MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, ITALY, JAN 12 – Valentino Rossi hopes to bring the MotoGP World Championship back to Ducati, but his more lasting legacy will come not on the race track but in the showroom, which will some day feature road bikes with design help from the nine-time world champion.
This was first revealed by Ducati CEO Gabriele Del Torchio in an informal gathering with journalists on Tuesday and later amplified by Ducati Corse CEO Claudio Domenicali during the Wednesday news conference he shared with designer and engineer Filippo Preziosi.
“I believe that he will have a tremendous impact on our brand and I believe that it will help us a lot in terms of technology development,” Del Torchio said, adding that Domenicali would have more to say on Wednesday. Del Torchio added that he was “expecting a contribution from Valentino in terms of product development.”
Don’t expect to rush down to your dealership any time soon to get a Rossi-designed 1198. A completely new bike could take three or four years, Domenicali said, “but it is also true that if today we do not start thinking about really new and really extraordinary for the next three years then we will not have anything if we don’t start now. This is typical of automotive companies who work with plans for five or six years. So today you start to think about the products for four or five year’s time.
“For us, this is an extraordinary opportunity to not only have the rider who won more world championships, who is now with us and who is capable of achieving fantastic sporting results, but it is a fantastic opportunity for us to explore a real fan of bikes who can give us his contribution, his suggestions and his opinions. Somehow we can allow the products that we are going to develop in the future can be influenced by his knowledge. I think that a sports bike tested by that type of a test rider is more likely...to be a really exceptional object as against one tested by someone else. It is not just a consultant. I think if anyone could have such a test rider, all would explore such a test rider.”
Ducati races to win, but also uses the race team as an R&D lab, an “advanced research lab,” Domenicali said, “in which we do advanced experimentations. We experiment, let’s say, new ideas, ideas which may become functional or not. We do not know beforehand: We test them there. And never as in 2011 our research lab has been, let’s say, so rich in the number of technicians.
“You’re all aware, of course, of Valentino’s expertise in giving interesting indications for the development of bikes and this is something which we believe may give us a push forward so it can allow us to better understand the dynamics of our bikes. And so we want to improve our design capacity. We want to make for our fans better and better bikes. This is our goal. And so this research lab is even more meaningful today, also because of some changes which have been made in the regulations.”
The regulations Domenicali referenced are the restriction on the use of six engines over the course of the season and the size of the gas tank. “These two issues force designers to continuously improve the reliability of the power unit and also it makes engines ever more efficient,” Domenicali said. “And the efficiency of the engines means lower fuel consumption.” Because the regulations are mandatory, it allows Ducati Corse to fine tune their engines and transfer that technology to their street bikes.
“So our race bikes are a real technological lab for us,” he said. “Also in the past we also focused on the 1198 for example, and we had said in the past many characteristics of this bike were taken from experience in MotoGP, from traction control and from part of the electronics. But we’re pushing this even more forward. So the new generation of sports bikes on which we are working and in the short term these are going to be presented, they’re going to follow up on this technological transfer.
“So the work that Filippo (Preziosi) has done will be seen even more so in the future as it was seen in the past. So the transfer of technology from MotoGP to road bikes is going to continue. So this means that not only we want to continue with this transfer of technology, but we also want both of our riders, so that is not only Valentino but also Nicky (Hayden), but specifically the fact that Valentino is going to be able to try the new road bikes that we are developing. We want to hear his indications, his suggestions for our road bikes, so as to make this bridge an effective and efficient bridge, and so also to be able to characterize our road bikes in the future. It’s a major challenge of course, all that I’ve said, and there’s a big responsibility on us, but we see it as an occasion for growth.”
As for whether he could envision a Rossi designed V-4 street bike, Domenicali said, “Never say never. We have already discussed his passion for motorcycles, he’s really keen to ride our products. So we are waiting for him to give his indication. It depends on what we decide together what will happen in future. The company is working well, with great product development. What we want is to continue thinking about the future. Either V4 or v-twin, we will decide."
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