There was a way to put a
Superquadro engine on display, aside from the obvious route of getting a Ducati
Monster. That is what French custom outfit Ortolani Customs has
done, taking the Superquadro engine from a 2014 Ducati Panigale 1199 S, and
showing the engine, steampunk style.
Typically, Panigale Superquadro V-twin engines don’t
lend themselves to being exhibited, naked, as Ortolani Customs – located in St
Andre de la Roche, outside of Nice, France. The plethora of tubes,
pipes, cables and wires, while making for expedited maintenance, tends to make
things somewhat untidy.
For Ortolani Customs, taking the Ducati Superquadro
engine, which functions as a stressed member in frame – presented a different
set of problems. It was not possible to just hang a new fuel tank and bodywork
off a frame, so every piece had to support its own weight, as well as the
weight of the rider and another other equipment.
The use of aluminium for the bodywork raised another
set of issues, as it was intended for the metal to be polished to a
mirror-finish. Easy enough to do with steel, but aluminium is soft, and shows
any mistakes made during forming and polishing rather too easily.
Each sheet of aluminium used on the Ortolani
Panigale Racer is hand-worked, beaten, formed and polished, says a pipeburn.com
post. The fuel tank, made as a seamless piece, carries both fuel and the
Racer’s electronics components, and covers the engine’s airbox.
Additional bodywork consists of two pieces – the
fore section covers the radiator and hides the external accessories for the
engine, while the rear section forms the tail-piece and seat. The rear light
slips neatly into the folds and curves of the bodywork, giving the Ortolani
Racer a sleek, almost organic look.
At the front, a neatly bi-furcated headlight houses
the intake tract in its lower half, again minimising the amount of external
bodywork and adding to the smooth lines of the bike. Down below, a full-system
Akrapovic exhaust in titanium does the job of getting rid of waste gases, and
doing nothing to distract from the lines of the Racer.
A large chin fairing piece finishes off the look of
the Ducati 1199 S Racer by Ortolani, hiding the oil-cooler and the bottom half
of the Superquadro twin. In Malaysia, the 2017 Ducati Panigale 1299 S retails
for RM 190,000, including GST.
