Ducati Bipantah engine

The Ducati Bipantah was a prototype 90 degree V4 four-stroke motorcycle engine made by Ducati in 1981. It was designed by Pierluigi Mengoli under the supervision of Fabio Taglioni, who coupled two 500 cc Pantah L-twin engines side by side on a shared crankshaft to make a 994 cc V-four with desmodromic valves, air cooling and four Dell'Orto carburettors. On the dynamometer it was claimed to give 105 PS in road trim and 132 PS in racing trim. It never entered production: VM Motori, then owners of Ducati, chose not to build the bike it was meant for and the project ended in late 1982, and after the Castiglioni brothers bought Ducati in 1985 the Desmoquattro was preferred because it fitted the existing models.