Even though its official unveiling is slated for July 7, 2017, at the Laguna Seca round of the World Super Bike (WSB) championship, details and specifications of Ducati’s ‘last hurrah’ Panigale have already leaked out. The leak happened thanks to the new bike’s emissions documents being out in the public as well as a Ducati dealer from the UK listing the specs on their website.
First things first: the name. This bike will be called the ‘Panigale 1299 R Final Edition’, which clearly points to the fact that the bike runs the 1,285cc L-twin motor from the Panigale 1299 road bike, and not the 1,198cc L-twin from the homologation-special Panigale R. This also means that the ‘R’ in the Final Edition’s name is a bit deceptive as it won’t be handling racing duties for Ducati in championships such as WSB on account of the engine capacity being too high for homologation.
In fact, the Final Edition’s motor is actually derived from the feather-weight 1299 Superleggera. The key differences between the engine of the Superleggera’s and Final Edition’s engine are that the latter runs steel cylinder liners, steel fasteners and a die cast crank case. Peak power for this Final Edition is a whopping 209.5hp at 11,000rpm while peak torque is rated at 141.95Nm at 9,000rpm. These figures are slightly lower than those from the Superleggera, but that is mostly just down to the fact that an engine dynamometer was used to measure the Final Edition’s power, while a chassis dynamometer was used for the Superleggera.
The Panigale 1299 R Final Edition tips the scales with a kerb weight of 190kg, which is about 12kg more than the Superleggera. But it’s pretty much exactly the same as the Panigale 1299 and the 1299S. But with that extra power and torque on tap, performance is sure to be more exhilarating.
The emissions documents have also revealed that the Final Edition runs a lot cleaner as compared to the 2017 Panigale 1299. Its CO and combined HC+NOx emissions are now 0.4g/km and 0.08g/km, respectively, down from 5.9g/km and 0.32g/km for the same gases on the 2017 bike. While these are American specifications, it seems, just like the Superleggera and unlike the regular 1299 Panigale, 1299 Panigale S and Panigale R, this Final Edition is finally Euro 4 compliant.
Ducati’s new V4 superbike is undergoing testing right now and is slated to be launched as a 2018 model. However, it’s highly likely that the new V4 bike won’t carry the Panigale name. So, for those who want to get their hands on the last of the big Panigales, this Final Edition will cost GBP 34,995 in the UK (approx. Rs 29.33 lakh) – that’s nearly double of what the standard 1299 Panigale costs there. We honestly don’t think any of these Final Edition Panigales will make their way to India, but we are hoping Ducati India surprises us. We’ll know more after the bike’s official launch on July 7.
Dinshaw Magol
Ved Janve
Ketan Thakkar
