Aerodynamics

• EVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGY: At Ducati we started doing research and development in motorcycle aerodynamics before anyone else in the world. We were the first ones to introduce aerodynamic innovations in the world’s top motorcycle competition. This is a fact. The development of aerodynamic methodologies is inevitably linked to Ducati Corse and therefore to the design of unique racing prototypes. A context where every thousandth of a second can make the difference and where the bar for excellence is very high. From season to season the projects change and evolve, but some milestones remain. Ducati has always had the best performing engines in the racing world, it’s nothing new. But when you’re dealing with such power jewels, getting the power to the ground properly is all. And here aerodynamics does an important job. True innovation does not complicate: it simplifies. The work done with the application of this aeropackage on the Superleggera V4 makes the bike easier to ride. It fully values all the power of the vehicle, not making the full intervention of electronic systems necessary to reduce the power supplied. The vertical load on the front makes the acceleration less complex to handle. The throttle can be opened earlier and the bike remains glued to the ground. For example, we found during the tests at Mugello that at the end of the last corner, thanks to aerodynamics alone, we managed to gain an 8 m lead on the straight. 8 m are many. It is part of the Ducati DNA to always look for new ways and find side solutions that are innovative and unexpected. This unpredictability of innovation is an important part of our character, of our identity, which while continuing to evolve remains unmistakably Ducati.

Components

• DREAM MOLECULES: Materials research has always been an obsession for Ducati. If we think of our founding values, style, sophistication and performance, we find them all in this innovative research activity. The precious materials we work with, especially titanium, magnesium and carbon fibre, are the backbone of the vehicle’s dynamics and at the same time give our racing bikes that unmistakable Ducati look. The Superleggera V4 takes this extreme approach, which we inherit from our daily activity in the world of GP and SBK competitions, to a completely new, even more complex level. Although extreme in fact, the world of competitions has a limited duration in time. Ducati research is best expressed in exasperating the characteristics of the materials, calculating in advance the number of cycles and the type of mechanical stress to which they will be subjected. Each component is studied with techniques and technologies in which art, craftsmanship and industry meet. We follow a testing process usually applied in aeronautics, each component passes thermographic, ultrasound and even tomographic checks. We do a CT scan of each piece to verify the internal structure as well as the external one. The balance achieved is really of the highest level, even in the combination of different types of carbon in the frame, in which chemical compatibility was also sought, between resins and materials. Experimental research is not an end in itself, it is an aspirational statement for the whole company. And it is the activity with which Ducati constantly strives to raise the bar for itself and for the world of motorcycling.

Concept

• SHAPING LIGHTNESS INTO SPEED EMOTIONS: Superleggera V4 is a project that can only be realized in Borgo Panigale, Bologna, at Ducati Motor Holding. It is a project where excellence, engineering and dream come together in a direction as ambitious as it is performative. It is a project that is so ethereal yet so concrete, made of matter, sound, futuristic technologies, speed and intense emotions. Superleggera V4 is a project in which the dreamy aspect is fundamental. Because the brief is to create a bike that can establish a new engineering peak. This high goal motivated the Ducati staff to do their utmost to think and implement a new development process that has proven to be closer to aeronautics than motorcycling. All calculation methods for component testing come from Ducati Corse. But the Corse team does not guarantee the components for the life of the bike, only for a few races or at least a season. With the Superleggera V4 we use the same technologies and materials that are used for prototypes, but we guarantee the reliability of a motorcycle in series. As in aeronautics, we develop an impressive number of virtual simulations, we subject the components to thermographies, tomographies and ultrasound checks. We want each of the 500 models produced to be perfect. Real dreams are anything but inconsistent. From dreams, ideas are generated, ideas become projects, projects become prototypes and prototypes become results and emotions. We must never underestimate dreams. The history of Ducati, as well as its present, show that dreams are the fundamental inspiration behind every project. Without a vision, even utopian, it is not possible to evolve. An investment in research and development that is really important for us, especially if we consider that it focuses on just 500 limited edition models. The Superleggera V4 is an extremely Ducati project, in which we progressively engineer each unknown, cross feasibility barriers and shape lightness into the total emotion of speed.

