Following the announcement of Ducati’s motocross motorcycle and racing team, the Ducati Superquadro Mono engine has been revealed. The Borgo Panigale firm’s first single-cylinder since the US-market 1974 scrambler, the engine is derived from the 1299 Panigale Superquadro V-twin, taking the superbike’s 116 mm diameter piston.
Coming with a displacement of 659 cc, the Superquadro Mono is claimed to produce 77.5 hp at 9,750 rpm and 64 Nm of torque at 8,000 rpm with an engine redline of 10,250 rpm . Adding the Termignoni race exhaust bumps this number up to 84.5 hp at 9,500 rpm.
A single oval-section throttle body with an equivalent diameter of 62 mm, coupled with an under-throttle injector controlled by a ride-by-wire system offers three different Power Modes – High, Medium, Low – to These are performance figures never seen for a production single-cylinder engine and what is most surprising is the whole affair is Euro 5 compliant.
Along with the piston, the Superquadro Mono mill also uses the shape of the combustion chamber, the 46.8 mm diameter titanium intake valves, the 38.2 mm steel exhaust valves and Desmodromic mechanical valve actuation. Like the Desmosedici MotoGP engine, the rocker arms of Superquadfro Mono use DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) surface coating to reduce friction and increase resistance to fatigue.
A six-speed gearbox with racing ratios derived from the Panigale V4 complements the Superquadro Mono power plant. The first gear is long to allow its use in slow corners, exploiting the maximum thrust available.
The gearbox is ready for installation of a quickshifter which uses magnetic hall effect sensor and not the traditional load cell to improve accuracy and reliability. From the press release, Ducati says the Superquadro Mono engine will also come in a lower power European A2 licence compliant version.
The post Ducati Superquadro Mono engine breaks cover – 77.5 hp (84.5 in race trim), 10,000 rpm single-cylinder appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
