DEVELOPED ON THE RACETRACK IN CRUCIBLES such as the MotoGP and World Superbike Championship (WSBK), Ducati’s latest offering is more a missile than a superbike. The latest Panigale V4 R is the wildest machine from their stable yet and also the closest thing to a pure-bred racing machine that money can buy. The only thing that is crazier is that this motorcycle is street-legal.
The new Panigale V4 R wears MotoGP-inspired livery and carbon wings. To make things more special, this model will be produced in a limited number. The 998-cc Desmosedici Stradale R engine in this motorcycle revs up to a mind-boggling 16,500 revolutions per minute (in sixth gear) and has pushed the envelope of power figures in the superbike world.
The V4 R now produces 218 hp at 15,500 rpm, which is slightly lower than its predecessor because it has to comply with Euro 5 norms. However, with the track-only racing exhaust, it develops a whopping 237 hp which is three hp more than in the motorcycle it replaces but it does not end there. Shell and Ducati Corse have collaborated to develop an engine oil that strikes the right balance between performance and protection. With the racing exhaust and Shell oil, the Desmosedici Stradale R is capable of dishing out a dizzying 240.5 hp and that is as close as it gets to the motorcycles that Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi race in World Superbike (WSBK).
To achieve such power figures, Ducati have borrowed some technology from their MotoGP engineering too. The connecting rods have been drilled longitudinally to provide better lubrication from the head to the small end. Furthermore, for the first time in a road-going engine, the pistons have been given the DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) surface treatment that was previously reserved for MotoGP
