So, while racing this weekend... this happened.

Hope the rider is OK!

"have any of the ti R rods been documented as failing like this ¿ ¿ ¿"

I'd love to know as well.

My R has over 10,000 miles--7500 road and 2500 track--and no problems thus far.

Steve

Are the race bikes being discussed the R motor or the regular one? I seem to recall that Kope was warning people who were racing the base/S motors a long time ago that this was a problem.

It would be good to know if a rod bolt broke, or the rod itself failed, the biggest killer of rods is detonation, second is oiling problems. In my experience if it broke up near the wrist pin (small end) you are detonating and you will see it on your piston. I find it hard to believe Ducati would build an engine with sub standard rods,or rod bolts, I keep reading about this problem though. I would love to see some close ups shots of the rod, crank journal , top of the piston and combustion chamber.
You can't go wrong with a Carillo rod, they use the finest bolts, and materiel available.
I hate when that happens, falling down in your own oil is insult added to injury.

.... second motor this months. Who is next?

esmirna8261980 said:

.... second motor this months. Who is next?

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Do not ask for whom the bell tolls...

First of all I'm really sorry for your buddy's woes...that just plain sucks. I have an R with 2000 Track miles on it, so far so good, but it could be a matter of time. I hope to make 5000 miles and then I'm just going to rebuild the engine for peace of mind, (also I'm hoping that ducati makes a SL kit I can drop into my R).

Well it's riding season so I expect to see this happen more now then in January. I have seen one guy blow 2 engines in a S1000rr in one month.

If you want legendary reliability, cheap on parts get a CBR, or a KTM....my RC8R took a pounding that a $5 whore would have objected to...lol.

What Ducati should do is have some kind of plan in place where, if you are racing the bike at any level you can go to an authorized dealer and get a rebuild at a discount, parts and/or labor. I think that would put people at ease a bit.

Thamer said:

First of all I'm really sorry for your buddy's woes...that just plain sucks. I have an R with 2000 Track miles on it, so far so good, but it could be a matter of time. I hope to make 5000 miles and then I'm just going to rebuild the engine for peace of mind, (also I'm hoping that ducati makes a SL kit I can drop into my R).

Well it's riding season so I expect to see this happen more now then in January. I have seen one guy blow 2 engines in a S1000rr in one month.

If you want legendary reliability, cheap on parts get a CBR, or a KTM....my RC8R took a pounding that a $5 whore would have objected to...lol.

What Ducati should do is have some kind of plan in place where, if you are racing the bike at any level you can go to an authorized dealer and get a rebuild at a discount, parts and/or labor. I think that would put people at ease a bit.

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Thamer, I'm with you. I have about 3k of track miles on my bike and I'm hoping I can make it thru a few more track days and all of next season. then I'm rebuilding it and getting the Ben fox treatment.

Macke said:

Track- or racebike, doesn't matter really...

It's hard to roll up to a dealer with a bike with race fairings, race suspension, race exhaust, race ECU, datalogger, safety wired bolts, race clipons, race rearsets, inverted shift pattern, aftermarket QS, tank foam, slicks, modified drivetrain, etc. And say it's never seen the track...

Think any warranty claim is off the table...

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Good point

Anyone racing their bike should have replaced the rods before your season starts .
Get some off the shelf Carillo this is the easy fix . Similar in weight to the OEM rods so no need to balance the crank just a straight swap quite a few have been done here .
The rods are the Panigale's weak spot we are also seeing oil pumps fail as well .
The up side is with a few improvements the engines are internally looking great I have seen one with 9000 race km .

Ljuice26 said:

Heavier than Pankl. The Pankl's are TI. The Carrillos are aluminum.

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Carrillo's are Cr Moly Steel alloy not Aluminum

Thamer said:

What Ducati should do is have some kind of plan in place where, if you are racing the bike at any level you can go to an authorized dealer and get a rebuild at a discount, parts and/or labor. I think that would put people at ease a bit.

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That's a great idea.
However the logistics of getting the right people to actually do the rebuild would be an impossibility.
Such an initiative could only be controlled at one facility.

Perhaps one dealer in each country could take on the task.
That way quality issues will be mitigated, and the tech/techs responsible could almost be doing the work exclusively in a dedicated section of the workshop.
That's assuming there is going to be enough potential turnover

There could also be a good number of spin off benefits for the participating dealer.

Alternatively, I think it could be best achieved by being orchestrated and coordinated directly out of Bolognia through a separate division that's purposely set up for the program.
One could have the option of purchasing an engine direct out of Bolognia that's tailored to a price point.
It could be like buying an exchange/remanufactured engine built to a stage I,II, or III spec straight off the rack that's already run in on an engine dyno.
No warranty of course.

It would dramatically help DUCATI with product development in terms of improving durability, by having a central point for race/performance engine remanufacturing (so to speak).
And run properly, it could well be profitable for them.

wilkson said:

Anyone racing their bike should have replaced the rods before your season starts .
Get some off the shelf Carillo this is the easy fix . Similar in weight to the OEM rods so no need to balance the crank just a straight swap quite a few have been done here .
The rods are the Panigale's weak spot we are also seeing oil pumps fail as well .
The up side is with a few improvements the engines are internally looking great I have seen one with 9000 race km .

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This plus a million. Doesn't matter what bike it is really. I know there are some exceptions to the rule (749r and 999r motors were known to go a long time), but anything after a full season and you are starting to press your luck if you are running a decent pace.

Hell, if you have an R6, you might not even make it the full season.

I think all the manufactures by now have sure ways to tell if a bike was ever tracked. As I said, they paid particular attention to my tires on my clutch claim, and paid it.