Africa Eco Race: Engines Engineering successfully tests its Dakar prototype

Satisfaction with the testing of the Engines Engineering developed prototype in the Africa Eco Race.

The testing of the Engines Engineering developed prototype based on a Ducati DesertX in Mina’s Africa Eco Race provided great results. Therefore, EE confirms the marketing of a series Ducati DesertX transformation kit to resemble the African rallies bike.

63-year-old Paolo Caprioni, in his fifth participation in the Eco Race, after having given the indications to define the technical characteristics of the project, brought the motorbike to the finish line in 20th position without encountering particular problems even in the hardest sections and on the sand dunes.

All with an essential organization: the official twin-cylinder teams had trucks following them. Caprioni limited himself to a single mechanic and two boxes of spare parts transported on truck of another team.

This is because the focus was not on performance but on the behavior of the bike and the effectiveness of the project, which features many cutting-edge elements. The entire rear part has been transformed with a revolutionary billet aluminum swingarm, an absolutely new solution that has saved almost 900 grams compared to the standard unit; technically it is a revolutionary choice.

The other highly advanced element is the aluminum monocoque rear frame/fuel tank assembly, which replaced the tube rear subframe of the standard bike, again with a notable weight saving.

On the prototype developed by the Bolognese engineering firm there are numerous other qualifying elements, in particular the Öhlins suspensions developed by Tiziano Monti of Imola in collaboration with Andreani Group. The swingarm is designed with an easily interchangeable part that varies the ride height of the bike and the rear wheel stroke from 295 to 285 mm to adapt the layout to the different terrains. The fork travel is 300 mm.

The men at Engines Engineering also designed the bodywork which is very beautiful in shape but above all to keep the fuel as close as possible to the bike center of gravity for the benefit of rideability.

The wheelbase was lengthened to increase stability since the bike intended primarily for fast rallies.

The engine raced by Caprioni was mechanically standard, however a lot of ECU development was done on the ECU by Engines Engineering to adapt the mapping to the specific conditions of a desert rally.