DUCaTI 899 Panigale

No sooner had the Panigale arrived in my possession, than I had got my eyes on its fi rst track outing. Well, can you blame me, it’s a sports bike, the race track is where they belong. That said, my fi rst ride out that I spoke about last month reminded me just how much fun these can be on the road. The power is just about right for an, erm, enthusiastic ride; enough to entertain but not to eclipse. In other words, you’ll end up doing naughty speeds, but not without deliberately trying to get there. And that’s fi ne by me.

The fi rst track endeavour for the 899 was racing a BMW S1000RR around Mallory Park; you’ll fi nd it in this issue. It was a tall order for the mid-sized Duke, I won’t give away the results, for those who read the mag in a funny order, but check it out, it was a corking day. A part of me came away from Mallory wanting to stick Super-tacky trackday tyres on the Ducati, but the next ride on the road convinced me to stick with the Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsas for a few more miles. It may be a sports bike, but I don’t want to have random early morning rides spoilt by tyres that don’t work until they’re hot. So there.

There was of course another reason for my desperation to get out on track, a reason that’s also in this issue the Ducati 899 Cup race at Oulton. One trackday at Mallory Park certainly didn’t make me a Panigale expert, but it was nice to get a little head start on how to ride these things. Even if the race bike did have different suspension and more power. Speaking of power, I’ve had a trip to the dyno room as well, courtesy of our good mates down at Steve Jordan Motorcycles in Surrey. 127bhp might not sound amazing and there will be those who point accusingly at the brochure claims of 148bhp. 20bhp is a lot to lose between advertising and reality, but don’t forget that the quoted power is often measured at the crankshaft. By the time those horses have worked their way through the clutch, gearbox, chain and rear tyre, you can expect to see a loss of about ten percent. That puts the fi gure at 133.2bhp, which isn’t so far away from the 127bhp we saw. And you can bet your last K&N Filter kit that the engine Ducati based their claims on was as near to a perfect motor as possible...

So what’s next for the Panny? Well, get a few more road miles in once this rain stops – Steve Jordan kindly dialed some track settings into it that worked a treat at Mallory after the test, but I’m keen to see if there’s any effect on the road. Besides, all the time I’m out, John can’t come knocking for the keys…