DUCATI’S NEW
SUPERLEGGERA’S GOT LEGS
D
ucati has pulled the covers off its most bonkers
V4 to date, the ultra-exclusive Superleggera V4.
Ducati says the Superleggera V4 project
represents company’s greatest achievement thus far
in terms of engineering, performance and design.
After an exclusive preview for some of the company’s
most passionate and loyal customers, Ducati has
officially unveiled its new Superleggera V4, the most
powerful and technologically advanced motorcycle
ever made by the Borgo Panigale manufacturer with
the new Superleggera to be produced in a limited
edition of just 500 individually numbered bikes.
Superleggera V4 makes its debut as the world’s only
street-legal motorcycle with the entire load-bearing
structure of the chassis (frame, subframe, swingarm
and wheels) made from composite material. This means
the Superleggera is a some 6.7 kg lighter compared to
its other V4s thanks to these components alone.
The chassis dimensions have been modified for
optimised track use by increasing the length of the
swingarm. Ducati says this results in better deceleration
power, faster leaning down into corners and sharper
lines riding out of bends.
As you’d expect, the level of performance achieved is
extremely high. Ducati test rider, Alessandro Valia, took
the bike (fitted with the racing kit and slick tires) around
the Mugello circuit in 1:52:45, less than two seconds
from the lap time of the Panigale V4 R SBK, winner of
the 2019 Italian Motorspeed Championship (CIV) with
Michele Pirro.
As you’d expect, Ducati has ensured much of the new
Superleggera’s components are made of carbon fibre,
which have been moulded into advanced aerodynamic
shapes just like the MotoGP machines. These include
the fairing, which ensures a level of aerodynamic
efficiency that matches and exceeds that of current
MotoGP bikes.
Thanks to the ‘biplane’ aerofoils inspired by the 2016
Ducati MotoGP, it can produce downforce of 50kg at
270km/h, 20kg more than that created by the aerofoils
on the Panigale V4 MY20 and V4R. Ducati says this
downforce improves acceleration, by countering the
tendency to wheel-up, and increases braking stability.
The carbon fibre fairings also sport an eye-catching
Desmosedici GP19-inspired livery that juxtaposes the
red of the GP19 with a naked carbon that emphasises
shapes, materials and technical details.
Beneath the carbon skin is, of course, Ducati’s
Desmosedici Stradale R engine, which has been
tickled to be lighter and more powerful than ever.
The 998cc 90° V4 that powers the Superleggera
V4 weighs, in fact, 2.8 kg less than the 1103cc V4.
Thanks to a special Akrapovič exhaust, it delivers
no less than 224hp in road-legal configuration (EU
homologation figures). That figure rises to a rather
racy 234hp when fitted with the track-use titanium
Akrapovič exhaust, which is included in the Racing
Kit supplied with the bike.
The Superleggera V4 also sports a special engine
calibration for the racing exhaust giving riders
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