Ducati Desmosedici

The Ducati Desmosedici is a four-stroke V4 racing motorcycle that Ducati builds for MotoGP, the premier class of world road racing. Its models are named GP followed by the two-digit year, so the 2010 machine is the Desmosedici GP10. Ducati had left Grand Prix racing at the start of the 1970s and chose to return when the rules changed in 2002 to favour four-stroke machinery. After studying a twin-cylinder MotoGP engine and finding it would need to rev beyond 17,000 rpm, the company settled on a V4 that is essentially two of its classic V-twins side by side, firing in a Twin Pulse order. With four valves per cylinder the engine has sixteen valves, and the name Desmosedici is Italian shorthand for desmodromic distribution with sixteen valves. Design work began in 2001 and the bike was unveiled at the 2002 Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. Ducati rider Casey Stoner won the 2007 MotoGP title on a Desmosedici, the marque's first. In 2006 Ducati also sold a short run of 1,500 street-legal versions, the Desmosedici RR, which the atlas holds as its own entity.