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Citar:2021 Ducati Diavel 1260 Lamborghini

Another special edition power cruiser from Borgo Panigale



If you think hard, Ducati’s power cruiser, the Diavel, remains a big question mark 10 years on from its introduction. Then-CEO Gabriele Del Torchio was negotiating the acquisition of Ducati by Audi and he really wanted to polish all the silverware in order to trade the Borgo Panigale motorcycle brand at the highest possible price. Ducati was VW-Audi boss Ferdinand Piëch’s special gift for his 75th birthday. He wanted Ducati badly because he had been a long believer of Dr. Taglioni’s desmodromic valve actuation. Del Torchio wanted to add new models into Ducati’s Pandora box, and so he forced his technical team to give life to something absolutely outstanding that would add more value to the marque.

Enter the Panigale 1200 and the Diavel. The Panigale 1200, powered by the most advanced and fascinating V-twin in history, built in the Ducati tradition of supreme superbikes. Diavel was almost the opposite, a model that was treading on unknown turf. In the Ducati way, the Diavel was loaded with power never seen before on a cruiser and was styled to the extreme. Sure, it proved the most powerful, the fastest cruiser in production, and it did it in good composure thanks to a sportbike-derived chassis. But how the Diavel was perceived by cruisers communities around the world and how well it fared on the market we will never know for sure. “Mixed” is the best way to interpret the market’s reaction.

To me it seems that it has lived on a sequence of well-publicized numbered “special editions” that helped keep the name alive. The recent XDiavel Dark and Black Star are part of this marketing policy, and now comes the ultimate variation: the Ducati Diavel 1260 Lamborghini.

Ducati and Lamborghini both are under the umbrella of the Audi Group and their factories are set few miles apart in that very special section of Italy known as Motor Valley where in less than 70 miles you go from Dallara in Parma, to Ferrari and Maserati in Modena, to Ducati in Bologna, plus a myriad of fantastic little shops where grinders and lathes and CNC machinery turn out mechanical components that are real jewels.



Ducati and Lamborghini joined styling department forces to create a very special edition of the Diavel, vastly inspired by the unique Lamborghini Sián FKP 37, the most powerful Lamborghini ever designed that will be manufactured in a numbered batch of 63 units, to celebrate the year Lamborghini was founded—1963. Its unique, hybrid power unit delivers a total of 819 hp.

First, the Diavel 1260 Lamborghini shares the same very special tone of metallic green known as Gea Green. New panels and air intakes have been added to complete the design of the Diavel and make it more muscular and car inspired. Every detail shows supreme quality execution. The relationship with the Sián FKP 37 is strongly underlined by the forged aluminum wheels featuring the same spoke design and the same gold coloring, shared also by the classic steel tubing trellis frame. With the help of extensive use of carbon fiber body parts, plus exhaust system tips, the Diavel 1260 Lamborghini keeps its dry weight at a claimed 485 pounds. Only a touch of red comes from the Brembo front brake Monoblock calipers.

As its identification announces, the Diavel 1260 Lamborghini is powered by the very special 1,262cc variation of the Testastretta Ducati 90-degree V-twin featuring the unique DVT (aka Desmo Variable Timing) to deliver a solid 162 hp at 9,500 rpm and a generous 95 pound-feet of peak torque at 7,500 rpm in this new Euro 5 homologated execution.



Suspension is by Öhlins: A 48 millimeter fork and gas-charged rear monoshock, both fully adjustable. The electronics suite is top class, based on a Bosch six-axis inertial platform 6D IMU that manages all major riding and safety assist functions: ABS cornering control, traction and wheelie control, and power launch control. The TFT display of the instrumentation manages the Ducati Multimedia connectivity system.

To underline the association with the Lamborghini supercar, Diavel 1260 Lamborghini shows a big number “63” on the radiator side panels, but in this case the numbered units will be 630. Price to be announced at a later date.