But there’s still plenty of magic on the Isle of Man, much of that to be found at 6am on the mountain section, tucked in behind the screen of a superlative sportsbike. And they don’t come any more superlative than the Ducati 1098R. This £24,000 hand-assembled masterpiece is as savage as it is beautiful, arguably worth every penny and was my personal guide around the famous twists and turns of the fastest island in the world
Rolling off the Steam Packet ferry in Douglas at 5am I was greeted by a stunning sunrise that turned the whole sky a deep crimson, not to mention a few dirty looks from the few locals who were awake at that un-Godly hour. To allow the traction control system to be used the 1098R was running Termignoni race silencers, but judging from the din I think the word silencer is a bit misleading. The catastrophic racket from tickover the 1098R was making was akin to two warring parties attacking each other with an array of large cannons. There is absolutely no way of being subtle on this bike, I don’t think it could have been any louder if I had removed the whole exhaust system wholesale and chucked it in the sea.
Trying to be as subtle as possible I attempted to keep the Ducati close to the 30mph limit and followed the signs towards the famous mountain section. I say attempted to stay close to the 30mph limit because on the 1098R it’s impossible to go this slowly. When I rode it on its launch around the circuit of Jerez I remember saying it was the closest thing to a race bike I had ever ridden, and on the road that is exactly what it feels like.
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