A couple weeks ago we showed you the Ducati Car concept by Anthony Colard, which was of course a four-wheeled vehicle, and not a motorcycle. But for the past 6 months we’ve been quietly following the work of French transportation designer, and his Ducati Superbike project. Based off the Ducati 1098/1198 chassis, Colard has taken his own perception of the Italian motorcycle’s style, and improved upon some of its deficiencies. Now finished with the design phase of his project, we can finally share with you some of what this talented designer has been focusing on all this time.
Colard used to work at the Ducati Design Center, and had the opportunity to ruminate with Gianni Fabbro, the senior designer of the 1098, about some of the unresolved problems with the 1098’s design. Wanting a bike with his own touch, Colard set out to build off Fabbro’s work, and resolve these design problems. As things often do, one thing lead to another, and before he knew it Colard had inked his own unique 1098, and has now set about to bring the bike into limited production.
The design of the C12-R has taken several iterations, and actually started life out as the C11-R. The Colard C11-R’s most noticeable difference to its successor is the GP-style exhaust the exits both in the lower fairing, and under the tail section. Colard has replaced this setup in the C12-R with a more traditional Ducati-esque underseat arrangement with dual-cans.
Accenting both designs are more complex and vented body panels. Underneath it all you can see inspiration from the 1098, but Colard’s thoughts seem to be more complex, than the simple Ducati lines. The affect on us is that this looks like an almost more mature style than the original, and thankfully doesn’t take the classic Ducati lines too far, and into the realm of clutter.
Hopping soon to render a clay model of the C12-R, Collard’s final aim is to create a limited run of his creations. While he doesn’t want to quote exact performance specs yet, a 200hp motor isn’t out of the equation. The French designer is sure of one thing, it will be faster and lighter than the current 1198.
The project’s target price is €25,000 for a completed bike, which isn’t that much more expensive than a base Ducati 1198 (in Europe at least), but Colard wants to have a €4,000 kit (fairings and exhaust only) available for current 1098/1198 owners to purchase and transform their machine.
With the design of the bike finalized, Colard is now looking for financial backing to create the necessary clay models and to partner with an exhaust maker, to properly make the go fast parts…go fast. Colard is already in-touch with component manufacturers to supply the suspension, brakes, wheels, etc.
So what do you guys think, could you see one of Colard’s C12-R’s in your garage?
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