Fans of Ducati will no doubt be familiar with the week-long festivities that take place at the Misano circuit, but for those of you who are not, Google World Ducati Week (WDW) and prepare to drool – for several reasons . . .
World Ducati Week has become a mecca for Ducatisti who make the annual pilgrimage to take in the incredible sights, sounds and frivolities on offer. Of particular note in recent years, has been the sneak peeks offered to attendees of upcoming product. You may recall the Scrambler made its first appearance from within the confines of a yellow shipping container at WDW, through which people passed for a quick look, sans camera gear – or at least they were supposed to be. Obviously some images made their way to the interwebs, generating plenty of hype around the Scrambler and some not at all unwanted coverage for the brand – job well done marketing department.
Well, they’re at it again this year, with another accidently-on-purpose, no cameras allowed, first look at a new model. And would you believe it, someone snapped a pic.
Reports from the event indicate this new Ducati SuperSport S will be powered by a 900-plus cc, liquid cooled engine with a chassis similar to that found on the current Monster. Though it’s appearance (in the hastily snapped ‘spy’ photo) is similar to the Panigale family, it will in fact have a more relaxed riding position and demeanor.
You have to go back to the 900 SuperSport SS with it’s air-cooled twin and partial fairing to get an idea of what they’re going for. That machine had a fantastic personality and garnered many fans so here’s hoping they get the formula right again and we get another proper road-going sport bike.
In addition to the SuperSport S, Ducati also unveiled their limited edition 1299 Panigale S Anniversario edition to celebrate the company’s 90th year. Only 500 of these beauties will be produced, with their iconic Tricalore livery, magnesium wheels and bevy of performance add-ons.
The one particularly noteworthy addition to Anniversario is the introduction of Ducati’s EVO traction control unit, which taps into the Bosch-sourced internal measuring unit (IMU) in a way not seen on previous street bikes from Ducati. In our August issue we featured an article on this fantastic little piece of engineering from manufacturing/engineering giant Bosch, and this new superbike will be making better use of it than just about anything on the street.
