Ducati 888SP4

For 1992, there were two listed 888 Sport Production models: the SP4, and SPS (Sport Production Special). Sharing the bodywork of the 1992 851 Strada, they were both Monoposto, and while the SP4 retained the engine specifications of the earlier SP3, the SPS was almost a Corsa with lights. Except for a revised cooling system and curved radiator, the engine for the 888 SP4 was much the same as that of the SP3. The higher-specification SPS engine included 34 and 30mm valves, with the higher lift inlet camshaft of the 888 Corsa. The SPS also featured a Termignoni racing exhaust system with carbon fiber mufflers. The cooling system was from the Corsa, with a lightweight curved radiator and no electric fan.

Both the 888 SP4 and SPS featured the frame of the 1992 851 Strada, with revised footpeg mounts and bent outer tubes. The front brakes included Brembo "Gold

Series" P4.30/34 calipers. Also from the 1992 851 Strada came the pivoting gas tank—steel on the SP4, and quick-release carbon fiber on the 888 SPS. While the SP4 was certainly impressive, the SPS was undoubtedly the most exotic production motorcycle available in 1992. More than a decade later it remains unique, and the closest Ducati came to putting lights on a Corsa. It was also one of the rarest of all the limited edition models.

Source Ian Falloon

WHEN I FIRST saw the Italian word 'Erogazione', as applied to a motorcycle test, I assumed it referred to the horniness of its looks. It seemed to make sense: yeah, got lots of erogazione zones, those Ducatis. Trust the Eyeties to give a bike a drool factor.

Then I found out  that I was wrong and everything made even more sense. The word actually refers to power delivery. The SPS has power delivery sexy enough to get arrested. And if it doesn't, you might.

But talk about hiding your light under a bushel. To look at, it's just a SP4 with carbon fibre silencer cans, a mere 25 million lira-worth. How commonplace. How ordinary -when what actually lurks underneath is a slightly house-trained Corsa engine, almost like Fogarty's. This is a Duke like no other. It's a Duke that power-whcclies in third, rips through the quarter in 10.7 seconds, and reaches the ton from rest in around six.

Just 100 SPS models will be built. Visually, from the searing red paint to the bold racing number 1 on the fairing and the 'Desmoquattro' graphic on the seat, they're indistinguishable from 'ordinary' SP4s. Only those cans give the game away about what lurks beneath.

Underneath the rich paint is a 17 litre carbon fibre petrol tank. The fact that it's both missile-proof and illegal in the UK is ample evidence of the enduring nonsense of our Construction and Use regulations. Underneath that is a Corsa '92 engine which differs from the full-on racer only in that it wears a '91-spec Corsa exhaust cam, road transmission and starter motor. If you look carefully, you might spot the Corsa radiator, and the absence of the SP4's fan.

Like the SP4, the Duke has a full 888cc (94 x 64mm), breathing through four desmodromically-controlled valves and two belt-driven cams per cylinder. There's a six-speed box, dry clutch, and fully-mapped Weber Marelli fuel injection. The engine breathes through the biggest chokes in the business - 50mm - each with not one, but two injector nozzles.

Unlike the SP4, the crankcases, crank, pistons and inlet cam are pure Corsa. Ditto down-pipes and valve-gear. At 34mm, the inlet valves are 1mm bigger than the SP4's, with 1mm more lift. The 30mm exhaust valves are also 1mm bigger. Compression is up to 12:1. The SPS gets its own fuel injection chip — basically with Corsa mapping, but taking account of the air filter. To uprate the SPS to a full-on Foggy rep, all it needs is a Corsa '92 exhaust cam, airbox and chip - it's so easy that Ducati importer Moto Cinelli has already put one on the track.

The SP4 is no slowcoach. But the SPS, with 5kg less and nine horsepower more, is everything you'd expect — and more. For reasons best known in Bologna, the two bikes share the same 15/37 final drive ratio, so their top speeds are virtually identical — over 160mph. But the SPS scores with the sort of acceleration that helps Doug Polen kick ass.

In short, we're talking sub-Fire-Blade weight and FireBlade-levcl horsepower, but with V-twin Ero-gazione. Acceleration is searing, even before you realise the twist-grip has too much travel and you're only using half of it. Unlike more ordinary Ducatis, power feels flat below 6000rpm, then really takes off. According to the dyno it's an illusion — the flatness below is only in comparison to the irresistible punch above.

Before you've had time to work this out, you're somewhere on the far side of the redline. The motor is still pulling strong well beyond 10,000rpm (and making a very Corsa-like racket in the process: the exhaust is fairly muted, but all manner of booms and clatters rattle up from inside the fairing). This is a new phenomenon for Ducati, whose tachos have always been slightly compromised instruments. There was a time  with the Paso, for instance  when peak power used to arrive a week or so before the redline. The SPS is different. Its power peaks after the redline. I don't know if riding flat-out invalidates your warranty, but it's a rum do.

The chassis is identical to the SP4's - same chrome-moly steel frame, same ally swinger, same geometry (24.5° rake, 94mm trail, 56.3in wheelbase), and the same peerless Öhlins suspension. Pre-load, compression and rebound damping are adjustable at both ends. The 42mm upside-down forks, with 120mm of travel, are supremely good on the brakes, but patter mildly through turns. This suggests insufficient rebound damping and is, presumably, easily remedied from the myriad adjustments available. The rear unit, giving 110mm of wheel travel, is everything you'd expect of an Öhlins. Although the SP4 wears Michelins, this SPS wore Pirelli MP7 Sports: 130 section front, 180 rear on a whopping 5.5in rim.

Less so the 320mm Brembo four-pot brakes. Even when cold the lever comes back to the bar. There's no shortage of stopping power, or sensitivity, and it can be hauled down from flat-out with the tyre howling all the way. But it feels unconvincing, like they're in terminal fade.

With so much torque on tap, this particular Ducati feels twitchier than all previous eight-valvers. Ride smoothly, particularly when changing gear cranked over, and it behaves. Ride abruptly, and the head can wag in protest. Steering precision is otherwise excellent.

So, if you had one, what would you do? Would you leave the gearing as it is, and relish that sensational surge of acceleration? Or gear it up and blow off ordinary cooking models like the SP4? The question may be academic: of the 16 brought to the UK, all will be sold by the time you read this. EH

For 1992, there were two listed 888 Sport Production models: the SP4, and SPS (Sport Production Special). Sharing the bodywork of the 1992 851 Strada, they were both Monoposto, and while the SP4 retained the engine specifications of the earlier SP3, the SPS was almost a Corsa with lights. Except for a revised cooling system and curved radiator, the engine for the 888 SP4 was much the same as that of the SP3. The higher-specification SPS engine included 34 and 30mm valves, with the higher lift inlet camshaft of the 888 Corsa. The SPS also featured a Termignoni racing exhaust system with carbon fiber mufflers. The cooling system was from the Corsa, with a lightweight curved radiator and no electric fan.

Both the 888 SP4 and SPS featured the frame of the 1992 851 Strada, with revised footpeg mounts and bent outer tubes. The front brakes included Brembo "Gold Series" P4.30/34 calipers.

Also from the 1992 851 Strada came the pivoting gas tank—steel on the SP4, and quick-release carbon fiber on the 888 SPS. While the SP4 was certainly impressive, the SPS was undoubtedly the most exotic production motorcycle available in 1992. More than a decade later it remains unique, and the closest Ducati came to putting lights on a Corsa. It was also one of the rarest of all the limited edition models.