To celebrate its 90th anniversary Ducati has unveiled the new 1299 Panigale S Anniversario. The limited-edition 1299 Panigale S Anniversario — just 500 bikes will be made — features an all-new colour scheme and technical content. Inspiration for the 1299 Panigale S Anniversario’s colours was drawn from Ducati race bikes. Its white, black and Ducati Red fairings perfectly complement its special gold wheels.
Based on the new Ducati 1299 Panigale S, the Anniversario edition gets the same power, agility and sophistication, wrapped in one of the best Italian superbike styles. But it is not just the cosmetic updates that makes the bike special, there is also a bevy of technical upgrades as well.
The 1299 Panigale S Anniversario include its top triple clamp and steering head inserts, both in machined-from-solid aluminium alloy. Each top triple clamp is unique in that it has been laser-etched with the bike’s unique production number of 500. The steering head inserts shift the front wheel forward 5 mm, giving the same chassis geometry as the incredible Panigale R. Moreover, a light lithium battery, together with carbon fibre heel guards, rear mudguard and shock absorber cover reduce weight by 2.5 kg.
The electronics on the 1299 Panigale S Anniversario incorporates all-new traction and wheelie control, representing a major evolution of such systems; hence the name Ducati Traction Control (DTC) and Ducati Wheelie Control (DWC) EVO.
The twin-cylinder, 1285 cc, 205 hp Superquadro engine features Engine Brake Control, which optimises vehicle stability under extreme turn-in conditions. The suspension department, instead, offers up Ducati Electronic Suspension and Öhlins Smart EC; the latter is an event-based control system that processes information about the bike and accordingly uses stepper motors to dynamically adjust the suspension set-up during riding, improving cornering grip, stability, braking, turn-in, handling and riding comfort.
The 1299 Panigale S Anniversario also features TFT instrumentation, as well as customizable Ducati Riding Modes (Race, Sport and Wet) that allow the rider to have tailor-made performance.
To emphasise the sports performance of the 1299 Panigale S Anniversario even further, the bike comes with a racing kit consisting of an Akrapovič Racing exhaust in titanium, billet aluminium mirror blockoff plates, and a cover for the hole created by removing the license-plate holder for track days.
all images courtesy of Ducati