Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Melissa Berkoff

The public should get its first view of Ducati Corse’s MotoGP contender in a few weeks, in a press release expected sometime in March. Reports on the appearance of the bike from various employees of Ducati Corse who have seen the design range from “It looks like a GP bike” to “It looks like a Ducati” to “It’s red.” The bike does have Ducati’s characteristic trellis frame, and the layout of the “Twin-Twin” engine gives a typical Ducati Twin-esque look when viewed in profile.

As to whether or not it sounds like a Ducati, that remains to be determined as the engine has not been fired up yet. It is also unknown whether the chosen firing order–with cylinders on the same bank firing simultaneously to mimic the feel and power delivery of a V-Twin–will work as intended. Once tests begin, the option of a more traditional firing order will be explored as well.