240bhp on a Road Legal Bike?

The future of sportsbikes is a very open-ended question at the moment. The 600 class is essentially dead - with each manufacturer attempting to make their smaller sports offerings a little more usable on the roads (no complaints here) so the big thousand class is the main area where they get to stretch themselves.

But honestly, how far can this be taken?

We rode a few of the latest big-thous this year and we were extremely impressed with the user-friendliness the BMW, a bit baffled at the complexity of the Fireblade and utterly terrified by the raw-ness of the Panigale V4S. In fact, in our video review of the V4S, I stated that it was basically un-reviewable, as it was far beyond what any normal road rider could ever want or need. It was borderline unusable on the roads, in our opinion.

So, of course, Ducati has gone and made a more powerful version.

Make no mistake about it - the new Panigale V4R is, essentially, a track bike. In road mode, it produces 218bhp (around the same as the Anniversary Fireblade) - but in track setup, it gets an extra thousand revs and can produce up to 237bhp.

You’ll need to use a specially-formulated Shell oil which ensures the best horsepower output, but it also reduces friction - and given that the Panigale runs extremely hot, to begin with, that’ll be a good thing - lest you prefer your legs cooked extra crispy.

Add it all together and you get 240.5bhp.

Everything else is, in essence, a road-going version of the World SBK bike.

Needless to say, we probably won’t be riding this one.