Table of contents:
- The precedent and the future are called V4
- What can we expect from the Ducati V4 Superbike?
- Desmodromic distribution, the common denominator
- On-demand power and state-of-the-art electronics
Video: The Ducati coup will arrive in 2019, what can we expect from its V4 Superbike?
2024 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-10 16:43
After being confirmed by Claudio Domenicalli a few months ago, Ducati is officially laying off its V2-powered Superbikes. A very emotional farewell in the form of the Ducati 1299 Panigale R Final Edition that puts the end to a long and successful line of twin-cylinder engines.
As they say, "a sack knocks out another nail" and that is why, while the Panigale give their last blows in the form of a numbered edition, 1299 Panigale S Anniversario or 1299 Superleggera (all wonderful, by the way), the first Ducati for the WSBK with V4 engine is giving us long teeth no, the following. What does the Bolognese factory await us in the future?
The precedent and the future are called V4
In order to remain competitive, at Ducati they have no choice but to abandon their well-known two-cylinder to switch to tetra
Before getting down to business we must look at the past. Aprilia created from scratch a motorcycle whose sole purpose is to win the World Superbike Championship. It premiered in 2009 and achieved its purpose up to three times in 2010 and 2012 with Max Biaggi and in 2014 with Sylvain Guintoli.
Its 999.6 cubic centimeter engine was a four-cylinder that was out of the ordinary until then. With vee-twin and tetra-cylinder in-line, the Aprilia RSV4 It became the first four-cylinder in a vee with two benches arranged in a closed vee of 65º. At its birth it already developed 180 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque as standard for 184 kg and a very compact set that with racing specifications easily exceeded 200 hp.
The best of all is that its postulate is still valid and, in fact, with the constant evolutions to which the model has been subjected, in 2017 it continues to be a motorcycle that some teams trust to compete in the world championship of motorcycles derived from the Serie.
Other brands like Yamaha with their Crossplane crankshaft, they have varied the timing of their crankshaft and altered the firing order to approximate the performance of their four in line to that of a V4, while in MotoGP it is the most widespread configuration.
What can we expect from the Ducati V4 Superbike?
Returning to Italy (sorry, we had not left the country of the boot), in Borgo Panigale they have had to itch that in the last decade, another Italian manufacturer has won the same title as them in their championship, the SBK World Championship..
In addition, they have already been definitively overwhelmed by a regulation that they cannot get more out of. While their road bikes have grown to 1,299 cubic centimeters, the homologation requires them to maintain a displacement of 1,199 cc, and thanks to the fact that they have that extra 200cc lead to alleviate its lower regime of revolutions compared to the tetra.
Neither all the investment in the world nor all the electronics can fight the pull of the 4-cylinder in the WSBK races
Ducati has relied on twins since the 1970s, making them its best hallmark. Linked like few brands to competition and more specifically to the World Superbike Championship, they have had no choice but to twist their arm and put aside some V2 that have already reached your ceiling of evolution (sportingly speaking).
But it is not something that catches them completely new. Since 2003 when they debuted in MotoGP they have relied on a V4 build engine to race in the highest motorcycling competition and with the most beautiful exception of the Ducati Desmosedici as an application of its V4 on a street motorcycle.
Since then we have been chewing rumors about the existence of a V4 for Superbike, and it seems that 2019 will be the year of its premiere, but before that, Kardesign has already dared to create a first approximation of how the model could be according to the investigations, leaks and images that have come to light.
Aerodynamically the production model is more than likely to take care of its body much more than the Panigales have. Without renouncing the typical beauty of Italian designs, the bodywork could adopt some solutions put to the test in MotoGP in recent years with a more enveloping fairing, while maintaining a continuous line with respect to the current model.
After seeing the first spy photos that float around the net, we can think of a continuous design with the Panigale, worked aerodynamics, better electronics and a better mass centering.
