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Desmosedici GP12: Final Livery, Specs and Video

This is the bike that Ducati factory riders, and former champions Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will take into battle in the upcoming 2012 MotoGP series, which begins in Qatar on April 8.

Following the specifications for the machine released by Ducati (including “more than 230 hp”), a video documents the mad scramble to create the latest prototype (one of many created in the last 8 months). Despite all of Ducati’s efforts, recent testing reveals that Honda and Yamaha factory riders still enjoy a comfortable cushion over their Ducati rivals. In other words, the mad development scramble must continue until the bike is competitive and running at the front, because Ducati does not doubt the skill of its pilots.

Technical Specifications

ENGINELiquid-cooled, 90 degree V4 four-stroke, desmodromic DOHC, four valves per cylinder
CAPACITY 1,000cc
MAXIMUM POWER More than 230hp
MAXIMUM SPEED In excess of 330 km/h (205 mph)
TRANSMISSION Ducati Seamless Transmission. Chain final drive
CARBURATION Indirect Magneti Marelli electronic injection, four throttle bodies with injectors above butterfly valves. Throttles operated by EVO TCF (Throttle Control & Feedback) system
FUEL Shell Racing V-Power
LUBRIFICANT Shell Advance Ultra 4
IGNITION Magneti Marelli
EXHAUST Termignoni
FINAL DRIVE D.I.D Chain
FRAME Aluminium
SUSPENSION Öhlins inverted 48mm fork and Öhlins shock absorber, adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping
TYRES Bridgestone 16.5″ front and rear
BRAKES Brembo, two 320mm carbon front discs with four-piston callipers. Single stainless steel rear disc with two-piston calliper
DRY WEIGHT 157 kg

19 Comments

  1. Gutterslob says:

    Yamaha unveiled their new M1 two days ago, fyi.

  2. Norm G. says:

    anybody see this fancy rotated engine…? yeah, me neither.

  3. Dale says:

    Two talented and determined Riders and a factory that has produced multiple World Championship winning motorcycles. They’re down now but I don’t doubt their abilities or Passion.

    Unfortunately it was at the end of the 990 era that Ducati became competitive…

    However, overcoming great adversity makes for great copy. I can hardly imagine the drama if Valentino and Nicky could get up there this year dicing with Ben, Casey, Dani and Jorge for Wins!!!

  4. Gary says:

    It is a pity that Rossi will have to finish out his career on a non-competitive bike. Then again, no one forced him to jump ship.

    • CB77 says:

      Yes, he should have stayed with Honda. He could now be thought of as those other legendary Honda riders with long strings of wins. Plus he would have made a lot more money and had an easier ride.

      • Dave says:

        I doubt he left his previous teams for a pay-cut. When you’re winning and content, money is the only thing that would drive a team change.

  5. vince says:

    nice color scheme; good luck to them.

  6. vince says:

    Sorry Gutterslob: the issue isn’t the carbon fibre, it was the monocoque chassis didn’t work with the Bridgestones. The duck monocoque chassis was designed by an F1 car guy. Car designers usually fail when it comes to designing race bikes. They aren’t used to the fact that the rider needs to “feel” the front tire. Car guys usually come up with designs that look great on paper but fail on the track; see the Elf Honda’s innovative front end that couldn’t compete. Stoner fans will counter that Casey won on the CF monocoque desmo. The reality is his 2007 world championship bike had the steel trellis chassis; Capirossi even won a race on the 2007 bike. And while Casey could win on the 2008+ carbon fibre monocoque chassis, he also crashed a lot. Ohhh aluminum indeed. It’s simply that they switched to the conventional twin spar chassis that can work. Aluminum is simply the best material for it presently.

  7. ilikefood says:

    157 lbs and 230+ HP. So it weighs about the same as my DRZ400SM and has about 7x the power. That’s just nuts!

    • Tom R says:

      That’s 157 KILOGRAMS, not pounds. Multiply by 2.2 to get the actual non-metric number.

      • ilikefood says:

        I realize this. My DRZ’s dry weight is 321 lbs, which is comparable to the Desmosedici’s 157 kg.

  8. Hubb says:

    Pretty bike. Will look good on the third row of the grid 😉

  9. mickey says:

    Pretty..I hope they find competitiveness this year. Would love to see #46 mixing it up with the leaders.

  10. RC says:

    I think these two bikes will start running upfront in the mid seasson (I really hope so) of the motogp, otherwse Rossi needs to find another team….and Hayden behind him, its been too long now snce we saw the Ducatis running upfront.

  11. Gutterslob says:

    oooohhhh …. aluminium

    Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

    Wonder how long that AMG decal will be there for.

  12. Tom Shields says:

    Looks like Val and Nicky will have their work cut out for them.

    • Stinky says:

      Looks like Val and Nicky have a year off the back again. I’m sure sorry to hear that. I thought they were starting the development REAL early, like Rossi starting from the pits because he was using next years frame.

      • Dave says:

        I don’t think it’s realistic to expect Val and Nicky to ever fight for a championship again, even if they were on the Hondas. Hopefully this bike is a good platform to develop and they can fight for some wins. It seemed like the last one was a mystery bike that they could never figure out.

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