The Ducati 996R is a Ducati Superbike motorcycle manufactured in 2001 as the special homologation model for the World Superbike racing series 2001 season. Based upon the Ducati 996 and using the new 998cc Testastretta engine, it was the next evolution from the 996SPS (Sports Production Special) and the venerated brands first ever "R" model.
Development The original 916 had debuted in 1994 and had always raced with a 955cc Desmoquattro engine until the 996cc came out in 1998. Honda had stepped in to take the Championship in 2000 away from Carl Fogarty who had won in 1999. It was clear that if Ducati were to take back the title in 2001 they needed a drastic revision of their engine. Central to this was the search for higher revs and improved cylinder filing and combustion. 2001 would also make the 8th production year for the Massimo Tamburini generation Superbike, so it had many wondering if in addition to the new engine, that a new bike design would debut as well.
Once the formula and design parameters for the new engine were established in early 1998, an outside consultant was engaged to design the Desmodromic cylinder head. Ex-F1 engineer, Angiolino Marchetti came with over 30 years of experience and already had previously business dealings with Ducati.
Marchetti commenced on the new head design in early 1998. But unfortunately died in 1999 without seeing the project completed. During 1999 three examples of the 998 were produced, and early in 2000, Luca Cadalora tested the Testastretta on the track. Although this engine had the new crank-case and shorter stroke, it still didn't feature the Testastretta cylinder heads.
Public launch The 996R was first teased to the industry at the Intermot show in Monaco, however Ducati officially "debuted" the new Testastretta engine and the 996R at the Munich International Motorcycle Show (Intermot) in Germany the week of 11 September 2000. It then went up on the newly redesigned Ducati.com around the same time with an online pre-order date of 12 Sept announced. No doubt all this hype contributed to the online pre-order allocations selling out so quickly as this all coincided at the same time after several months of rumours and anticipation.
The 996R has the distinction of being the first ever "R" version Ducati in its Superbike line-up. The 996R was the race homologation special for the all new Testastretta (meaning "compact head") 998cc engine that Ducati was campaigning in World Superbike for the 2001 season. Troy Bayliss swept the championship that year on a 996F01 (the factory race version of the 996R) in his debut season after Fogarty had to retire in late 2000 due to an injury. In addition to the new 998cc engine, the 996R also set the design language for what the upcoming 998 and 748 model line-up would look like for 2002. It also led to the 998R and 748R in 2002.
The 996R made its motorcycle journalist test rider debut 7 March 2001 at the Circuit de Valencia race track in Valencia, Spain. For the occasion, the 996Rs were set up with the "upgrade kit" which includes free carbon 50mm Termignoni exhaust cans and a reprogrammed control unit (all included in the purchase price of the bike). The power rises to 141 horsepower.
Through the Ducati Performance catalogue via dealers, there was also full 54mm system with ECU that increased the power to an advertised 149HP. Dealers that took the 996R racing like Pro V Twins in the UK and AMS in Texas, USA were able to easily extract 150HP+ on the dyno just massaging the timing on top of the full 54mm exhaust.
There was a full 57mm race-only Titanium exhaust that required a spacer for the right rear set and a different (or cut/modified) tail section to clear the carbon heat shield and rear of the cans, all available via Ducati Performance. There are no advertised HP numbers on this as the ECU tuning was up to the customer and not covered by warranty at this point. However, it is known than the 996RS Desmoquattro was estimated to have 168HP and the factory Testastretta F01 bikes had around 174HP and both of those bikes used the 57mm exhaust system. Of course it goes without saying that these bikes had numerous other serious race upgrades, but aside from F01 specific components, all of them were available via Ducati Performance to anyone with the P/N and the money.
Specifications This is best broken down into two sections; Upgrades/carry-overs from the 996 SPS, and what was totally new.
