Ducati Desmosedici

mi - Ducati abandoned the Grand Prix racing scene at the start of the 1970s. For many years the 500 class was essentially a class for two-stroke motorcycles, an engineering technology that was far removed from the four-stroke road-going machines sold by Ducati. Technical rules changed in 2002, giving priority to four-stroke machinery and turning the 500 class of World Road Racing into the MotoGP Championship. This convinced Ducati to make a much-awaited return to the track in the new MotoGP class.


Ducati history is classically based on L-twin engines, using desmodromic valve technology. Initially, Ducati considered the possibility of creating a MotoGP ‘super-twin’, taking advantage of the MotoGP regulations that give twin-cylinder machines a considerable weight reduction over four, five or six-cylinder bikes. However, analysis indicated that a twin-cylinder engine would not have been able to produce the required amount of power, more than 230 hp (170 kW), without excessively increasing the number of revs. A twin would have had to rev at over 17000 rpm, but this would require a very short stroke and a very large bore, as a result producing possible combustion problems.

The basis of the design of the Desmosedici engine therefore is two classical Ducati L-Twins next to each other, making a Double L Twin with two-cylinder Stroking at the same time (also called Twin Pulse). With four valves per cylinder, the total number of valves is sixteen - Desmosedici means desmodromic distribution with sixteen valves shortened in Italian