Design

• ENGINEERING ESTHETICS: Ducati is the only motorcycle brand that has ever won two times the Red Dot Award and the prestigious Compasso d’Oro. We are design maniacs and designing a Ducati is not like drawing any other bike. There are essential characters that belong only to us. Projects like Monster, 916, Diavel and Panigale each represent a milestone in the history of design for their category. The Ducati design philosophy is built by subtraction, recognizing the purest style in the in-depth research of essential shapes. Even the aesthetics of color is built with respect for the nature of the elements. And in the Superleggera V4 it is possible to distinguish with the Ducati Red the original color of the precious materials that compose it: the different types of carbon, titanium, aluminum. The Superleggera V4 project is the most advanced bike that Ducati has ever put into production. Each screw, each component, is weighed and controlled to allow the best weight / power ratio. And the aesthetic details are no exception, for which the usual stylistic licenses cannot obviously be taken. It is customary for Ducati to dress its most exclusive designs with a livery inspired by the MotoGP of the year in which the design begins. And on the Superleggera V4 there was no exception. The visible carbon alternates with solid white and red lines that aim to enhance the noble fairing material. Aerodynamics is the most important evolutionary element of this Superleggera V4 on which it was important to measure the intervention as a designer. It was a visual starting point on which to elaborate all the aesthetic details of the bike.

Engine

• LIGHTWEIGHT POWER: The engine design is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive features of Ducati. A field in which the desmodromic timing system has become a signature feature. Developing the engine for project Superleggera V4 means making the most sophisticated Ducati engine ever made. Piece by piece, working on every single component to make it as light as possible. Finding space for innovation in every detail. Enthusiasm is followed by the expertise of technical engineering development. Much like every other aspect of project Superleggera V4, engine development left no room for chance. A complete analysis of each micro engine component is carried out to understand the evolutionary opportunities, test new materials and new geometries. The idea is to open to futuristic research in order to make something unprecedented. The choice of materials is the first step, but a meticulous work on the geometries is also required, which develops in two different directions: the first to check that new materials do not present application difficulties, the second to improve and lighten the existing components. The development work of this engine adds unique features also to the driving feel. Both for the lightening in the changes of direction, but above all for the increase of the reactivity that is generated by intervening on the inertia of the flywheel components. Ducati engineering skills are 100% exploited in every step, to create an engine that has its own specific character. Each engine component has been brought to the limit. The complexity of the processes is much higher. As a consequence, all checks and simulations must show to be up to this, to add a craft approach while ensuring industrial reliability. Enrico’s team submits the project to FEM hours and structural simulation. For the Superleggera V4 engine, Ducati performs an extremization process similar to what is done by Ducati Corse for racing engines, but with safety coefficients adequate to a type-approval product. Being tasked with accomplishing excellence allows Ducati to grow individually and as part of a group; indeed, the discarded ideas push the whole team to looking for new, experimental technology innovations. It is a search towards new performance boundaries that lays the foundations for the future, generating a truly exclusive engine-hearted-creature.

Mechanics

• THE MECHANICS OF DESIRE: The new Superleggera V4 is a mechanical masterpiece that awakens the deepest desires of every motorcycling enthusiast. The beginning of the journey. We introduce you to the Superleggera V4 rolling chassis. A mechanical masterpiece that triggers the deepest desires of every motorbike lover. Superleggera V4 is the precious result of a team effort of Ducati engineers specialised on advanced materials, vehicles dynamics, engine development and aerodynamics research. Each member of the team works to the maximum of his possibilities to express his talent in a unique product, in which aeronautical technologies meet the iconic balance of Italian design. A mechanical work of art, an engineering sculpture.

Performance

• SPEED EMOTION: Ducati Superleggera V4 is the best that contemporary motorcycle engineering can express. It is the dream that comes true. The result of the most innovative research on materials dynamics and engineering. A search that reaches its fulfillment when the bike is brought to the track and tested by the pilot who can finally feel the most intense emotions. The collaboration of Ducati designers with Alessandro Valia, official Ducati pilot and tester, translates into extraordinary sensations. The work of dynamics and re-design of the components creates a balance of chassis never realized before. The extremely high complexity of the technological equipment is geared towards simplifying riding. Agility is also enhanced by total stability. Thanks to the work done on aerodynamics, the vertical load given by the wing appendixes glues the bike to the ground, allowing a less incisive intervention of the traction control on the delivery. The vertical load helps to improve the feeling of security, a feeling that helps the driver to be repeatable, to express the maximum according to the ‘Performance Redefined’ approach, totally Ducati. More than fifteen track sessions dedicated to the development of this bike have been organized. At each session different mappings were tested, to refine the calibration of dynamics and engine to the point that it was practically impossible to improve it.