[kropotkin thinks...] - Those Ducati Winglets: What Are They Really For?

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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The Ducati Desmosedici MotoGP bike has always been famous for its top speed, a characteristic which is generally put down to two things: the first is the 16-valve V4 desmodromic engine, the brainchild of Ducati Corse director Filippo Preziosi, which has long been the most powerful engine on the grid. The second factor is the Bologna company's focus on aerodynamics, an area that other factories have spent much less time and attention on. The extremely slippery nature of the Ducati Desmosedici is in large part due to Ducati Corse's use of former F1 engineer Alan Jenkins as an aerodynamics consultant.

Jenkins has worked ceaselessly with Ducati over the years to improve the aerodynamics of the Desmosedici, and the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring saw a new innovation appear on the fairing of the bike. The Ducati had sprouted a pair of "winglets" (shown below) - protruberances sticking both forward and out of the side of the fairing, at about the height of bottom of the fork outer. Naturally, these strange additions aroused the curisoity of the assembled media, who set about trying to fathom their purpose.

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[CZroe]

I still wanna know what the iconic inlets on the tail pieces are for. They do look good, but that can't be the only purpose!

[RaceBikeRentals]

About time... I've long wondered why bikes don't give the proper attention to aerodynamics. It was a fad back in the 60s, of course, but seems to be forgotten.

[backinthesaddleagain]

At the Laguna Seca motogp qualifying didn't Stoner or Hayden have his crew take off the fairings with the winglets and put back the older fairings.

Was in the presence of a desmosedicci last week, should have taken a closer look, but was also in the presence of many ducs, bimota, benelli, an MV, and some rare old hondas. Overwhelming to see all these bikes in one place.

[Alex]

Reminds me of the winglets on my old ZX-12R:

[TrueFader]

winglets for downforce.

[spooph]

I think the aided cooling argument makes much more sense.

Side note: Desmodromic valves are the sickness! Outdated unfortunately, and just another one of Duc's ways of distinguishing themselves without really delivering more....

[Alex]

For street bikes the desmo valves are a little silly (in terms of cost, complexity, and maintenance), but I've been impressed that they've stuck with the desmo setup on the GP bikes while the rest of the paddock had to go to pneumatic valves. Having that decades old desmo system keep up with the 18K+ revs that traditional valve springs could not, well, that's pretty neat.

[spooph]

agreed Alex! I just think it's funny the Italians choose to make something so old work, in a setting where the newest, latest and greatest usually yields the fastest... That can be said about their cylinder configuration as well, and the fact they get away with winning because they're allowed more displacement than the rest...

BMW accomplishes the same goal with a very conventional, slightly more optimized design. Bloody German genius, I tell ya! Does it have as much panache as the Duc? Of course not, it's German, but man, for straight up speed, that S1000 is wonderful!

Sorry for the derailment....

[Alex]

Originally Posted by spooph

That can be said about their cylinder configuration as well, and the fact they get away with winning because they're allowed more displacement than the rest...

In WSBK, sure, but in MotoGP, their 800cc V4 is competing straight up with all of the other 800cc engines, including other V4's, and their desmo valvetrain provides competitive hp and other performance measures compared to the pneumatics. People wouldn't have believed it 5 years ago, when the conventional wisdom was that everyone would have to go in the same direction, but Ducati stuck to their guns and have been reasonably successful, at least from an engine performance perspective.

[spooph]

true true.