Ducati News Today

The Ducati 1098R is the epitome of the homologation special. Expensive, exotic and high performance in more or less equal measures, the bike is designed to be a high performance clothes horse that can be draped in go faster bits to help Noriyuki Haga et al do their thing in the World Superbike Championship. The bike is built for the racetrack but I’m pretty sure Ducati didn’t have the dragstrip in mind when they launched the 1098R.

Downunder they do things a little differently. So when Ducati Bunbury in Western Australia took delivery of a brand new Ducati 1098R they were thinking more of straight lines than corners. As in drag racing. Todd and Wayne Patterson had been dragracing Ducatis for 5 years and successfully campaigned a 1098 last year so the R was an obvious next step – offering the potential engine performance to help keep up with the 4-cylinder Japanese machines like the Suzuki Hayabusa that are the more typical drag racing platform.

The R is hardly lacking in power. Completely stock it put out 171bhp when strapped to the dyno which was already 5 more than the kitted 1098 they campaigned in 2008. Bolting on the supplied kit mufflers yielded 179bhp. None too shabby.

In this spec and lowered to help launch the bike, it ran 9.74 seconds at 147mph. Damn impressive but as Karen Carpenter would say it had only just begun. With a full Termignoni 70mm system, Wasp race intake tracts and a Power Commander the dyno said 190bhp. Hello!!!

At the track this spec yielded a best elapsed time of 9.60 seconds at a phenomenal 155mph. 155 mph from a standing start in a quarter mile from a streetable Ducati!! Out of 40 bikes in their class they ran probably the 12th fastest time, but were in the top 3 for trap speed. Nothing will pass this bike up the topend of the track! Part of the secret is the relatively light 181kg (398lb) weight in race trim which reveals Hayabusa’s and their ilk for the lard asses they are.

Subsequent work with prototype WASP Billet Alloy Velocity Stacks that are similar to the Ducati performance ones has got the power knocking on the door of 200bhp.

So what’s it like to ride? Judging by Todd’s comments below pretty awesome.

Todd Patterson:- “The bike has so much power that you need to launch it from low rpm and get the lever out asap (about 15 feet). You then just use the throttle to control the height of the front wheel. When it comes up too high and you are loosing acceleration, pull the gear lever and the electric shifter instantly gives another gear. I have taken off and had the front wheel not touch the track until the end of 3rd.”

Not only is the bike clearly giving the goods performance wise but have you ever seen a drag bike look so beautiful? Rick McDowell’s professional shots capture the intimidating performance essence of the Bologna beauty. As a drag bike, the Ducati 1098R is far from it’s intended purpose but still looks in it’s element.

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Watch the Ducati Bunbury kitted 1098 do a quarter mile run

Photos courtesy of Rick McDowell Photography

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