Main Event!
MAIN EVENT!
WHEN WORLD CHAMPIONS MEET
IT'S A SPORTBIKE FANTASY guaranteed to excite even the most case-hardened performance junkie: Take what already is the most coveted sport motorcycle around today and hot-rod it into a Superbike-spec, street-legal weapon; don't just ride it on the street but turn it loose on a racetrack to see how its lap times stack up against those of real Superbikes; and as icing on the cake, how about getting a world champion to hammer it around the track, maybe even one who had won his crown on the very same brand of motorcycle?
That’s not a fantasy; that’s a vivid imagination gone berserk.
But maybe not. Just such a motorcycle would seem to exist in Event Technology’s Ducati 955, a romping, stomping, 124horsepower, carbon-fibered Superbike for the street. And the ideal rider exists, as well, in two-time World Superbike champion Doug Polen.
So, we did the obvious: We put the two together, then stood back and watched the fireworks. The results were not only good, they far exceeded even our warped fantasies.
Polen is the perfect choice for testing the mettle of a Ducati with such lofty aspirations, having won both of his WSB titles (`91 and `92) and an AMA Superbike championship (`93) on booming Italian V-Twins. He's also raced a semifactory 955 Superbike this season and is slated to contest the Austrian and U.S. rounds of the WSB series on a works 955 prepared by Germany's DNL Ducati Racing. Who better, then, to evaluate our fantasy bike?
MATTHEW MILES
That machine, the 397-pound Event Technology 955, abounds with carbon fiber, titanium and race-spec engine components. “The idea was to build the ultimate streetbike, more ultimate than what was already available,” says Event Technology’s Igor Gorodinsky (35 Coles Orchard Rd., Duxbury, MA 02332; 617/585-1916). “We tried to use all of the available technology and build a souped-up streetbike, sort of a hybrid between the street and track.”
The first step was to jettison the stock motor in favor of a 955cc unit built by England’s JH Performance. “It's built exactly to '95 Ducati Corsa spec,” says Gorodinsky. “That's not to say that everybody runs that spec, but when Ducati makes its 955 Corsas for racing, the motors that go into those bikes have identical specs, in terms of compression, displacement, valve sizes and everything else. We don’t have the factory crankshaft because we feel the one that we are using is better.
“We went for all of the weight savings we could possibly get. We started with billet-aluminum Omega pistons, which are the same pistons Ducati uses in its Superbikes. We used Pankl titanium rods, and the crank shaft was machined out of billet steel-which makes it both lighter and stronger-then polished. The valves arc ’95 race spec, 37mm intake, 31mm exhaust. We also replaced the original single-injector fuel injection with a dual-nozzle set-up, which we also sourced from Ducati. The stock wiring harness supports dual injectors, so we just had to install new throttle bodies and the new motor.”
Chassis modifications were limited to an Öhlins steering damper and shock, fivc-spoke Marchesini wheels, adjustable-height rearsets, a quickchange rear-sprocket assembly, an AP Lockheed master cylinder, braidedsteel brake lines and cast-iron Brembo rotors. The tube frame, single-sided swingarm and fully adjustable Showa fork are standard-issue.
“We felt that the chassis works fairly well, especially for the street,” says Gorodinsky. “We do have Öhlins forks available to us, but we felt that the difference on the street would be hard to justify.”
Ridden on the street, the Event `lech 955 is a qualified success. The engine has an incredibly broad spread of power punctuated by impressive hits at 8000 and 10,000 rpm. The cause of these power surges, as revealed on the dyno, were three significant dips in the torque curve: one at 5000 rpm, another at 7000 and the third at 9500. Fortunately, the bike's ridabil ity isn’t adversely affected. This roller-coaster power curve may be accentuated by the 916’s “undcr-and-over” exhaust-pipe routing. On a stocker, the pipes’ curves don’t seem to detract from linear power delivery, but they tend to cause a few holes in the pow'erband on race-modified engines.
