Bologna Bullet

King Carl's crown jewel

Bologna Bullet

DON CANET

PULSE RATE AT RED-line, my breath. casts a haze onto the tinted Arai faceshield. I crack open the visor for defrost and pre pare to apply the Brembo binders as the Ducati 996 Superbike rockets toward a first-gear hairpin at more than 160 mph. Steady respiration is essential in any high-pressure situation, and turning hot laps aboard a works racebike on a chilly November day is no picnic.

It’s difficult to judge who is more tense, me or the bike’s owner, Carl Fogarty, holder of World Superbike’s number-one plate. While a partially damp circuit, a steamy visor and a 158horsepower V-Twin command my full attention, I envision Foggy pacing the pit garage like the anxious father of some teenage debutante on prom night. Should I slip up and soil his Due, I’ll be subjected to the shotgun gaze of a man with the most intense race-face in our sport.

Fogarty has given the Bologna factory an unprecedented 48 race wins and a trio of World Superbike titles (see “King Carl,” Race Watch, this issue). To express their appreciation, Ducati brass presented Fogarty with the ultimate gift: the very bike he rode in the championship clincher at Sugo, Japan. But “King” Carl-as he’s revered by his loyal fanscouldn’t relax in his Lancashire, U.K., living room admiring his trestle-framed mantelpiece just yet. First he would endure two days at Italy’s Mugello Autódromo, standing by as a dozen journalists, myself included, took turns dancing with the princess.

Located in the hills near Florence, the undulating, 3.3-mile Mugello circuit isn’t particularly easy to learn. I logged 10 laps on a stock 996 prior to throwing a leg over Foggy’s bike. This not only helped me find the racing line, but also offered greater perspective as to the Superbike’s enhanced performance.

You’d expect Fogarty’s steed to be a rip-snortin’ wheelie monster, but it’s surprisingly civil. Its smooth power delivery and flat torque curve are deceptive, making the Italian Twin feel slower than its lap times and race results would indicate.

Mugello offers ample wheelstand opportunity, with eight of its 15 curves taken in second gear aboard the 996 Superbike. And, true, getting the power on early unweights the front, but hoists the wheel only inches above the ground driving off the exit. As the story goes, though, I may not have found the early-season bike quite so congenial.

Seems that matching the Honda RC45’s top speed while still achieving manageable power delivery has been an ongoing development challenge for Ducati’s race department. For ’98, a third fuel-injection nozzle was added to each cylinder. These additional injectors are positioned much farther from the intake valves-outboard each velocity-stack opening-and function only at full throttle. The primary injectors are shut off at this stage, making for a cooler, more dense charge that increases power.

Fogarty was well in tune with the Ducati’s handling and engine characteristics back in ’95, when he won his second-consecutive world title. Following a season with Honda, however, he returned to the Ducati squad in ’97 to find the bike no longer suited his riding style. This was due, in part, to the 996’s development having been focused around Troy Corser during Foggy’s absence. But also, rule changes steadily increased the weight minimum imposed on Twins.

To help put it in perspective, the current bike weighs 357 pounds dry, while Fogarty’s ’95 machine weighed a feathery 326 pounds.

So while today’s 996 employs lightweight titanium bolts for suspension and wheels to reduce unsprung weight, standard steel fasteners are found most everywhere else. Also, while the swingarm and massive triple-clamps are cast magnesium, the engine covers are now aluminum rather than mag.

With more weight to motivate, Ducati increased engine displacement from 955 to 996cc in ’96-rules allow for lOOOcc Twins-and extracted more juice from the engine. Unfortunately, the power delivery became peaky along the way. A sudden top-end hit tends to unsettle a chassis, affecting handling and tire grip during the all-important drive off a corner’s apex. In short, King Carl was struggling to regain his crown.

Things became easier in ’98, following the mid-season homologation of a revised frame. The exercise wasn’t to alter chassis stiffness or geometry, but rather to make room for a larger-volume airbox. This proved to be the missing link needed for a flatter torque curve and competitive top-end power-and hence a better-behaving chassis. Who would have thought an airbox could improve handling?

Once again track records and the opposition came under fire from the Bologna Bullets. The rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, making history as the imbecile who wads Foggy’s twowheeled trophy is no way to be remembered. Happily, there’ll be no such asterisk next to my name, though the 996 did give me a few “moments.” As I stepped up the pace, its handling became nervous, twitching over bumps and displaying a hint of wobble-nweave, keeping my exuberance in check. In all fairness, though, the chassis was still set up for ultra-smooth Sugo, not the relatively bumpy surface of Mugello.

Not that it matters-King Carl, I ain’t. But thanks for the loan, champ, I’ll always remember it as a 12,200-rpm desmo postcard from Mugello.