Ducati’s 1199 Panigale officially debuted at the EICMA show in November and was an immediate hit, garnering attention worldwide. Today in Bologna, the first 1199 Panigale rolled off the assembly line which officially started the production of Ducati’s latest, most admired, most desirable innovative motorcycle to date.

The Panigale got the usual Ducati welcome from CEO Gabriele Del Torchio, Claudio Domenicali and plant director Silvano Fini with spumante toasts and the spraying “baptizing” ceremony.

The Panigale is expected to hit showrooms and dealers at the end of March or early April.

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Three-time World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss gave F1 star Mark Webber a ride on his two seat Ducati 1109S Superbike around the Queensland Raceways in Australia yesterday.

Webber wrote on his Twitter page, “Some things need doing. Thanks to @TroyBaylisstic. Great day mate.” While Bayliss tweeted back: “@AussieGrit as expected, you were a top pillion and ripped it up solo as well”.

Bayliss just doesn’t give superstars pillion rides, any fan with some cash can book a ride or spend a track day with the Superbike champion with the The Troy Bayliss Experience. .

Photo Source | troybayliss.facebook.com

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The eternal dilemma, two wheels vs four wheels, which is faster? The Italians from Due Ruote pitted the Ducati 1198 SP against a Mercedes AMG SLS at the super fast and difficult Nurburgring circuit.

According to the testers who battled on track for three laps, the motorcycle and car were almost equal performance wise, with the Ducati slightly faster, however with big differences between the two machines in the various types of corners with the 1198 SP almost unbeatable acceleration and in the fast corners and on the straight as it reached a top speed of 287,3 km/h, more than 7 km faster than the 6300cc Mercedes.

Check out the video.

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You have to be passionate about bikes to spend $140,000 to buy a Ducati 1198RS Superbike and a Ducati 1098R just to use the frame and side and upper fairings to make it street legal, and then take it for a spin on southern California’s famous Mulholland Highway and get caught on camera as you embarassingly bin it.

The bike may be a crying mess, but this guy is lucky as hell, because if something similar happened in Italy, France or Spain with our guillotine style guard rails you’d would be picking up pieces of him instead of the Ducati.

Source | hellforleather.com

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It’s another of one of those car vs motorcycle videos, and of late the queen of these on two wheels vs four wheels track battles has been the BMW S 1000 RR with its massive 193 bhp, and 83 lb-ft of torque which maxes out at 189 mph

This time the highly popular Superbike is pitted against a top notch car also made in Germany, the Porsche 997 GT3 RS that has 415 bhp, 300 lb-ft of torque and hits 193 mph.

How do the two fare against one another? Check out the video to find out.

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This week’s Le Salon de la Moto in Paris saw the debut of this V-Twin superbike concept dubbed Superbob, a brainchild from Thierry Henriette’s Boxer Design firm.

The Superbob’s powerplant is a turbo boosted 88° 1000cc V-Twin developed by Akira Technologies, who is specialized in design, development and tuning and also supplies the V4 engine for Inmotec’s wannabe MotoGP team. This super naked makes 125 Nm of torque at 8,000 rpm in a carbon monocoque frame and features a Brembo braking system and Öhlins suspension and weighs in at 175 kg (386 lbs).

The Toulouse manufacturer in expecting to put the Superbike into production in two years - if it generates enough interest - and sell 300 unites a year and despite the extensive use of carbon fiber will cost less than 20,000 euros.

Continue reading: Boxer Superbob V-Twin concept

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Yesterday we posted the cute double interview of Troy Bayliss and Ernesto Marinelli briefly talking about Ducati’s 1199 Panigale, today you get a new and much more complete video regarding this ‘born to race machine’ with Marinelli giving you all the pertinent info with some action footage looped in from their testing sessions.

So if you’re already madly in love with the 1199 Panigale this eleven minute video is well worth your time. Enjoy.

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If I were to choose between launching the Ducati 1199 Panigale Hollywood style and this interview with Ducati’s “>Troy Bayliss and Ernesto Marinelli, I’d chose this interview anytime.

Marinelli is Ducati’s Superbike project director (he used to be chief engineer and technical director of the former Ducati Xerox Team) and Troy Bayliss is the unforgettable #21 and three time World Superbike champion - get together in this cute double interview - the way Italian TV show Le Iene do their interviews - to talk about the 1199 Panigale.

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If you’ve got to launch a motorcyle in unmistakable style you go the Hollywood premier route. An A-club night club like Drai’s in L.A, the red carpet, the best Italian wine and bubbly spumante, hot looking models parading around in the lastest motorcycle fashion garments and on center stage the Ducati 1199 Panigale.

Voted the Most Beautiful Bike earlier last week at the EICMA show, Ducati had the always available Nicky Hayden - who is recovering from his recent scaphoid surgery - doing the unveiling of Italy’s latest and most powerful Superbike.

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Remember the special Yamaha WarrioR1 that Jorge Lorenzo rode at the 2010 Isle of Man TT - and also ridden by BBC’s Matt Roberts for the Viva Valencia! charity rode trip?

Well the same bike will be up for auction at this year’s Motorcycle Live at The NEC Birmingham and all proceeds will go to Riders for Health.

The auction supported by Arai kicked off today, but if the autographed WarrioR1 is out of your budget range, there will be other lots to bid for including an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience at the Riders for Health Day of Champions at the 2012 Silverstone MotoGP, which includes the opportunity to meet some of your favourite riders, a ride in the pace car at the Silverstone MotoGP, a signed Mick Doohan replica Arai helmet, signed Arai side pods from Ian Hutchinson and Kevin Schwantz, a signed Rossi cap and a signed canvas print of Crutchlow at the 2011 Misano MotoGP.

Info on how to register your interest for the auction just click here, or head over to the show to see what else is still available.

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