Although most of Ducati’s engine designs generally enjoy a long production span, throughout its history the maker has also introduced engine designs that have only lasted a few years. Some of these were particularly significant, notably the round-case 750 that only lasted three years, before being replaced by a design that was cheaper to manufacture. More recently Ducati introduced the Panigale Superquadro twin, arguably another design that would have been expected to survive longer, only to see this also replaced by a V4 and a more economical V2.

In the early 2010s the 1198 Testastretta was still a significant force in World Superbike, as evidenced by Carlos Checa’s 2011 Championship victory. But by 2012 the Testastretta had reached the limit of Ducati’s traditional evolutionary development. With a lineage lasting twenty-five years, the basic engine architecture traced back to the 500cc Pantah, with many design features going back even earlier. Some, like the vertically split crankcases and ball main bearings, harked back to the 1954 Marianna. It was time for Ducati to replace their traditional process of evolution with one of revolution. The resulting Superquadro (oversquare) engine was all new, only Fabio Taglioni’s 90-degree L-twin configuration and Desmodromic valve control retained from earlier designs.

The Desmosedici RR inspired much of the engine design; the crankcases incorporating the cylinder outer water jacket with individual wet-liners inserted into the crankcase apertures. This design enabled the cylinder heads to be secured directly to the crankcase. Shell main bearings now supported the crankshaft, allowing more rigid larger diameter crank journals. Lubrication was uprated with a MotoGP-style vacuum oil pump that maintained constant vacuum in the crankcase underneath the pistons, controlling the internal crankcase pressure.

Initially an 1199, the bore and stroke of 112 x 60.8mm were the most oversquare of any production motorcycle engine, and allowed for larger, 46.8 and 38.2mm valves. Ducati’s traditional desmodromic system was ideal for the Superquadro’s high rpm and large valves, the mechanical actuation allowing the rocker arms to follow cam lobes with steep profiles and radical valve timing. A ride-by-wire digital throttle, the first for a production Ducati Superbike, controlled the twin injectors per cylinder in new Marelli 67.5mm oval throttle bodies. Also, for the first time on a Ducati Superbike, was a wet oil-bath slipper clutch featuring a self-servo mechanism that compressed the friction plates when under drive from the engine.

Perhaps the most radical new design feature was the replacement of the toothed belt-drive camshaft system, first introduced with the Pantah in 1979. The long duration double overhead camshafts were now operated by a combined chain and gear-drive arrangement. A conventional chain ran from the crankshaft to the cylinder head where a single sprocket positioned between inlet and exhaust camshafts was attached a gear meshing with gears on the ends of both camshafts. This was the first time Ducati had used a chain for the camshaft drive since the ill-fated parallel twin of 1975. An innovative decompression system allowed for a smaller battery and starter motor, despite the monster pistons. The Superquadro set a new standard for a twin, producing 195 horsepower at 10,750rpm, 25 horsepower more than the 1198.

Another significant departure from convention was the chassis, a diecast hollow aluminum monocoque replacing the traditional tubular steel. This chassis was strongly influenced by the MotoGP Desmosedici carbon fiber frameless type first introduced during 2009, and Ducati patented the Panigale type in 2010. Weighing just 4.3kg, and doubling as airbox containing the air filter and throttle bodies, it still utilised the engine as a stressed member. The frame was responsible for half the 10kg weight saving over the 1198. The Superquadro engine was rotated backwards, with the front cylinder now 21 degrees from horizontal. This enabled the engine to be positioned 32mm further forward, improving front/rear weight distribution. Attaching directly to the rear of the engine, the new fully die-cast aluminum single-sided swingarm was 39mm longer than the 1198, increasing the wheelbase to 1437mm and also contributing to the weight distribution of 52/48 percent front and rear. With the engine basically the frame, as in the legendary Vincent twin, the entire package was extremely compact and concentrated.

Weight saving measures extended to the exhaust system relocated below the engine, allowing a lighter aluminum rear sub-frame, and a magnesium front sub-frame supporting the headlamp, instrumentation and fairing. These also had the added bonus of centralizing mass to improve agility. The weight was only 164kg. As the most radical new design to ever emerge from Borgo Panigale, the 1199 had a lot to live up to. It needed to look to the future while maintaining Ducati’s traditional ethos. And the Panigale provided a brilliant solution; tradition was maintained through the 90 degree engine layout with desmodromic valve actuation combined with a radical new approach to engine and chassis architecture.

