Welcome to my 749RS blog. This blog exists to catalogue the information I gather about this rare and unusual bike - the Ducati 749RS.
TerminologyThroughout these posts, I use the term 749Rs to mean 749R in the plural and 749RS for the factory designation. Kit R means a bike fitted with the Corse supersports engine kit.
Background
Other people have documented the Ducati 749R elsewhere, but it's worth reviewing some of the history of the R as a background to this work.
The 749R was released in 2004 as a limited run, numbered homgulation special. The factory created the bike to be used for both Superstock and Supersports racing. The 'standard' R had many unique parts: rear shock, rocker arm, cams and followers, crank and pistons as well as externally visible items - lighter wheels, carbon fairings and top fairing supports, magnesium cam covers. These were mostly intended to improve racing performance. Superstock has very strict rules governing the modifications allowed to a bike: essentially, the bike should be very close to something that you or I could buy in a showroom. Supersports allow a number of modifications to engine and suspension internals, but externally, the bike must look like the showroom model: wheels, brakes and frame and certain other items (airbox etc.), must be production items.
I currently own a Ducati 749R that was built by JHP alongside their BSB Supersports racers. It is fitted with the Ducati Corse engine kit and other Corse parts. It's a very, very special bike and a pleasure to own and ride.
The first thing to know about the RS is:
there is no RS.
With all other models; the 748RS, the 996, 998 and 1098RS, there was an officially produced model that was sold by the factory as the ultimate race bike for that model. For the 749, the R was the race bike. It was not possible to buy an RS from the factory that had been built only from RS parts.
The SuperSports rules specified that the race bikes had to be based on production parts and, although it was possible to buy an R built with RS parts directly from Ducati Corse, the top yoke still bears the identifying number and R designation. Ducati took an R from the production line, walked it over to the Corse production line and fitted the race kit to it. Interestingly, despite including data acquisition, race water and oil coolers and showing no road lighting or emission systems whatsoever, even the race catalogue is simply entitled Spare Parts Catalogue for 749R Model Year 2004.
Kits, kits and RS's
Prior to investigating the RS, it was commonly accepted in the 749R community that there was one factory-supplied kit for the 749R - the Supersports engine kit. This kit took an R motor from around 118bhp to over 135 at the wheel. It comprised new cylinder heads, heavily revised cams, an exhaust and ecu. It cost around £6,000 at the time and required a great deal of money and expertise to fit and have running correctly.
Since starting this investigation, John Hackett at JHP has confirmed that there was another kit supplied by the factory. This one cost at least £22,000 and extended the engine kit to deliver:
- wiring loom
- twin pickup ecu
- lcd dash
- high capacity airtubes
- race fairing support
- two piece carbon fairing
- revised fork internals
- race rear shock
- race radiators and oil coolers similar in appearance to those used on the 998RS and 999RS
- race gearbox
Additionally, a telemetry kit was available. Part of it can be seen in the picture at the top of this page as a small additional rod behind the front fork leg.
The cost of the kit was added to the price of the base R: to go racing, a team would have to buy a bike - £14,000, add the £22,000 kit and build it. From my experience of the supersports engine kit, it is one thing to build the motor, but something else entirely to get the most out of it. To get to the grid could cost over £50,000.
Most of the 749RS race bikes were fitted with this kit by race teams, however a few factory and factory supported riders were supplied with RS bikes directly from the factory. Practically, there is no difference between a factory supplied bike and a customer bike fitted with the kit, however, once the bikes left the factory, they were often further developed, within the rules of the race series.