Potent Pr Ovocation
POTENT PR OVOCATION
MV AGUSTA BRUTALE 1080
Want an outrageous, exclusive, over-the-top naked bike? Simple: Crack open the MV catalog, bring $60,000.
JUERGEN GASSEBNER
HOCKENHEIM pitlane. Dirk Raudies, former 125cc world roadracing champion, starts the engine of a very special MV Agusta Brutale. He rhythmically opens the throttle, warming the oil. The “big block” 1080 responds, roaring deeply through its titanium exhaust, telling a story of massive torque and power.
A stock Brutale 9IOS is already a pretty potent piece, but this bike takes things to an entirely new level, mixing parts from various MV models and the
company’s extensive accessories catalog. It was commissioned by MV’s German importer, though Italy was very much involved. The motor was built by none other than Andrea Goggi, Agusta’s head of engine development.
When the four-cylinder debuted in 1999, it was as a 749-bad timing as the moto-world was turning its back on 750s and embracing full 1000s. Increasing both bore and stroke in 2005 resulted in the 998cc F4 1000 repli-racer. The naked Brutale, deemed not to need as much power, kept the same 76mm bore as the F4 but made do with a 5mm-shorter stroke, at 50mm, for a 909cc displacement.
So for this Hockenheim hot-rod, why not bolt an F4 motor into the engine bay, get an extra 90cc and call it a day?
Well, Goggi was hard at work on the ultimate derivation of MV’s engine, one that would debut late in 2006 at the Milan motorcycle show powering the F4CC, at $120,000 the world’s most-expensive production sportbike. The German Brutale would make a perfect testbed for Goggi’s heavybreather.
Its bores were taken out as far as the block would allow, 79mm. Combined with the 55mm stroke, this gave a displacement of 1078cc. Camshafts from the F4 1000 Tamburini were fitted, as were pistons giving a 14.0:1 compression ratio. When new mapping for the fuel-injection was tuned in, the result was a whopping 180 crankshaft horsepower!
Too much, says MV Agusta Germany’s General Manager
Udo Doerich, for an unfaired, all-around machine: “What we wanted was massive torque at midrange revs, rather than a top-weighted hit and a peaky power curve.”
So while the F4CC powerplant with additional headwork would go on to make 195 hp, this Brutale’s motor was retrofitted with stock 910 cams that fattened up the power curve. Dyno results were satisfying, the engine delivering 169 hp at 10,500 rpm, a 24 percent increase over a stock 910’s 136 hp. But much more important was the prodigious torque reading of 95 foot-pounds at a moderate 7200 rpm, up 35 percent on the Stocker’s 70 ft.-lb. at 7600 rpm.
“This should be good fun,” yells Raudies before he snicks into first gear and roars down pitlane for his 10-lap session on the long German F-l circuit. The Hockenheimring will be a good test for the hopped-up Brutale, with everything from tight low-gear corners to the super-fast Parabólica Curve, a never-ending lefthander you take in sixth gear, full on the gas. The 1080 is running 170 mph in this section, then Raudies has to somehow get slowed for the upcoming right hairpin, which allows 40 mph at best.
Time for an examination of the chassis, then. The upscale R-model Brutale lent its Y-spoke forged Brembo wheels; likewise the radial-mount, four-piston front brake calipers, also by Brembo. The latter mate to 91 OS fork tubes via wonderfully machined black-anodized carriers. Suspension specialist WP replaced the fork’s innards with the same shims
and springs as German Superbike rider Joerg Teuchert used in his F4 1000S racer, then coated the stanchions with lowfriction carbon-nitride for improved response. At the rear there’s a Sachs shock borrowed from the limited-edition F4 Tamburini. This nicely made component allows adjustment of spring preload plus lowand high-speed compression and rebound damping.
When Raudies comes back to the pits, the stopwatch shows a Rat 2:00-minute lap as his best time. To put that in perspective, in the German Naked Bike racing series, the best riders get around in l minute, 55 seconds, but on fully kitted racebikes with slicks and at least 10 to 20 hp more.
“With a dry weight of 373 pounds, handling is absolutely fantastic-thanks here to all the carbon-fiber bits and the magnesium triple-clamps, frame plates and swingarm from the MV Corse catalog,” says Raudies. “On the other hand you have to be very careful on the gas, otherwise you’ll produce power-wheelies even in fourth gear!”
“It’s a one-off bike, and we’re not going to produce a series of them,” says Doerich in response to the obvious question about the Brutale 1080. As it sits, dripping in mag and ti and c-f, wearing special bodywork from one of 300 “America” kits and shoved down the road by its tuned motor, figure a bill somewhere north of S60K, or about three times more than a current 910R.
Still, from a company with the stones to sell a sportbike for twice that much, a big-bore Brutale is in no way out of the question. What say, Varese? □
