Ducati has officially launched its 2010 MotoGP race bike, the Desmosedici GP10, at its yearly press launch with Ferrari in the Italian Dolomite mountains. The Wrooom event launch comes just two weeks after Nicky Hayden accidently leaked photos of the GP10 from his camera phone, much to the chagrin of Ducati Corse. Click past the jump for more details on the GP10, launch photos and studio shots of the new Desmosedici, and also for Hayden and Stoner’s views on the new bike in a video.
Designed by F1 guru Alan Jenkins, the Gp10 is slimmer and more aerodynamical, despite looking almost exactly like its predecessor the GP9. Refinements have been made throughout the motorcycle, especially in regards to cooling the V4 motor, which Ducati will only get to use six of the entire season for each rider. Ducati Corse had previously been using nearly 18 motors a Championship, or one motor per race, according to Claudio Domenicali.
“The main changes to the bike are based on the rule changes, so the major part of the work was done precisely to make it perform better using only six engines for the entire championship. It’s a very important difference, because we were used to using more-or-less one engine per race, so to switch from 18 engines to six is a very important adjustment. All of the main parts were redesigned – pistons, rods, crankshaft, the basics. It’s an engine with which our main objective was to minimise the loss of power to increase durability.”
One of our favorite changes to the GP10 is the integration of the exhaust outlet in the tail section, which oozes pure racing sex in our minds. The rest of the GP10’s improvements come on the inside, where the V4 motor has been finally switched to a “big-bang” configuration.
“The second big news isn’t related to the rules, but to our attempt to make the bike more rideable. This has to do with the firing order. We have a motor that, since the switch to 800cc, utilised a screamer set-up. This has permitted us to have maximum power, which was very important and was probably fundamental with the results that we’ve had in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but at a certain point, we began to wonder whether it could be worthwhile to re-test a way that we’d already followed in the past. The last 1000cc motors that we made in 2005 and 2006 used a big-bang firing order, and this gave us important rideability. We re-tested that way, first trying it on the dyno, then with Vittoriano Guareschi in his previous role as test rider and then with Nicky and Casey.”
Domenicali went on to say the the GP10’s chassis has been refined for better traction, and to elminate the bike’s tendency to squat during hard acceleration. To achieve these goals, Ducati redesigned the entire rear-half of the Desmosedici to be more rigid and rideable. Casey Stoner’s butt dyno would seem to agree with the Ducati engineers, as he reports the bike having better grip and traction, while also improving the bottom-end of the power curve.
Claudio Domenicali concluded his remarks by commenting on the state of Ducati and of Ducati Corse. Despite the industry’s 30% drop in sales in 2009, Ducati has managed to lose only 18%, while gaining its largest portion of market share in the company’s history. Ducati has clearly done well in this recession, and is one of the few manufacturers that can say that it didn’t cut or eliminate any development of future models. Kudos Claudio, Kudos.
Ducati Desmosedici GP10 Wrooom Unveiling Shots:
Ducati Desmosedici GP10 Studio Shots:
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