Part 1
The new king of production superbikes
For the launch of the new 1199 Panigale R, its ultimate street-legal superbike, Ducati staged the first-ever motorcycle press event at Circuit of The Americas near Austin, Texas. That meant I'd be following in the actual tire tracks laid down by the likes of Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez less than a week earlier at a MotoGP test. And while CoTA is a world-class facility, it's the new Panigale R that I won't soon forget.
Ducati's previous limited-edition superbikes (888, 996 R, 998 R, 999 R, 1098 R and 1198 R) don't hold a candle to the new 1199 R. Beyond the carbon-fiber bits, fancy aluminum gas tank and forged Marchesini wheels of the R, numerous other performance upgrades make this bike worthy of its steep $29,995 sticker price. At the top of the list are the Superquadro engine's titanium connecting rods and lightweight flywheel, which are a combined 2.9 pounds lighter than those used in the standard and S models. This lets the engine rev quicker and allows the limiter to be raised 500 rpm, to 12,000.
Those extra revs allow a similar top speed to the standard/S models, even though the R has two extra teeth out back for 15/41 final gearing. Moreover, Ducati has shifted the torque down a bit for improved high-speed acceleration. At 125 mph in sixth gear, there is 18 percent more available torque, according to provided dyno charts. Peak horsepower is rated at 195 at 10,750 rpm, with 97.3 foot-pounds of peak torque at 9000 (same as standard/S). Ducati says the only factor limiting top speed is gearing. There is no electronic governor to keep it from exceeding the 186-mph limit agreed upon by motorcycle manufacturers more than a decade ago.
Although I never got a strong-enough drive onto the 3/4-mile-long back straight to hit the rev limiter in sixth gear, special guest and factory Ducati MotoGP racer Nicky Hayden said he was seeing the shift lights just start to flicker before he braked for Turn 12. Interestingly, the speedometer goes blank once you exceed 185 mph, a speed I repeatedly failed to reach by just a few mph. For what it's worth, Hayden said the R was still pulling well after the speedo went dark. This may be the fastest stock production motorcycle currently made (due to its lack of a limiter).
CoTA's six hairpin turns allowed ample opportunity to experience the R's raw acceleration. All of those bends could be taken in second gear, and the drive off the apexes felt particularly lively in Race mode (the other power-delivery modes are Sport and Wet). The revised engine (with updated mapping) eagerly snatches up revs, while the eight-stage traction control allows the bike to wheelie a bit before taming lift in the quest for maximum drive. Hayden and new Ducati recruit Ben Spies, both on hand for the introduction, were impressed with the sophistication of Ducati's production-level electronics package. In particular, they liked the TC and how difficult it was to detect—testament to its effectiveness.
With speed comes the need to shed it, and Brembo's M50 monoblock, radial-mount front calipers with three-level Bosch ABS provided awesome stopping power despite occasionally inconsistent lever travel. If the ABS was cycling, I wasn't aware of it. The steep uphill approach into Turn 1 allowed me to carry fifth gear far deeper than possible if it were flat.
The R also has significant chassis upgrades. Track-day riders and Superstock racers will appreciate the adjustable swingarm pivot, which can be set in four positions: 0 (same as standard/S models), +2, −2 and −4mm. The highest position is intended to increase steering agility by decreasing squat, while the two lower positions increase squat and improve traction for low-grip riding conditions but at the expense of quicker handling. At CoTA, the pivot was set at 0 (its most neutral setting), providing a good compromise between stability and quick turn-in for the hairpins.
I was impressed by the Panigale R's track manners. This bike likes to be leaned over on the side of its excellent Pirelli Supercorsa SC tires, and it can be aggressively trail-braked all the way to the apex of the turn. In addition to the hairpins, CoTA has ultra-fast esses and some long, blind corners that require accurate entries and good chassis balance through the apex. The 1199 R delivered in every situation. Ducati's test riders had set up the Ohlins/Ducati Electronic Suspension (DES), and despite the ease of making adjustments on the Thin Film Transistor liquid-crystal display, I never touched a thing. Other benefits were the bike's incredibly light feel (claimed dry weight is 364 pounds) and responsive steering, the latter aided by the R's lightweight 17-in. wheels, which are forged and have a three-spoke design.
Everything about the new 1199 R is designed for going fast, right down to the aerodynamic upgrades. A taller racing windscreen, combined with the upper fairing aero kit (winglets that help provide more wind protection), create an incredibly calm cockpit, even at speeds higher than 180 mph. For track use, machined-aluminum caps replace the mirrors to provide a clean appearance and, more importantly, reduce drag.
Our biggest complaint about previous Panigales has been excessive heat from the rear exhaust header cooking the back of our legs and butt, even on days that were only moderately warm. A new carbon-fiber heat shield addresses this, and although I was not able to check its effectiveness at street speed, the shield did seem to reduce the amount of heat reaching the rider.
Other standard features on the 1199 Panigale R include the GPS-enabled Ducati Data Analyzer, which offers downloadable track data (including a GPS trace of the track and measurements of rider inputs such as throttle position), Ducati Quick-Shift, Engine Brake Control and a wonderful-sounding Termignoni race exhaust.
) with some famous riders riding them at age 51 now! Spencer is one of them! The 888 SP4S is there as well:
