The Ducati Supermono is a lightweight,

single-cylinder A single-cylinder engine, sometimes called a thumper, is a piston engine with one cylinder. This engine is often used for motorcycles, motor scooters, motorized bicycles, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, radio-controlled vehicles, power tools an ...

racing

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

made by

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. History Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called ...

and named after the Supermono racing class. 65 Supermonos were built by Ducati between 1993 and 1995.

Technology

This lightweight, compact racer incorporated numerous technical innovations that had a significant influence on the design of the

Ducati 916 The Ducati 916 is a fully faired sport bike made by Ducati from 1994 to 1998. Featuring a fuel injected, 4-valve, desmo, liquid-cooled, 90° V-twin engine in a trellis frame with a single-sided swingarm and USD forks, the 916 is frequently cit ...

. The single cylinder Ducati racer was built with power to weight in mind.

Carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

pieces included bodywork, sub frame,

fuel tank A fuel tank (also called a petrol tank or gas tank) is a safe container for Flammability, flammable fluids, often gasoline or diesel fuel. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine sys ...

, rear sets, airbox and instrument housing.

Magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

was used for case covers, chain adjustment covers and triple clamps. The front suspension used an

Öhlins Öhlins Racing AB (commonly Öhlins) is a Swedish company that develops suspension systems for the automotive, motorcycle, mountain bike and motorsport industries. Approximately 97% of all production is exported and Öhlins has distribution in ...

inverted telescopic forks, similar to those used on the

Ducati 888 The Ducati 888 is a motorcycle manufactured by Ducati between 1991 and 1994 as an upgrade to the Ducati 851. The earlier 851 had introduced liquid cooling, computerized fuel injection and four-valve heads to the company's two cylinder motors. I ...

Corsa, and the rear used a cantilevered Ohlins DU2041

shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Healthcare * Acute stress reaction, also known as psychological or mental shock ** Shell shock, soldiers' reaction to battle trauma * Circulatory shock, a medical emergency ** Cardiogenic shock, resulting from ...

. It had a Termignoni exhaust and 3 spoke Marchesini

magnesium alloy wheel In the automotive industry, alloy wheels are wheels that are made from an alloy of aluminium or magnesium. Alloys are mixtures of a metal and other elements. They generally provide greater strength over pure metals, which are usually much soft ...

s. The front brakes were

Brembo Brembo N.V. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive parts that most notably produces braking systems, for high-performance cars and for the sim racing series Gran Turismo. Its operational head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy, while Amst ...

fully floating iron front discs and Brembo P4 30-34 racing calipers. The Supermono inherited many of its features from 888 Racing. Liquid cooled

double overhead cam An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combusti ...

shaft with four valve desmodromic

cylinder head In a piston engine, the cylinder head sits above the cylinders, forming the roof of the combustion chamber. In sidevalve engines the head is a simple plate of metal containing the spark plugs and possibly heat dissipation fins. In more modern ...

. A horizontally placed cylinder used a dummy connecting rod that acted like a second piston in terms of making the dynamic balance equivalent to a ninety degree Vee twin. This engineering was the key to overcoming vibration problems typically handled with either balance shafts or the incomplete solution of a crank counterweight.

Design

Pierre Terblanche Pierre Terblanche is a South African motorcycle designer born on 6 November 1956 in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape. He started his career in advertising but felt the need to move into the design world. After moving to Germany and working with ...

designed the look of the Supermono and Claudio Domenicali and Massimo Bordi designed the frame, power plant and other unique parts of the motorcycle.

Fuel and spark plugs

In the mid-1990s, 100 octane aviation gas was the fuel of choice for many Supermono race teams.

Spark plug A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/air ...

s with a 54 to 55 heat index were required. Several teams used Champion spark plug QA55V.

Racing

New Zealander Robert Holden placed second in the 1994

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May and June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event begins on the UK Spring Bank Holiday at the e ...

, winning the 1995 singles title. Holden won Ireland's NW 200 Supermono class in 1995. The Supermono was a "test bed" for the World Superbike racers, who would go on to race at the

World Superbike Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champio ...

References

External links

* * {{Ducati Supermono Racing motorcycles Motorcycles introduced in 1993 Motorcycles designed by Pierre Terblanche Single-cylinder motorcycles