Astonishing | The most powerful series Ducati ever made
The Italian manufacturer is well known for its extravagant superbikes, but now things are getting over the roof with the new Ducati Panigale V4R. Somehow the engineers in Bologna managed to get more power out of a litre V4 engine. The new V4R will produce around 221hp while remaining a street legal Euro 4 machine. Now that is more than everybody could wish for.
We all know that Ducati played with the numbers to make their V2 competitive, but regulations made the company approach things a bit different, and finally coming up with a new 1.1-litre V4 engine last year. Close, but no cigar. To make things even in the world series the company decided to downgrade the engine a bit to a more lickely number like 998cc. This way Ducati keeps everybody happy and the folks at WSBK.
The iconic feature of the new superbike is a set of carbon fibre wings sticked to the front fairing. Ducati claims its all about aerodynamics, so they’ve fitted the new V4R with a set of winglets and a redesigned fairing that takes care of the air flow. This new feature will help the bike increase the air flow by 16% meaning at speeds of around 200 km/hour the front end gains an extra 30kgs to keep the front wheel stick to the asphalt. The system is not new as Ducati was the first to bring it to Grand Prix racing in 2010. Back in 2016, the MotoGP race bikes were fitted with winglets that looked almost like the ones on the V4R.
The V4R is all about performance. Everything on this machine screams power. The weight figure tips in at around 172kg and the power to weight numbers go to an astonishing 1,42hp/kg. The engine is made out the best materials with numerous titanium parts and a lighter crankshaft. If you chose to take the new V4R racing, you can get rid of the extra weight that comes with the mirrors and license plate holder, and swap the exhaust with a racing unit, and you will get around 234hp to play with.
The suspension system is provided by Ohlins while the brakes are top notch Brembo units. The electronics come with all the boxes ticked while adding up some racing features like a lap timer and GPS connection for the rider to improve lap times.
The new Panigale V4R will be available in Ducati dealerships starting with the beginning of 2019. We don’t have any information about the price yet, but we will come back with extra info as soon as possible.
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