Hopefully MCN can finally retire their "Honda MotoGP Bike for the Road" headline after they've got over 10 years of use out of it!
They never went through the homologation process is one reason. There may be others, such as in the agreement with Dorna that allowed them to build it.
duke63's not far wrong in what he's been saying, the new bike in 2014 will not be like the d16 in that its not a rep of the RCV213 but a whole new superbike with motogp tech, it will be sold to CRT teams and poss used in WSB.... saying that I have read some translated Jap news that reads they may do a rep of the RCV.... it's all hard to work out in Japan. So it seems they will not make a rep of the RCV at all! They said they will make an all new superbike (no talk of what config, il4 or v4 that will be massive money and use motogp tech FROM the RCV for use in CRT at around one million euros and also be homologated maybe for use in WSB. Like what duke63 has been saying I guess..tbh after so much Jap news that I get on email they could be making a rocket to the moon...
Well sure. But they could have gone through the homologation process if they'd wanted to, no? Isn't that the point, that they seemingly didn't want to? I think their view would be, MotoGP is good for the Ducati brand in general, WSBK sells the current superbike V-twin. Making the Desmo was probably something they just wanted to do, rather than a sound business idea. I think Ducati are quite like that. They are still passionate about what they can make; it's not just units shipped (although as any responsible business, they have to have models that follow that ethos too).
The thing is, MotoGP is a prototype series..If Ducati built a 'too close' rep of their GP bike suddenly it's not a prototype, it's a production bike. So they needed Dorna buy-in to continue in MotoGP. To gain that I imagine they promised not to homologate the bike for WSB, despite its eligibility. So no 'sedici RR in WSB. That doesn't mean a clubbie couldn't roll up in the open class and race one! We've all been waiting for that !
