Performance Bikes — March 2018

MARCH 2018|PERFORMANCEBIKES.CO.UK 25

DUCATI PANIGALE V4

drive gives you more opportunity to

hang on to a gear or short-shift to ease

your progress through a complex of

corners, and unlike a screaming inline

four it digs the new, third-gen

Supercorsa SP (with a unique 200/60

rear)unlessyoucombinetwoormore

of the following conditions with some

force: off-camber/low gear/big

throttle/big lean.

IfyoudogetPirelli’slatestwork

moving,you’lldiscoverthesensitive

response and control of Ducati’s latest

rider aids. The twins had a good

system,butonceagaintheviolent,

instantaneous response often made

themworktoohard.TheV4iskinderto

thesix-axisIMU-basedsystem,and

more sophisticated black boxes

enhance the digital experience further.

The penultimate turn is a fourth-

gear, knee-down downhill effort with a

camber that drops away, too, and

you’re right in the 9000-12,000rpm

peaktorquezone.It’sgoingtoletgoa

bitifyou’retrying.WithDTConthree,

it’s letting it slide up to five degrees,

stopping it laying more grunt that

would see it getting broadside, but

lettingithaveenoughtokeepdriving.

Backitdowntotwo,andit’sasifyou

can feel the rubber getting a toehold on

every grain in the surface. It’s drifting

slightly, and while the rest of the IMU

crowddothat,theV4standsoutfor

also allowing it to lay down positive

drive – spinning, but in a finely

balanced way that still pushes it

forward, and doesn’t send you

skyward.Thereisalsoaminimumlevel

keeping a bare minimum of control to

allow gods among men to use oversteer

asatooltogofaster.

the lap, briefly feeding in hits of
instantaneous grunt and then having
you arms savaged by the Brembo
Stylema calipers.
But the Pani V4 is compensating for
my lack of track knowledge and the
rhythm that comes with it by offering
huge reserves of feel, agility and
capability. Botched entries, missed
apexes and incorrect gear choices are
soaked up, and it takes every corrective
action without fuss. Try that on a Pani
V2 and the 112mm pistons would be
struggling with combustion efficiency,
slapping in their cavernous bores and
upsetting the bike while you fought to
put it right.
The track is coming to me, though,
and as soon as I’m confident in where I
need to be, I start to move away from its
forgiving qualities and tap into the
potency of a bike taking more than a
little from one of the most advanced
bikes on the MotoGP grid.
Oddly, it’s not reminiscent of any
other V4 as an experience. The
‘twin-pulse’ firing order mimics the
tyre-friendly delivery of a twin, and in

themidrangeit’slikea1299intermsof

soundandfeel.Butwhereyou’dgetto

10,000rpm on the twin and change, the

V4stopswiththeretrotunes,andit

turns to a MotoGP V4 howl – albeit a

muted one. The V4 is the first Ducati

flagship designed purposely for Euro 4,

andbetweenanaturallymore

balanced,smoothenginethatis

inherently less noisy, and a silencer

Tiny V4 somehow

makes un-tiny

editor comfortable

1 TTX36 shock,

adjustedon the

fly electronically.

Ride and grip is

superb

2 70mm longer

than the 1299 for

more grip, and

fewer wheelies.

No heavier,

though

1

2

‘The spread of useable,

effective drive lets you hang

on to a gear or short-shift’

keeping noise and emissions adherent

to the latest environmental edicts, it

has lost some of the booming presence

of the 1299. No bad thing: I’m confident

it’ll get through trackday noise tests

without having to make puppy-dog

eyes at the noise tester as the 1299’s

exhaust and mechanical cacophony

demanded.

This spread of useable, effective

2018

NE W BIK ES

TESTED