Ducati’s new Panigale V4 R rated after high-speed track test
Ducati’s WSB racer is easy to ride but life gets difficult when you push on
Never has the gap between a Ducati R-model superbike and its siblings been so wide. The new £34,995 Panigale V4 R feels nothing like a road bike when you take it on track. It accelerates so brutally, turns so fast and pummels your body with so much force it makes the 1103cc Panigale V4 S (MCN’s sportsbike of 2018) feel like a soft, fluffy touring bike. Ducati are desperate for WSB glory after the old V-twin Panigale failed to win a world superbike championship. With rules now tied more closely to showroom models, the new V4 R’s aim was simple: make the road bike as race-ready as possible. Mission accomplished.
Ready-made racer
The Panigale V4 and V4 S’s 1103cc Stradale engine is based on Dovi’s 2014 Desmosedici, smoothed and polished for the road. By shrinking it to 998cc for the V4 R and cramming the new Stradale R motor with racier internals, giving it a heady 16,000rpm redline (and 16,5000rpm in top), they’ve made it more of a MotoGP engine, which should make rivals afraid... very afraid! Ducati test rider Alessandro Valia joined the WSB winter tests at Jerez on the V4 R, a few days before this world launch, and recorded a 1m 44s lap. That’s just four seconds off what Chaz Davies and Alvaro Bautista managed on their factory V4 Rs, despite having to carry lights, horn and indicators. Davies reckons Valia could’ve found another second with fresh rubber and suspension tweaks. That’s not marketing spin: check the WSB timing sheets.
So what you’re looking at here is a light, stiff and immensely powerful racing machine with wings. It makes 218bhp and weighs 171kg in standard trim; 231bhp and 165.5kg with the optional £4270 Akrapovic race exhaust fitted.
Jekyll and Hyde
For a bike with such searing performance it’s easy to ride, to a point. Throttles don’t come smoother, electronics safer or grip as grippy. It’s more agile than the V4 1100 and infinitely more stable on the throttle, where there’s less instant torque trying to turn the chassis and rear tyre inside out. You could easily ride it to the shops.
On the other hand it’s a challenge to ride very fast. It’ll show the 1100 a clean pair of heels on track, but the V4 R is so stiff, small and powerful, it’s a struggle to hang on. Trying to harness the full force of braking, acceleration and cornering quickly saps your strength. We’ve come to a point where a road bike is such a thinly disguised racer only a pro can begin to taste its fruits. Most superbikes flatter to deceive, but the Ducati quickly shows you it’s far better than you.
While the long-stroke 1100 is packed with torque so you can choose not to trouble its redline, the V4 R, however, loves to rev. Winding it to 13,000rpm, results in face-peeling acceleration, but there’s still 3000rpm to go. Rev it more and the razor bladegargling engine note becomes shriller and more gravelly. Scorching along the straights, feeding gears in as fast as you can, with electronically assisted ease, the V4 R delivers factory superbike-grade acceleration. A finger full of electronically assisted front Brembo and a stamp on the rear sends the world tumbling into reverse. The combination of electronic engine braking control and back-slipping dry clutch lets you bang down through clutchless gears with neither a hop or a skip from the rear, as you carve serenely towards the apex.
It’s all in the detail
Like all the best homologation superbike specials (the V4 R isn’t a limited edition) the parts that separate it from the road bike is an anorak’s dream.
Look closely and you’ll notice the bodywork is more MotoGPangular and aggressive than