While the Panigale Superquadro promised much, it generally failed to deliver. The Panigale 1199 grew to 1299 for 2015 and the 1199 continued as Ducati’s spearhead Superbike until the Panigale V4 was introduced for the 2019 season. Between 2012 and 2021 Ducati failed to win the World Superbike Championship, their longest drought in this championship’s history.

Although the Panigale 1199 wasn’t as a successful racer as Ducati hoped, the smaller 955cc Panigale Superquadro V-twin proved exceptional. Introduced in 2016, it won two World Supersport Championships and, in the hands of Josh Herrin, triumphed in four successive Daytona 200 races. Michael Dunlop provided Ducati its first Isle of Man TT victory in thirty years when he won the 2025 Supersport race on a Panigale 955.

This racing success still wasn’t enough to save it from replacement. The Panigale 1299 finished in 2019, and the Panigale 955 in 2025. These were the final Ducati Desmodromic Superbike V-Twins. The new era for Ducati looks like the only desmo will be the Panigale V4, with all other models reverting to valve springs. This exactly as it was in 1974, with the 750 Super Sport “Green Frame” the only desmodromic twin, and the rest of the 750 range with valve springs. The wheel has turned full circle.

Look for my good friend Guy Allen’s Substack at allmoto.substack.com.

All Ducatis are covered in this book

The Complete Book of Ducati Motorcycles 3rd Edition

For Ducati’s great engineer Fabio Taglioni, racing was pivotal to success. He grew up in a world where Italian manufacturers dominated and believed Ducati should emulate the success of Moto Guzzi, Gilera, and MV Agusta. Unfortunately, as a government owned company, Ducati’s management was fluid and often unsupportive. There was no guarantee management was even interested in motorcycles, let alone racing, and a particularly low point was after 1973. As the new general manager Cristiano de Eccher actively discouraged racing, Taglioni and his department decided to develop racing machines unofficially. This they did through a subsidiary, NCR.

NCR was established as a specialist race shop back in 1967 by three factory mechanics: Giorgio Nepoti, Rino Caracchi and Rinaldo Rizzi. They set up in via Signorini 16, close to the factory at Borgo Panigale, but soon Rizzi left and NCR became Nepoti Caracchi Racing. After the success at Montjuich in 1973, Fabio Taglioni was determined to persevere with a racing program. Without managerial support, teaming up with old friends seemed the obvious solution. He wanted to win the 1975 FIM Coupe d’Endurance and, running on a shoestring budget, with machines entered through the NCR banner, he very nearly succeeded.

The NCR endurance racers surprised many pundits by winning the first two events in 1975: Montjuich and Mugello. Without full factory backing the Ducatis struggled throughout the season, Benjamin Grau eventually finishing third the championship. This promising result resulted in an increased endurance effort for 1976 and the NCR machines became more specialised.

In the details, they were pure works of art. Caracchi, the master of the lathe and milling machine, created beautiful components such as the rear brake caliper support. Nepoti was responsible for the other strength of the NCR, which was its crankshaft. With factory support they created spectacular endurance racing machines, which sharing virtually nothing with any production Ducati.

By 1976 Franco Zauibouri had replaced de Eccher as general manager, and brought a more positive attitude towards racing. Thus, in a bid to win the Coupe d’Endurance, he sanctioned the unofficial development of endurance racers. Although entered by NCR, these were still factory racers. The budget increase was immediately apparent in the improved presentation of the machines. Though favoured to win the Coupe d’Endurance this wasn’t to be as the bikes were too fragile, and no one could have predicted the Honda onslaught that year. It was a similar scenario for 1977 and while the line-up of five NCR machines was impressive, they were still no match for the Honda RCB.

Taglioni still wanted to compete in the Coupe d’Endurance and he knew that, in this highly competitive category, the Ducatis would never beat the might of Honda. So he greeted the advent of the Tourist Trophy Formula 1 race for production-based machinery at the Isle of Man with relish. While the engine stroke had to be retained, there were few restrictions regarding engine and chassis modifications. Taglioni reasoned that ,as he could almost run endurance specification machines in TT F1, the 900 NCR would surely be competitive. With the signing of Mike Hailwood for the 1978 F1 TT, Ducati decided to produce a small number of 900 NCR Formula One machines.

