Audi's recent $1.1 billion bid for Italian bike builder Ducati raised plenty of speculation about VW honcho Ferdinand Piech's motivations (a crushing vision of two and four-wheeled world domination?) But recently unearthed interviews reveal another underlying theme: compact, lightweight engine technology.
The priority sheds light on the incredible packaging challenges faced-- and largely overcome-- in superbike design. "A 1 liter engine can produce 200 horsepower," Piech was quoted in a 2008 article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, as cited in Automotive News. "Small engines are also lower from the point of view of fuel consumption," he added. "We can learn something here."
The new mill in Ducati's 1199 Panigale typifies advances unique to the superbike genre that could some day be repurposed into the car world: the 195 horsepower, 1,198cc engine features an oversquare profile approaching that of an F1 powerplant. Frictional losses have been reduced through separate Nikasil-coated aluminum wet cylinder liners, oil and water pump gears constructed of lightweight techno-polymers, and pistons with a double-ribbed undercrown area.
As BMW learned with the development of their S1000RR superbike engine, there's plenty of technology to cross-pollinate between the automotive and motorcycle worlds: if the Volkswagen Group chooses to consummate their relationship with Ducati, we might see the beginnings of an unprecedented series of technological advances that trickle into the four-wheeled realm.
