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Getting the PBM Ducati Panigale V4 R Ready for Road Racing

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The check boxes are getting ticked by the Ducati Panigale V4 R. WorldSBK race winner? Check! British Superbike race winner? Check! Road Racing winner? Not just yet.

The Ducati Panigale V4 R was designed and developed to dominate, and Gigi Dall’igna has said that the goal is to make the bike the most sought after Superbike in every paddock.

Last year the Italian spoke about how important it was to win the North West 200 because this was a race that Ducati had never won. Breaking new ground was important 12 months ago, and it’s even more important now.

The new bike is one that can, in theory, be a contender at the Suzuka 8 Hours, and finally give Ducati a reliable platform to compete at races such as that. The North West 200 is also a potential precursor to once again seeing Ducati on the roads of the Isle of Man.

This bike has the potential to be a real challenger, but it will take success this weekend to really show just how good the Panigale V4 R can become.

To find out what goes into making a bike into a contender on the roads Asphalt & Rubber talked with Paul Bird Motorsport to find out exactly what it takes.

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Dirt

Ducati DRE Enduro Class Finally Comes to the USA

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When the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro debuted, the Italian brand took its popular on-track “Ducati Rider Experience” program, and made an off-road version for their new adventure bike.

Based out of Florence, Italy, the DRE Enduro course aimed to highlight the abilities of the Multistrada 1200 Enduro, as well as providing Ducatisti with a dual-sport experience on the level of the Ducati brand.

Asphalt & Rubber was lucky enough to attend the DRE Enduro back in 2016, and found the DRE Enduro to be one part test ride, one part school, and one part Tuscan vacation.

Now, Ducati is bringing that formula to the United States – the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, to be precise.

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News

Volkswagen Restructuring Plan Gets Union Support, But What Does It Mean for Ducati?

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On Tuesday, the Volkswagen Group struck a major deal with its union-back workforce, which will see the German automotive conglomerate begin a new restructuring plan.

The linchpin for the restructuring plan is a €1 billion commitment to make a new battery factory for future electric vehicle models, which will be located in Lower Saxony.

This is important because Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess has been on a mission to slim down the VW Group, but his workforce, more specifically its labor unions, have been resistant to this change, as it would inevitably mean fewer jobs for its labor force.

Now with a substantial commitment to create jobs in the battery cell production space, VW’s labor unions are more amenable to the idea of trimming VW’s non-core businesses, which has some big implications.

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News

Ducati First Quarter 2019 Sales Up 5% Worldwide

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The 2019 model year is looking good for Ducati, with the Italian brand reporting a 5% sales increase in the first quarter of this year, over the same time period in 2018.

In total, Ducati sold 12,541 motorcycles in Q1 2019, compared to the 11,949 units it moved in Q1 2018, with most segments from the Italian manufacturer showing growth.

That growth was highlighted with strong sales for Hypermotard 950, though it is bookended with the superbike segment, which saw a noticeable drop (13.5%) at the start of this year.

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A&R Pro

A New Bike and More, The Struggles of Chaz Davies

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“I’ve had to pinch myself leaving Imola in the past.” That’s how Chaz Davies sums up his relationship with the Italian circuit and the Ducatisti in a few short words.

Winning four races in a row at an Italian circuit on an Italian bike will make for some great memories. Unfortunately for the Welshman, he hasn’t looked like adding to those memories this season.

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Racing

Ducati Preparing a Naked Ducati Panigale V4 R for Pikes Peak

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Earlier this year we spotted something interesting in the Pikes Peak entry list, as Ducati was listed running a bike in the exhibition class, with Pikes Peak expert Carlin Dunne at its helm.

That Ducati would team up once again with Dunne is not a surprise. The former outright record holder for motorcycles at Pikes Peak, Dunne has brought Ducati victory on every outing of his to the Colorado mountain.

What was interesting in the entry list though was the choice of running in the exhibition class, which would only be done if Dunne & Ducati were electing not to use the Multistrada 1260 platform once again.

Our suspicion was that Ducati intended to use a stripped down version of the Panigale V4 R superbike, or perhaps even a Streetfighter V4 prototype. It would seem that our first guess was correct.

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Bikes

Check Out This Ducati Panigale V4 Tribute Bike for Nicky Hayden

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The retirement of Nicky Hayden’s racing number at the Grand Prix of the Americas wasn’t the only tribute being done for America’s beloved motorcycle racer. This is because on stage at Ducati Island, a special tribute bike was unveiled  that remembers the Italian brand’s history with the Kentucky Kid,

The special Ducati Panigale V4 is the work of the folks at MotoCorsa, and it imagines what Nicky’s Ducati MotoGP race bike would look like in street bike form.

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WSBK

WorldSBK Rev Limit Changed After Aragon – Ducati Panigale V4 R Loses, Honda CBR1000RR Gains

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After Alvaro Bautista’s runaway success since joining the WorldSBK series, winning all six main races and all three Superpole races, mostly by a significant margin, the FIM has made the first move toward balancing out performance.

Starting from the next round at Assen, the Ducati Panigale V4R is to lose 250 revs, while the Honda CBR1000RR, which has struggled badly since the start of the year, is to given an extra 500 revs on the maximum rev limit.

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A&R Pro

Looking at the Ducati Advantage in WorldSBK

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The Ducati Panigale V4 R is the newest bike on the Superbike block, and as you’d expect it is the most advanced bike on the WorldSBK grid. 

The Italian manufacturer has developed a tremendous package over the winter, to immediately vault to the top of the pile in the production based series, and with Alvaro Bautista having been undefeated in the opening two rounds of the championship, he has laid the foundations of a very strong title challenge.

This is a production based series, and Ducati has developed a so-called ‘homologation special.’ While the rest of the grid comprises of heavily developed machinery, the Ducati was developed as a no holds barred, pure bred racing machine.

This is a throwback to a bygone era when the likes of Honda would develop their Superbike machinery with the sole goal of winning the title.

No compromises are made with a homologation special. Other than costing a maximum of €40,000, there is very little that isn’t maximised on the machinery.

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MotoGP

Paddock Pass Podcast #96 – Ducati Aero Swingarm MotoGP Special

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Episode 96 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a special show on the MotoGP’s handling of Ducati’s aerodynamic swingarm appendage, aka “The Spoon” device. 

As such, this means that we see Steve English and David Emmett on the mics, first discussing the issues around the MotoGP rulebook, the appeals process for protesting Ducati’s swingarm, and how the MotoGP Court of Appeal came to its decision.

The show is a fascinating and exhaustive look into the matter, which we think you will find very interesting. Of course, the decision will have big implications for the MotoGP paddock, as we go further into the dark world of aerodynamic development.

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