BEAST Of Bologna

Despite the obvious reason for this story’s title, I chose it for the Panigale V-4’s parallel with Fiat’s 28-liter S.76 racing car of 1910—the 300 hp “Beast of Turin.” Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said a few years ago, “Liter-bikes are finished, and they’re not coming back,” referring to when sportbike sales collapsed during the Great Recession of 2008–09. Are liter-bikes now mythic giants from a past age, destined like Fiat’s S.76 to be replaced by smaller, nimbler machines? I put this question to Claudio Domenicali, the admired and respected CEO of Ducati, a man whose ability has carried him up through engineering, racing, and R&D to the highest management level.

He answered that Ducati’s success is driven by the company’s ability to bring the leading edge of motorcycling to its customers. Ducati must therefore continue to satisfy their expectation that the company will remain the “arrow of progress.” The focus of V-4-engine development has been to combine great