Four times World Superbike Champion Carl Fogarty will be reunited with the manufacturer with which he achieved his greatest success by taking to the track at Oulton Park onboard a Ducati 848 race bike during this weekend's MCE British Superbike Championship finale.

Carl will take part in a track demonstration around the majestic 2.69 miles parkland circuit to promote the Ducati 848 Challenge which following its inaugural year, will expand to include selected BSB Championship events in 2011.

Carl, whose racing career was abruptly and prematurely curtailed in an accident in Philip Island, Australia, last rode for Ducati in 2000 after clinching four world titles and 55 of his 59 WSB race wins for the famous Italian marque, and few will forget the halcyon days of Carl onboard a Ducati in front of 120,000 adoring fans year after year at Brands Hatch.

Oulton Park also figured prominently in Carl's British Championship career as the circuit most local to his native Blackburn home, and he is honoured permanently at the Cheshire venue with the naming of the Fogarty Moss Centre, which serves as the venues administration and hospitality facility.

The new Ducati 848 Evo twin cylinder Supersport machine has received rave reviews, being described by Motorcycle News as "an exquisite machine" and "there's nothing the Evo can't do". Further details of the 2011 Ducati 848 Challenge will be announced during this weekend's title deciding final round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park.

Carl Fogarty will take to the track at 14.45 on Sunday 10 October.





Ducati 848 Engine

The new 848 Testastretta Evoluzione engine becomes the benchmark for the middleweight sportbike category, benefiting from all the experience accumulated with the larger engine on the 1098.

It successfully adopts the same design guidelines and the same compact cylinder and cylinder head layout, but introduces for the first time ever an innovative solution for the crankcase, which has been designed with a further weight reduction for this advanced engine in mind. The overall layout of this engine integrates a series of avant-guard solutions, confirming the close links with the experience of Ducati’s racing department.

The 849 cc engine has bore and stroke values of 94 mm and 61.2 mm respectively, which produce a ratio that is only slightly inferior to the 1098 (1.54 compared with 1.61), while maintaining the highly "over-square" layout typical of racing engines.

Power output is an impressive 134 hp (98.5 kW) at 10,000 rpm and maximum torque is 9.8 kgm (96 Nm) at 8250 rpm. The power and torque values confirm the high performance level of this engine, especially when compared to its predecessor, the Testastretta-engined 749.

The cylinder head has been modified in line with the characteristic bore and stroke of the engine in order to optimize the fluid dynamics of the intake (straight and plunging) and exhaust ducts and combustion chamber. The compression ratio is 12:1.

The valve angle is the same as the 1098 engine and diameter is 39.5 mm for the inlet valve and 32 mm for the exhaust. The technology used sees the application of a bi-metallic alloy that combines increased lightness with resistance and reliability required for these particular components.

The Desmodromic control system has also been designed with the weight and the inertia of the new components in mind, allowing extremely efficient valve lift during intake and exhaust phases. The excellent results achieved are confirmed by the engine’s power figures, producing outstanding performance thanks also to the use of MotoGP-derived elliptical throttle bodies, which have been fitted to the 1098 engine.

The design of a dedicated elliptical throttle body for the 848 demonstrates the attention that Borgo Panigale engineers have devoted to the development of the Superbike range. The cross-section is reduced from the 60 sq. mm of the 1098 to 56 sq. mm so as to optimize fluid dynamics at every engine speed. Just like on the 1098, the new cylinder heads benefit from fewer components and include magnesium covers.

For the first time ever, this Testastretta Evoluzione engine sees the introduction of a special technology for the construction of the engine crankcase: Vacural casting.

This is a forced vacuum die casting method that allows jet characteristics to be improved thanks to the absence of porosity, gas inclusion and oxidation. This allows extremely high measurement precision and greater ductility for aluminum alloy.

Designers have been able to harness the benefits of this innovative process by redefining the shape and the wall thickness of the new crankcase by means of FEA (Finite Element Analysis) checks, which allowed the required reliability standards to be achieved, while simultaneously obtaining a significant weight saving of 3.5 kg.

The 848 engine is fitted with a silent modular wet clutch, characterized by an exceptional resistance to wear that will lead to superior duration. This solution makes a useful contribution to weight saving, estimated to be around 1.6 kg, which is also due to the use of a different type of clutch cover.

The high power figures achieved by this engine also come from the use of the same type of oil cooler and coolant radiator as the 1098’s engine, with an increased surface area assisted by lightweight, high flow electric fan assemblies.

Finally, the 848’s exhaust system follows the same layout and uses the same innovative technology as the 1098. The system terminates with Ducati’s trademark twin under-seat silencers, delivering the unmistakable signature sound of the big bore 90° L-Twin.

This power unit, just like all the other Ducati engines, has been designed to comply with Euro 3 exhaust emission norms.