Desmosedici RR – MotoGP racer for the road

May 23, 2004

Ducati has become the first bikemaker to announce a roadgoing replica of its MotoGP bike. CEO Federico Minoli made perhaps the most momentous announcement of Ducati's history at the Misano Adriatico circuit during the annual World Ducati Week to a raucous crowd of Ducatisti and, via the internet, to the world.

The Ducati Desmosedici RR will not be a true production machine, he said. The bikes will be built one at a time, one a day, in the Ducati Corse race shop at Borgo Panigale, near Bologna and the first delivery is scheduled for the second quarter of 2006.

The motor of the Desmosedici RR will have Ducati's trademark desmodromic valve operation whereby the four valves per cylinder valves are opened and closed by cams; the 989cc V4 motor will have two overhead camshafts per bank, gear-driven for precise valve timing throughout the rev range.

Bore and stroke will be the same as the current GP4 racing version, as will the six-speed cassette gearbox, which will be removeable in one piece without even draining the engine oil, to enable quick changes of individual ratios.

Following current MotoGP practice, the crankcases and cylinder heads will be sand-cast in aluminium alloy, the con-rods will be titanium and the outer casings will be die-cast magnesium.

The frame will be a traditional Ducati trellis in ALS450 alloy steel tubing with the same Ohlins suspension and radial-mount Brembo brakes as the race bikes.

The all-carbon fibre bodywork was designed by Alan Jenkins, who was responsible for both the original 2003 Desmosedici and the current GP4, and will be very similar to the latter – with the addition of lights, mirrors, indicators and a hooter, of course.

Minoli was joined on stage by technical director Gianlugi Mengoli and racing division director Claudio Domenicali, the people driving this extraordinary project. Then MotoGP racers Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi unveiled the first Desmosedici RR motor (there are no complete bikes yet) to roars of approval from the crowd.

Domenical explained the design philosophy underlying the road bike engine.

"When we decided to put the engine into production we tried very hard to replicate as much as possible all the features that are typical of the Desmosedici and the racing dream for MotoGP," he said.

"The engine will be very exclusive. It will feature a lot of the stuff we are developing during this year for the Desmosedici MotoGP."



Dream Ducati

"An important occasion, an historical announcement, yet another dream come true," said Minoli. "The Desmosedici RR is the maximum that Ducati technology has to offer, in line with the tradition embodied by every motorcycle we produce, from race to road bikes.

"We are pleased to face such a challenge," he went on, "which, even if only in a limited number of bikes, will be the dream of all Ducati fans – an exclusive motorcycle that stands for the passion and ingenuity which are at the heart of our company's identity."

He reassured die-hard Ducati fans that the company's signature L-twin layout would continue to form the basis of the marque's identity.

"Naturally, the two-cylinder engine is, and always will be, the Ducati engine par excellence," he promised, "destined to be the hallmark of our products, our past and our future.

"Today we are launching an ambitious, important project," he concluded. "It will be two years before the bike is available but we wanted to share this historic occasion with all of you.

"We look forward to World Ducati Week 2006 when we will deliver the very first Desmosedici RR right here on this very stage at another great Ducati festival, an event we can all share and enjoy together."

# The Desmosedici RR will sell for €55 000 (about R440 000) direct from the factory and priority will be given to orders from current owners of 999R models.