2 engine from Bologna was able to keep adding a few cubic centimeters of displacement to keep the four-cylinder from Japan under control, which is limited to 750 cm³ by the regulations. The Italo long-running favorite in the World Cup has grown from 851 to now 996 cm³. Which brings you to the end of the flagpole. More than a liter of displacement is not possible for two-cylinder superbikes either.
Rien ne va plus – nothing works anymore? Despite this year’s defeat against Honda and John Kocinski, the Italian brand is at least outwardly relatively relaxed and optimistic about competitiveness. “We could just as easily have lost in 1996 or won in 1997,” says managing director Federico Minoli. “Carl Fogarty fell five times this season, it was just bad luck. In addition: If John Kocinski had driven the same way in 1996 as he did in 1997, then he would certainly have become world champion for us. “
In addition, the Bolognese tinkerers are by no means at the end of their game. Knowing that the current engine is difficult to improve, they work in two directions in order to be able to compete in the Superbike World Championship in the medium term. On the one hand, the current engine is being optimized, on the other hand, the men around Director General Massimo Bordi are already working on a completely new two-cylinder.
Before 2002, however, the new source of power is not to be expected in the World Cup or on the streets. Until then, Bordi’s current four-valve engine, the basis of which dates back to the early 1980s, still has to get the chestnuts out of the fire.
Due to the relentless boring, the life expectancy of a Ducati racing twin is now limited to 600 to 1000 kilometers – then the enormously stressed engine housing on the main bearings tears. The problems of 1996, when the V2 in the World Cup came in rows, are now off the table thanks to the better quality of the engine parts. However, despite all the reinforcements on the housing, the mileage of the approximately 160 hp engines can hardly be increased significantly.
To do this, the Ducati engineers want to get a grip on another core problem: the cylinder head, which has been exhausted in terms of flow. Modifications to the intake and exhaust system as well as to the exhaust system should give the factory machine three to five additional horsepower in the coming season, which will be in 1999 Ducati then compete in the Superbike World Championship with a completely new cylinder head.
With the new part – most important features: narrower valve angle, more compact combustion chamber – the plant wants to kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand, of course, more power is expected. On the other hand, the new heads are more compact. This is particularly important for the cylinder in the direction of travel, because the distance between the engine and the front tire can then be used to reduce the wheelbase and thus to improve the handling of the machine. So far, the said cylinder has stood in the way of this measure.
However, the search for additional horsepower is not the be-all and end-all of the 1998 factory machine. “We invest around 80 percent of our work in the chassis and other solutions in order to optimally bring the power of the engine to the ground,” reports Claudio Domenicali, deputy head of the development department. Ducati is not only testing new suspension elements, the electronic engine management system is also being developed with the Italian specialist Marelli – for example in the area of ​​grip control.
Recently, the changes have been simulated on the computer before the engine then shoots off on the test bench for the first time. The PC is now also being used to help develop the chassis. Despite all the high-tech, Ducati sticks to the traditional basic principles of the brand. “The new engine,” says Massimo Bordi, “will also be a two-cylinder with 90 degrees and desmodromic valve control.” The cylinder V will be straightened up more than before in order to gain more room for positioning the front suspension and fork.
And Federico Minoli leaves no doubt that a factory Ducati will still be painted red in the Superbike World Championship: “Our sponsors can decide a lot, just not the color of the motorcycles.” Racing, almost a third of it comes from sponsors. The gentlemen from Bologna also have their say when it comes to how the three contracted drivers Carl Fogarty, Troy Corser and Pierfrancesco Chili will be allocated to the two works teams from Ferrari and Gattalone.
Ducati puts 60 percent of the sports budget into the Superbike World Championship with the aim of regaining the title. In addition, the American Superbike Championship is extremely important for the company because of the US market. In 1998, two engineers from Bologna are assigned to look after the drivers Mike Hale, Tom Kipp and Anthony Gobert for the entire US season.
The national championships of Italy and England are the other focal points of Ducati’s Superbike program. In addition, the red 1998 racers can also be seen in new, old terrain. The Italians want to get back into the World Endurance Championship and have chosen the classic in this discipline for their comeback: the Bol d’Or in September in Paul Ricard.

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