October 12, 2007 Ducati didn’t believe punters would jump at their US$70,000 MotoGP replica motorcycle – how wrong they were. With production still yet to begin, less than 250 units remain to be pre-ordered of what is surely the most extreme production motorcycle on the planet, the Desmosedici RR. If you want one, you’d better move fast.
Times have rarely been better for Ducati – Casey Stoner has just brought in the company’s first MotoGP world championship, the very sexy 1098 superbike is selling strongly, and 2008 will see the rules of World Superbike changed to allow a 1200cc Ducati twin to take on the 1000cc Japanese four-cylinders.
Ducati is also the only company in the world producing a genuine road-registerable replica of its MotoGP bike. The Desmosedici RR is a close copy of the monstrous GP6 990cc racebike Ducati ran in the premier class as recently as last year, before the new 800cc GP7 began blowing away all opposition in 2007.
In fact, it’s only due to the 800cc regulations that we’re able to have the RR at all; the engine configuration is so close to what was in the GP6 that an early release would have given crucial information away to the opposition.
Ducati were always confident that the 200hp bike, as thoroughbred a racebike as has ever been conceived for public release, would be the quickest thing going on the racetrack. What they didn’t expect was how quick the bike would be over the counter – with production slated to begin in just a few days, there are already more than 1250 orders for the bike worldwide, despite its whopping US$70,000 pricetag.
The company has just announced it will cap orders to a total run of 1500 – which means that if you’re in the market for the most extreme machine on the road, now’s the time to put your money down. Delivery is guaranteed by the end of 2008, and as promised, Ducati will give delivery priority to the approximately 500 owners of the 999R who have ordered the Desmosedici RR and who will receive it before the end of this year.