Ducati pays homage to one of racing's greats

By GARY MORELLO

Carl Fogarty is one of Britains most loved sons. Motorcycling in Europe and the UK in particular is absolutely huge and when someone like Foggy retires, tears well in the eyes of all but the most cold-hearted biker.

Foggy won four World Superbike Championships during his career, plus three Isle of Man races. He is Ducati's Michael Schumacher, only he look meaner...

In 2000 his career was ended after he ditched his bike during a race - he retired. Ducati has decided to give the racing champion a farewell worthy of his long career with Ducati and his amazing skill as a rider - enter the S4 Fogarty.

The new Ducati S4 Fogarty looks a little like the new Monster series, with a few cosmetic tweeks, a new coat of paint and it appears as though someone has been tooling around the engine, too.

Ducati took the new S4 Monster and started with the looks. The new bike has seen a few new additions, such as the new-look tank, front and rear mudguards, the rear seat cover and footrest plates, a new non-slip twin-colour saddle and nose fairing. The exhaust pipes have also been raised to increase ground clearance but they also give the rear-end a more sporting look, too.

There's plenty of carbon fibre on this Duke and the result is a pleasing 197kg dry weight - not bad for a big 916cc V-twin.

Peak power is 110bhp @ 9750 rpm with all the race extras, like airbox, carbon fibre oval pipes and a new injection control unit. Also, a new component specifically designed for the S4 has been included in the form of two air scoops. These ensure perfectly balanced airflow to the radiator.

The engine is a twin-cylinder, 4-valve desmodromic, liquid cooled block. Mated to a six-speed transmission, the S4 Fogarty has a maximum torque reading of 92Nm @ 7000rpm, which is more than enough poke to loft the front wheel without even thinking about it.

As per most Ducati's, the frame is of the tubular steel trellis variety.

The front forks are Showa upside-down 43mm fully-adjustable jobbies, while at the rear a Sachs progressive linkage monoshock, also fully adjustable, will help keep the bumps to a minimum.

A steering damper will also help with speed wobbles and tank slappers. The brake setup consists of twin 320mm discs up front, with 4-piston calipers. The single rear disc a is 245mm effort, with 2-piston calipers.

Fuel capacity is a rather lame 16.5 litres, but if you can afford one of these babies, you would expect a support truck not far off...

The new limited edition S4 Fogarty is a very funky piece of kit. So funky, in fact, that only 300 of them will be built this year. Each one has a numbered plaque on the tank plus unique Foggy stickers.

The combination of sheer V-twin power, the superlative brakes, impressive suspension and naked visage all combine to provide a very tasty package.

Ducati has previously employed it's online method of sales to the Cafe Racer Duke (aka MH900e), and all of them were snapped up very quickly.

As such, the only way to get one of these amazing feats of Italian engineering is to hop on to the Ducati website and lay down $850 just to reserve one. Then, if you succed in getting one of the 300 on offer, prepare to plonk down a cool $30,000 (€18,000). The new Ducati S4 Fogary is very sexy, very fast and very exclusive. Get one if you can!