It is no surprise that Ducati will be soon taking wraps off its new four-cylinder superbike, but the bigger question is what led Ducati to move away from its traditional L-twin engine configuration and adopt a V4? The company would ideally want to do well in WSBK along with Moto GP as well. Currently, the Ducatis are perhaps the most powerful bikes among the MotoGP crop. And with that intent, Ducati would also want to use its new V4 engine in a road-going bike. So, in essence, the upcoming V4 sportbike will see a lot of track and race spec elements in it rather than being the other way round. The new V4 superbike will have its origins in the Desmodedici V4 engine that is currently being used in the Ducati MotoGP bikes.
(Ducati V4 superbike spotted testing - Pic Courtesy: Motorcyclenews.com)The current gen 1,198 cc Panigale makes approximately 193 bhp on the road going bike and around 215+ bhp for the race-spec bike. The pistons on the Panigale R's superquadro (112 mm for race-spec and 116 mm for road-spec) are already at its absolute limits for doling out sheer power. The quest for even more power can only be met by increasing the number of cylinders and with Ducati's superior technical know-how, a V4 configuration was the next step in progression.
(Ducati V4 superbike spotted testing)This means that the V4 sportbike in its road-going version should make around 210 bhp and the race-spec motor will make over 230 bhp, which is enough power to pull the earth away from its orbit. Reports suggest that Ducati will be having two engine variants, the 1,198 cc and the 1,285 cc motors. There will be three motorcycle variants in total, which will be the base, S and the R models.
(Ducati V4 superbike spotted testing - Pic Courtesy: Motorcyclenews.com)Some reports also suggest that the new V4 superbike will be having a twin-sided swingarm solely because the amount of power will be too much for a single-sided swingarm to handle. This is in complete contradiction to the pictures of Ducati's V4 test mules, all of which sport a single-sided swingarm. Also, the race-spec bikes have a conventional swingarm for better torsional rigidity and flexibility for increasing/decreasing the wheelbase. Moreover, making a single-sided swingarm which will be able to cope with 220+ bhp will be rather tough ask too.
Ducati might showcase the new V4 superbike at this year's EICMA Motorcycle Show in Milan. The V4 superbike is expected to be race-ready and race in the WSBK by 2019.