Also, the 955’s works close-ratio gearbox, which is designed for roadracing, can be a nightmare around town. At the dragstrip, the ultra-tall first gear made quick launches an impossibility; the bike’s best quarter-mile was a “disappointing” 10.83-second/l36-mph pass. The 955’s top-gear rollons, however, were quite good; only 3.2 seconds were needed to dash from 40 to 60 mph, and 3.7 seconds from 60 to 80 mph. Top speed, at 171 mph, is admirable but about 10 or 15 mph short of what a real Superbike can attain.
As one might expect, comfort is at a minimum. The seat is nothing more than a thin, roughly hewn strip of foam affixed to the carbon-fiber tailsection, and the JH Performance rearsets are, well, rearset. Still, the bike is outstanding on a twisty road, particularly if there’s room for it to stretch its legs. The engine makes respectable power, spikes and dips notwithstanding, and the Öhlins shock and updated brakes are notable improvements over stock. Induction noise is absolutely deafening, however; earplugs should come as standard equipment.
For our rendezvous with Polen, we headed to recently repaved Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, Califoria. We were joined by Tim Smith of Western Track Services (l000 Piner Rd., Suite D, Santa Rosa, C'A 95403; 707/542-9544), the West Coast distributor of Michelin racing tires; and mechanic Scott Waters from European Cycles (13851 A Better Way, Garden Grove, CA 92643; 7 14/530-271 1). Also in attendance was Doug Toland, who is not only a former CW staffer and regular tester, but also the 1993 World Endurance Roadracing Champion. All right! Two world champions.
Polen, who had not ridden at Willow since a 1990 testing crash on a Yoshimura Suzuki that cost him four toes, was generally impressed with the 955. "The racebike is a little tighter, a little easier to ride," he said, "hut the characteris tics are the same. You'd have to tune it and run some good f~ieI, hut depending on the racetrack, a top-level rider could probably finish in the top 15 in a U.S. Superbike race on this-not on a high-speed track, something tighter."
"Between 9000 and 10,000. the engine's really lazy," Polen continued. "A works-bike engine is very linear, almost straight. T'his, comparatively. feels flat. Also, the brakes could use more stopping power."
Despite Polcn's Concerns and the horsepower dips regis tered on the dyno. lap times were shockingly quick. By late afternoon, both Polen and Toland were circulating in the mid I :24s, well under the 1-Icavyweight Twins class lap ftf of 1:26.9. Then, aided by a fresh rear slick and a cooling track surface, Polen recorded a stunning 1:23.7.
`~That's not had for something you could ride down to the local Burger King," he declared. "Who would've thought I'd come back five years later and go five seconds quicker than I ever did before, on a freakin' streetbike! Did you see me using the turnsignals? Next time, I'm going to use the horn. When you're talkin' sidestand and a license plate.. .hey, that's all right!"
Toland was quicker yet, stopping the clock at 1:23.3. a mere .4 off the outright track record set by 25() (iF national champ Rich Oliver on a race-only Yamaha TZ250. "1 was totally corn fortable and well within my limits," Toland said. "It was great. I was just beginning to really push the thing and get down to business. In retrospect, had they removed the turnsignals and put on a new front tire, I really think the track record would be mine right now. Definitely amazing, though; a near lap record ona street-legal motorcycle. Pretty impressive."
Damned impressive, if you ask us. This from a motorcycle with lights, electric starter and full-size battery that, compared to a front-line Superbike, weighs some 40 pounds more and is down at least 20 horsepower; a bike that has more depres sions in its powerband than the national economy; a bike that you can ride back and forth to work every day.
"\Wc're toying with the idea of taking the bike to a really serR)us eveiit," says (iorodinsky. "Obviously, we would all like to go racing. but it's a matter of' budgets and other things. We didn't build this bike strictly to go racing, but if we find the right sponsors and funding. we might just do that."
Just how much would it cost to duplicate such a formidable machine? "You're looking at the cost of a 91 6 ($14,975) plus about S!5,000," says Gorodinsky. "This bike has over $40,000 in it, but there are things, like the titanium connecting rods and the close-ratio gearbox, that most peo ple don't need. Our business is to source and import perfor mance parts for Ducatis. We can provide complete turnkey solutions. Everything you see on the bike is available from Event Technology."
Except, of course, Polen and Toland.
