Why Ducati should rename its MotoGP bike the ‘Desmodiffuser’

For the first time ever Ducati goes into a new season as favourite to win the MotoGP riders’ world championship, after winning the last two constructors’ titles.

It’s taken a while… The Desmosedici has always been fast down the straights, thanks in part to its desmodromic valve actuation, but getting into and through the corners has always been its weak point. Until now. Finally, after more than a decade, Ducati riders no longer complain about poor corner-entry and/or turning performance, which means Ducati has finally built a motorcycle that does everything right.

That’s a real worry for the other five manufacturers, especially since Ducati will have eight GP21 and GP22 machines on the grid this year.

So, how did Ducati get here?

Ducati has always obsessed about top speed because it gives riders a huge advantage in races

Let’s start with the Desmosedici’s heart, its 90-degree V4 engine.

A V4 can make more power than an inline-four because its crankshaft, camshafts and crankcases are stiffer, so it can be tuned more aggressively. A 90-degree V4 is even better, because it has perfect primary balance, so once again it’s more robust.

The desmodromic system both opens and closes valves with camshafts, instead of closing them with springs. Among its advantages are reduced friction losses at medium rpm compared to spring systems (metal or pneumatic), which gives Ducati a triple win: less power loss and better fuel consumption, plus using less fuel allows Ducati to run its engines closer to full horsepower in race trim than other factories.

Ducati has always obsessed about top speed, not just because it’s a good number to boast about, but because it gives riders a huge advantage in races, because it’s easier, less risky and demands less from the tyres to overtake on a straight.

In theory, all factories should make a big step forward in horsepower this year, because 2022 marks the end of a two-year engine freeze. But Ducati isn’t so sure.

“Last year was the tenth year of 1000cc engine and during that time we increased horsepower by about 10%, so now there’s very little we can achieve but we will try anyway, because the easiest way to overtake is on the straight,” says Ducati Corse technical director Davide Barana.

In which case it’s by no means certain that MotoGP’s current top-speed record of 225.2mph (achieved by Johann Zarco’s Desmosedici in Qatar last year) will be broken.

Chassis improvements have also helped. Since Gigi Dall’Igna arrived at Ducati at the end of 2013 he has chipped away at the bike’s chassis deficiencies, working on balance, geometry and especially stiffness to improve turning. Increasing frame flex at high lean angles is the dark art of mid-corner turning, and hugely important, because whoever turns quickest gets on the throttle quickest.

And then there are Gigi’s gadgets, from downforce aero to holeshot devices and shapeshifters, which give a vital advantage at the start of races and further increase Ducati’s straight-line advantage.

Finally, aerodynamic grip, which is the most fascinating area of Ducati’s R&D, because none of the other factories have even tried it. Yet.

Ducati first went big with aero in 2016, to compensate for the single software’s low-tech anti-wheelie programme. And ever since its engineers have gone bigger and bigger with aero, partly because the Desmosedici’s horsepower advantage means that Ducati doesn’t have to worry about the extra drag caused by increased downforce.

Every year Ducati takes another step forward with its aerodynamics tech, last year adding Formula 1-inspired diffusers at the bottom of the Desmosedici’s fairing. This was an historic step because it was the first time that aerodynamic grip had featured in motorcycle racing.

The diffusers accelerate airflow between fairing and racetrack, which creates an area of low pressure, which increases downforce, as close to the tyre contact patch as possible. This sucks the bike into the asphalt, which increases grip and thus improves turning. Bingo!

Ducati may be the first manufacturer to reach this landmark but others had already thought about taking this direction.

“When you’re talking about 60 degrees of lean you’ve got a lot of fairing close to the ground, so what’s that doing and what could it do?” renowned F1 engineer John Barnard told me when he was working for the Team Roberts MotoGP team a decade and a half ago.

Ducati’s current strength in MotoGP isn’t only down to engineering, it’s also down to its riders. The company has a new attitude to the man part of the man/machine equation. Last year it brought two youngsters into its factory team and put three even younger rookies in its independent squads.

“We are improving the perfect bike, but to improve a bike that was already fantastic isn’t easy.”

Youngsters are usually more malleable and open-minded, which is vital, because more than ever riders must listen to their engineers and adapt to their increasingly complex motorcycles.

“The package of the bike is a great base and we’re able to understand it and work around it – it’s the way you adapt and approach each track,” says factory rider Jack Miller, who won two races last year and finished fourth overall. “Thanks to the evolution of the bike a lot of the older Ducati clichés no longer apply. The ’20 and ’21 bikes worked pretty much all round, so we don’t have that cliché of the bike not turning, because it does turn quite well now and it’s getting better and better.”

Miller’s team-mate Pecco Bagnaia was Ducati’s strongest rider in 2021, winning four of the last six races and ending the year runner-up. If he can maintain that form he will most likely lead the championship charge in 2022, his fourth year in MotoGP.

Bagnaia used huge corner speed to win the 2018 Moto2 title and brought that into MotoGP. However, he spent his first two seasons in the premier class crashing too often, by trying to enter corners too fast and losing the front.

Bit by bit he fixed that problem: by learning to brake harder to stop the bike quicker and by learning how to get heat into the front tyre as soon as he left the pitlane.

By 2021 Bagnaia was fast and safe.

“Last year I knew the bike very well and adapted myself in braking, so now I can stop the bike really well,” he says. “Also we adapted the setting of the bike for my corner-speed style. The Ducati isn’t usually so fast in the middle of corner but last season we did a good job and now the bike is sweeter in that area. Now I have a great feeling with the front of the bike and this gives me a lot of confidence in braking and entry.

“The 2021 bike was perfect and now we are improving the perfect bike, but to improve a bike that was already fantastic isn’t easy.”

(It’s worth noting here that MotoGP riders are very, very, very rarely as complimentary about their motorcycles.)