Unlike the endurance racers, the Formula 1 900 NCR was a catalogued model. It carried 900 SS engine numbers and featured specially-cast crankcases incorporating a spin-on oil filter. It retained the earlier 750 bevel-drive layout with battery, coil and points ignition. The engine displacement was the same as the production 900 SS (864cc) also with an 80-degree included valve angle and the same 86 x 74.4mm bore and stroke. Engine updates included larger (44 and 38mm) valves, lighter 10:1 Borgo pistons, 12mm lift desmodromic camshafts, and a lightened crankshaft. The F1 900 NCR also featured a close-ratio gearbox, straight cut primary gears with a dry clutch, and Dell’Orto 40mm carburettors. The claimed output was 92 horsepower at 8500rpm.

The chrome molybdenum Daspa frame weighed only 12kg, though the suspension, wheels and brakes were less exotic than on the endurance machines. Cavazzi’s quick release wheel system and milled brake caliper mount was absent, as were the magnesium forks and shock absorbers. The wheels were magnesium Campagnolo, and nice touches included vernier adjustment for the milled foot levers and a one-piece fiberglass tank-seat unit in the traditional NCR colors of red and silver. The dry weight was only 160kg and the claimed top speed was over 250km/h.

Steve Wynne of Sports Motorcycles in Manchester signed Mike Hailwood for the 1978 Formula 1 TT. He received two NCR 900s, one for Hailwood and one for Roger Nicholls. Wynne had the bikes painted in Castrol colours of red, white, and green and Hailwood won the race in a fairytale comeback, cruising home to win at an average speed of 174.63km/h. His fastest lap was 178km/h and it was an astounding victory, along with a vindication of the 900 NCR’s brilliant balance of power. As with Imola in 1972, the Isle of Man success would be pivotal in the racing history of Ducati. It was Ducati’s first World Championship, and Mike Hailwood their first World Champion.

So pleased was Ducati with the 1978 result that it decided to support an official team for the 1979 Formula 1 and Classic TT. TT F1 regulations now required the engine to be based on the standard square-case 900 SS, while the Classic TT racer featured an endurance type engine with special crankcases and dry clutch. The bikes were disappointing and Hailwood could only manage fifth in the TT1 race. As he refused to race the Classic machine, George Fogarty (Carl’s father) rode it.

Although the new 900 NCR Formula 1 machines were the most successful NCR racers, NCR continued to develop endurance machines. While these were spectacularly beautiful, they were unreliable. The final victory for the NCR 900 was in 1980, when Jose Mallol and Alejandro Tejedo led the Barcelona 24-hour race at Montjuich.

By 1981 the emerging Superbike class had overtaken Formula 1 and the bevel-drive twin just was no longer competitive. As some of the most beautiful Ducatis ever created, the 900 NCR remains a testament to the creativity and artistry of the engineers that designed and built it.

Look for my good friend Guy Allen’s Substack at allmoto.substack.com.

All Ducatis are covered in this book

The Complete Book of Ducati Motorcycles 3rd Edition

Over the years Ducati has exemplified the Italian flair for style, exhibiting both the best, and the worst. The best was brilliant, and the worst just made you ask what were they thinking? Ducati isn’t the only Italian company to display this, it is also quite common in the automobile sector, but over the years Ducati seemed to have excelled at creating…

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When the motorcycle stunt rider and dare devil Evil Knievel, champion of all things American, signed his first motorcycle endorsement deal it was with American Eagle. Knievel was famous for jumping line-ups of cars and buses but few of the thousands who turned up to watch Knievel in 1970 were aware he was actually riding an Italian motorcycle.

Knievel wa…

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Although the 1960s was a particularly troubled decade for Ducati, by 1970 the outlook was looking brighter. During 1969 the financial situation became so precarious that the Italian government was asked to supply a direct injection of capital. This resulted in Ducati coming under direct government control as part of the EFIM (Ente Finanzaria per gli Ind…

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Sometimes a motorcycle comes along that sets an engineering and performance benchmark exemplifying an era and, during the 1930s, this was arguably the BMW R5. Circumstances at the time undoubtedly contributed to R5’s supremacy. While the British motorcycle industry struggled to survive during the Great Depression, in Germany the Nazis saw technological …

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If any of Moto Guzzi’s many models have come to symbolise the marque over its 96-year history, it has been the 500cc Falcone. Despite only a few hundred being produced each year, mostly for police use, it is the Falcone that now typifies Moto Guzzi of the 1950s and early 1960s. Produced from 1950 until 1969, the Falcone also had one of the longest produ…

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Every time a factory Desmosedici wins a MotoGP race it continues a tradition that began back in 1955 with the single overhead camshaft Gran Sport, or Marianna. The Gran Sport was the first Ducati designed and built with racing in mind, and its success ensured that racing would become a predominant feature in the company’s history.