This does not mean that the future Ducati V4 will become a bigger bike, on the contrary, the V4 will have some more compact external dimensions that would allow to make an even smaller motorcycle. Seeing the first spy photos that have been around the internet we would be finding ourselves in front of a motorcycle with dimensions very similar to the Panigale, compact, short and very manageable.
In parallel, the chassis used to support the whole set would continue to rely on controversy monocoque structure. During their first years, the 1199 Panigale were bikes with a reputation for having a delicate set-up, very susceptible to changes, but now that they have achieved, thanks to Chaz Davies and Gigi dall'Igna, a winning team on all circuits it seems that they will remain faithful to this concept.
Aesthetically, the body would be complemented by a similar rear, with a very small tail and a huge single-sided swingarm made of aluminum and exhausts repositioned on the keel to centralize masses and lower the center of gravity. I'm looking forward to seeing how they solve the collector puzzle.
Desmodromic distribution, the common denominator
Looking inside we can find a propeller adjusted to the WSBK regulations, but under the interpretation of Ducati. The V4 would be placed in L, in a 90º vee brand of the house but positioned further back, with the rear cylinders sticking out under the subframe, and with valves operated by Desmodromic distribution.
This system that has already passed 60 years since the engineer Fabio Taglioni invented it in the fifties (patented in 1956) and its main characteristic is that lacks springs to operate the valves. Instead a gear operated double rocker arm is used in which one rocker arm opens the valve and the other closes it.
The hallmark of the house will continue to be Borgo Panigale's own effective Desmodromic distribution without springs.
Like any technology, it has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it eliminates the imprecision that springs can generate at high revolutions, creating a partial opening proof system. On the other, the weight of the system is somewhat higher than a traditional one.
Ducati is the only brand that uses Desmodromic distribution today in competition, even dispensing with the pneumatic valve distribution systems used by other manufacturers. Well, because of that and because the system is shielded by patents from Borgo Panigale.
On-demand power and state-of-the-art electronics
In practice, taking into account that its twin-cylinder engines have reached outputs of up to 215 horsepower as standard in the case of the spectacular 1299 Superleggera and its devotion to brute force, the V4 engine should produce a figure not less than those 215 equines. In addition, due to the new engine configuration, its power would be more dosable, less critical with a more compliant torque delivery at low revs than those of the V2 and with the red line much higher.
To control all its power, the V4 will receive an ignition with grouped detonations of the big-bang type like the one used in MotoGP and to which Honda has just joined this season
For the rest, the future Ducati four-cylinder, still unknown name, will use the best material for its accessories, counting on Brembo for the brake system with top-performance trinkets and a compendium of suspensions signed by Öhlins almost certainly, with the possibility of choosing between versions with electronic or conventional suspension once they reach dealerships.
As shipped from the factory, Ducati's first four-cylinder powerplant for the WSBK should have no less than the 215hp for the Superleggera
And speaking of electronicsGiven the possibility that Dorna introduces a single switchboard in the WSBK, just like they did two seasons ago in MotoGP, while this modification of the regulations arrives, it is more than likely that the future V4s will continue to exploit the goose that lays the golden eggs.
When the Magneti Marelli control unit was imposed in MotoGP in 2016, part of Ducati's investment (of money and personnel) in the digital section was transferred to the Superbikes project. Electronics is precisely the great gap that exists today in the WSBK between the most and least evolved motorcycles, an aspect in which Ducati is very strong and that they will try to exploit to the maximum until the regulation allows it.
If the Borgo Panigale series motorcycles already have the EVO applications of their aids, more evolved and refined, the next generation of Italian sports shoes will have no qualms about applying all their accumulated experience in competition to the street, offering a new level of reference in terms of safety and application of power to the asphalt.
One thing is clear. Whatever the future V4 is, whatever its name is and spit out whatever power it may be, it is clear that it will be a beautiful motorcycle in line with the latest creations of the brand. Ducati has already launched the hype through the roof and the wait is going to be eternal, right? Well, calm down, we'll just have to wait until the next one EICMA of Milan in November to have something tangible.
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