Upgrades/carry-overs from the 996 SPS:
Frame - The 996R has what's known as the "Kyalami" frame. This means the main trellis structure has been modified for the larger carbon air-box to accommodate the new Testastretta throttle bodies and shower injectors. On the R it also incorporates some slight geometry tweaks implemented on Foggy's 2000 F00 he wanted carried over to the F01. The tubular trellis frame is constructed out of TIG-welded chrome-molybdenum and saw thicker 12mm engine mounts and upgraded 2mm walled tubing implemented for the R. An aluminium rear subframe was also standard as the R was not offered in anything but Monoposto. Öhlins - The front forks and rear shock and spring remained unchanged from the SPS. The upside-down forks (treated with titanium nitrate) and the rear shock absorber, which works on a single-sided swingarm, offer the possibility of any type of regulation. Exhaust - The R carried over the full 50mm exhaust system from the SPS but it was modified to accommodate the new cylinder heads and wrap around the engines new deep sump oil pan. Carbon-Fibre - The R carried over the carbon air-box, front fender, oil cooler surround, rear number plate holder, under-tail section, chain guard, and exhaust heat shield from the SPS. The nose and tail are still plastic on the 996R. Colour - The SPS and bikes previous to it (Varese red excluded) are painted "Rosso Ducati" (PPG 473.101). The 996R and 998R are painted "Anniversary Ducati" (PPG 487.111) for the 75th anniversary of Ducati. Anniversary is a brighter shade of red compared to the old Rosso. The frame kept the gloss "Grigio Metallic Ducati" (PPG 291.601) which came out just the year prior on the 2000 SPS which was a welcome change from the matte bronze previously used. Totally new for the 996R: Engine - The new Testastretta engine has a 100mm bore x 63.5mm, 11.4:1 compressions ratio, and put out 135 hp @10,200RPM (at rear sprocket) and 77 lb/ft (105 nm) @8,000RPM. Verified to dyno at 132 at the rear tyre. Previous valve angle had been 40 degrees. Marchetti and Bordi settled on a 25 degree included valve angle allowing for more of a direct path for the air to the intake valve. Testastretta, means narrower - and slimmer as in diet – head The Testastretta opening valve rockers were positioned outside the camshafts, enabling the cams to be closer together. Improvement were also made to the camshaft construction & specification, and larger valves were of course employed. The 996R intake ports were larger to match and the throttle bodies were increased to 54mm with elliptical chokes. The opening rockers arms were 50% lighter, closing rockers were 20% lighter - without compromising strength. An important development was that arrangement of the rocker arm axes to provide symmetrical opening, always a problem on the earlier Desmoquattro. The new arrangement optimised the side thrust on the valves. Thanks to improved tooling, the rocker arm pad now matched the cam continuously throughout its rotation, resulting in considerably reduced clearance between the valve adjusters and the rocker arms. The valve guides and seats were then machined simultaneously for perfect valve sealing. The extreme angle of the between the upper and lower timing belt pulleys the Desmoquattro suffered from was also vastly improved.Titanium valves and Pankle Titanium connecting rods. Pistal pistons - the larger 100mm pistons were 30 grams lighter than the previous and improvements were made to the rings to reduce blow-by oil loss. The new Nikasil plated cylinders were more compact due to more efficient water passages. The cylinders were rotated 10 degrees backward to assist gravity oil scavenging from the front cylinder. The 996R had a sand cast engine case, deep sump, and heads due the limited production. 996R had hand built engines being the first Testastretta. That and minor internal engine block cooling duct mods. The crank-cases were redesigned to reduce weight, improve lubrication, and generally strengthened to cope with World Superbike form. The deeper sump addresses oil starvation that were present on the earlier Desmoquattro under high-G forces. Several other changes were made to the oiling system as well. One of these was that the cams received oil after the oil cooler now instead of before, allowing also for a change from roller bearing to modern journal bearings. The new engine weighed 3 kilos less than the previous. Front Brakes - The front braking system was an all-new top of the line system re-engineered by Brembo just for the 996R. Here are some quotes from a MotorBox interview at Intermot 2000: Pierre Terblanche, "Where the 996R is all new is in the front braking system. Pump, calipers, discs, nothing was spared by the Brembo technicians. The master cylinder with piston diameter reduced from 16 to 15 mm ensures greater pressure to the system, but the main novelty lies in the four-pad calipers that are much stiffer than the previous ones. The four pistons have a diameter of 34 mm, each one acts on a pad, in this way they double the "leading edges" or the edges that first come into contact with the disc (area where there is the greatest braking force). With the same braking force, this type of caliper requires a lower oil delivery (a fact which compensates for the smaller diameter of the pump), the proof of the facts you therefore get more powerful braking and less effort to apply to the lever." "The discs also contribute to the super braking of the 996R. The braking surfaces are lower but have a greater average radius. The reduced thickness from 5 to 4.5 mm and the use of a lightened flange then made it possible to save almost a kilogram (910 g) in a fundamental area for handling" "Can 910 grams change the dynamic behaviour of a motorcycle? Yes, if those "few" grams are on the front wheel and spinning. The 996 has never been a bike that "falls" when cornering, not even the "R" is, but that little weight removed from discs and flanges has led to a perceptible increase in the speed of descent when cornering" ECU - Ducati IAW-59M ECU made by Magneti Marelli. Replaced the much larger P8. First CANBUS ECU. First fully re-programmable ECU - lots of tuning software, cables. maps and definition files. The new and much more compact 5.9M Marelli was 80 grams lighter than the old P8 ECU, with a new 20Mhz processor, compared to the P8s 16Mhz. The memory was increased from 8 to 32MB and the system provided much more efficient engine management. Rather than the P8 system which used a separate RPM sensor and injection timing sensor, the new 5.9M was similar in design to the 1.6M with a single inductive pickup. This faced the timing gear, reading the 46 teeth and a gap equal in size to two teeth, but still required accurate meshing of the crankshaft and timing gears to provide perfect RPM information.