Ducati’s New MotoGP Racer Has The Most Extreme Aero We've Ever Seen On A Bike

Ducati has fully embraced the wonders of aero, adding twin sets of wings to its new Desmosedici GP16 GP bike. They look absolutely incredible, but we're not totally convinced they'll work...
Ducati’s New MotoGP Racer Has The Most Extreme Aero We've Ever Seen On A Bike

When Colin Chapman unveiled Graham Hill’s futuristic Lotus 49B with its innovative wings at the 1968 Monaco grand prix, he changed the face of motor racing forever; well he almost did. Since that summer day in Monaco, wings and other aerodynamic devices have been used on road and race cars galore, but there’s always been one form of motorsport that’s never made use of these aerodynamic aids: motorcycle racing.

That’s not to say that people haven’t tried to make wings work on bikes, however. Mike Hailwood’s 1980 Suzuki RG500 Isle of Man TT bike used small wings (also known as strakes and winglets) either side of the fairing to keep the front wheel down - essential on the undulating Manx circuit - and eccentric physicist Rodger Vincent Freeth went the whole hog and fitted Formula 1-inspired wings to his 1977 Yamaha TZ750. Neither design proved to be very effective.

Ducati’s New MotoGP Racer Has The Most Extreme Aero We've Ever Seen On A Bike

After those unsuccessful experiments, wings were virtually forgotten about in the world of motorcycle racing. So you can imagine the press’ surprise when Ducati unveiled a Desmosedici with a small set of winglets at the 2010 German grand prix. With that, wings were officially back, and from that day on Ducati and Yamaha have continued to experiment with these aerodynamic devices, even if the results have been questionable. For example, Ducati believes that its specially designed winglets create enough downforce to stop the bikes from wheeling down the straights, thus allowing the riders to get on the power earlier and harder. Whereas other teams like Yamaha have expressed that the difference on the YZF-R1 is negligible, with rider Valentino Rossi stating that he didn’t ’feel a difference’ at the recent 2016 Sepang winter test.

Regardless of the measurable effects, Ducati has decided to plough on with the technology. In fact, for 2016, the Bologna-based team has gone a bit mad, adding a second set of painted winglets to the bike. There’s no doubt that they look absolutely incredible, but there are serious concerns about their safety. For one, the wings might cause harm if riders touch one another at high speed, a regular occurrence in GP racing. And secondly, some riders have already complained that last year’s Ducatis generated ‘dirty air’, making slip-streaming dangerous. Sprouting larger wings is only going to be make these problems worse.

Ducati’s New MotoGP Racer Has The Most Extreme Aero We've Ever Seen On A Bike

For the time being these wings are legal which, on the face of it, is great news because we love seeing innovative developments in motorsport. But then again, one of the things that we love about motorcycle racing is the ‘rubbing is racing’ attitude of the racers and the epic high speed duels. If these new wings reduce overtaking, and create fewer opportunities for battles, we’d rather do without.

What do you think, CTzens? Do you want to see wings on bikes or is this a step backwards?

Comments

Anonymous

The Wings on this bike looks like it can kill someone. But i like it

02/24/2016 - 16:54 |
22 | 0
Anonymous

Those wings could take down a bird.

02/24/2016 - 16:58 |
0 | 0
The Stig

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Iannone is there for that.

02/24/2016 - 17:55 |
4 | 0
extreme39speed

I wish this was done with a bit more subtlety but I’m glad to see manufactures pushing the envelope and the rule book as well.

02/24/2016 - 17:14 |
2 | 0
Jordan Mellinger

I personally think the look bad and could potentially be a safety hazard but I’m not against them. I like that Ducati is pushing the envelope but downforce on a bike is so much more complicated since it has to produce and be effective at all lean angles as well. Makes you wonder how it would effect the bike something I’m not qualified to comment on but if Rossi says it doesn’t make a difference I doubt it does. Maybe Ducati has it figured out and Yamaha doesn’t guess we will have to wait and see.

02/24/2016 - 18:21 |
0 | 0
Tapan Kamath

Looks wierd. It looks rice.

02/24/2016 - 18:37 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

I don’t really see why they thought an actual wing is the best answer for downforce on a motorcycle. If I was an engineer at Ducati I would have tried using “body aero”. Think the flying buttresses on a Ferrari f12, or 2017 Ford GT. These cars need no wing (At least the f12 doesn’t) but are still ridiculously grippy. I think if they implemented a system such as that on the bikes they could see serious downforce gains, but also, if you look at wind tunnel tests of this type of streamlined aero, there are no vortices coming off. This means the issue of “dirty air” would be nonexistent. But, that’s just my opinion.

02/24/2016 - 19:02 |
8 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Totally love the body aero Idea for cars, although there are a few problems when applying them to motorcycles.

  1. The air has nowhere to go: anywhere that you funnel air through or around the motorcycle it would go into the rider’s legs, chest or hips.
  2. Wsince a bike is so narrow (and it leans) the closer you put that downforce to the center (of the front view), the more unstable it becomes. With the wings, the downforce is focused on a wider base, further away from the center, which increases stability, especially in opposing corners (where the rider has to throw his weight from side to side quickly) . Think why tightrope walkers have that long pole to increase stability
02/24/2016 - 21:34 |
4 | 4
Mehdi Behira

Ah, you like-a my moustache, no?

02/24/2016 - 19:16 |
26 | 2
Anonymous

Gills? Whiskers? Guys it’s the Ducati catfish….

02/24/2016 - 20:34 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

If they are looking to get more downforce on the body and decide to add the front wings as such they should just take a lesson from KTM’s 1290 Super Duke R.

02/25/2016 - 01:16 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Personally I don’t think this is going to make motogp any better.

02/25/2016 - 03:49 |
0 | 0

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