The second Ducati Superbike coffee table book by this renown author
As the name suggests, this new book is a follow-up to Alan Cathcart’s first Ducati Superbike book on the factory’s desmo V-twin Superbike racers, which was published last year. That volume covered the history of these bikes during the desmoquattro era from 1988 to 2001, whereas this latest book deals with the remaining years of their participation in the World Superbike series from the arrival of the testastretta engine in 2002, on up to the day the V-twin music died with the debut of the V4 R in 2019. During that time, Ducati won five World Superbike Riders championships with these bikes.
But uniquely, as with the first Ducati Superbike volume, this latest work covers these motorcycles from a hands-on perspective. That’s because Cathcart was fortunate enough to be the only journalist in the world to have track-tested all but two of the factory Ducati desmo V-twin Superbikes, which participated in the Superbike World Championship down the years from its foundation in 1988 up to 2015. This book is a compendium of such tests covering the years in the title.
In addition, Cathcart’s assessments of each bike include the crucial insight of the men who raced them for the Italian factory, including Troy Bayliss, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland, Nori Haga, Carlos Checa and Chaz Davies. And once again, a key feature is the exclusive photos showing these historic Ducati factory racers both with and without bodywork, thus allowing Superbike race fans to admire the previously hidden secrets of these marvellous bikes.
Like his previous Superbike book, this book has been published in both English and Italian on the same pages. Full details are available at motoitaliane.it. It is only available via mail order to be shipped anywhere in the world.
It’s available in a limited edition of just 1098 copies (of course!) as a large format (30×23 cm) hardcover volume printed on quality paper, with 180 pages and 87 full page photos. It costs €39.00, or about CDN$56, plus shipping.