Before the Gran Sport, …

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Although I have never bought at one, I am an avid follower of motorcycle auctions around the world. The Mecum Las Vegas auction grows every year and is now bigger and more interesting than ever. Prices continue to be unpredictable, and if you’re on the lookout the quality of some bikes is extraordinary. The super shiny over-restored bikes seem to get th…

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A recent trip to Germany allowed a stopover in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, and a visit to the Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum. Here we were welcomed enthusiastically by curator Sven Heimberger, who eagerly guided us through the special Made in Italy exhibition. He then left us to explore the rest of the incredible permanent display at our leisure.

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The loss of the 2002 World Superbike Championship proved that even a brilliant design like Tamburini’s 916 ‘family’, that went through to the 998, couldn’t stay on top forever. Though a hard act to follow, Terblanche’s replacement 999 took a different route, emphasizing simplicity and ergonomics. Released for 2003 and retaining many of Ducati’s trademar…

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Over Ducati’s history there have been many unfulfilled promises, but none more squandered than the Supermono. Ducati’s tradition was founded on single cylinder motorcycles and, when it was conceived, the Supermono promised to resurrect the concept, forming the foundation of a new family of high technology single cylinder machines. Its champion was Massi…

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When it comes to rarity, charisma, and historical significance, no other motorcycle can match the Hondas six-cylinder. While all the sixes were spectacular, the 297cc RC174 represented the culmination of Honda’s project and was one of the most successful. Only one original RC174 has survived, owned by my friend in Tokyo Terry Murayama. This has to be th…

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I’m often asked what is the most collectable modern Ducati, and without a doubt it is the 2008 Desmosedici RR. Of all recent limited editions and race replicas, the D16 RR comes closest in spirit to replicating the legendary “Green Frame” 750 SS. Both were factory race replicas built in small numbers. There was only one bevel-drive round-case with desmo…

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To many Ducati enthusiasts, the last real Ducatis finished with the Cagiva takeover in 1985. Before this all Ducatis had the stamp of Ing. Taglioni firmly on them and the best were generally unadulterated sporting motorcycles built not to a price, but within a particular philosophical framework. It didn't really matter how much it cost to build them or …

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Considering the Ducati 999 won the World Superbike Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2006 and was still a highly competitive racer, its replacement for 2007 was something of a surprise. But while the 999 was extremely good on the track, its style wasn’t universally accepted, and it was still compared unfavourably to the 916 series. So for 2007 Ducati rele…

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After a buoyant decade of sales and racing success, all Italian motorcycle manufacturers faced difficulties during the 1960s. The advent of affordable cars effectively destroyed the market for basic motorcycle transportation but, as it was government-owned, Ducati was shielded from much of any economic downturn. Many Italian motorcycle companies simply …

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The Argentinean entrepreneur Alejandro De Tomaso bought the ailing Moto Guzzi company at the end of 1972, but his idea was to build re-badged Benellis rather than Moto Guzzi’s traditional V-Twins. Soon after taking control of the company De Tomaso was reported to have strolled through the V7 assembly lines brandishing an engraved Arab sword, exclaiming …

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I first saw a Ducati 500 SL Pantah, one of the early versions, at the Castrol Six-Hour race at Amaroo Park in Sydney, in October 1979. It provided a fresh take on Ducati’s 90-degree V-twin by combining the best features of the existing larger capacity bevel twins and the smaller capacity parallel twins that it replaced. Immediately impressed, I then fol…

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With Ducati heading for their 100th Anniversary in 2026, it’s worth looking back at some of its landmark motorcycles. Although motorcycle production began after World War II, the racing tradition really began in 1955. Every time a Ducati wins a race it continues a ritual established with the single overhead camshaft Gran Sport, or Marianna.

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