Video: McLaren 12C vs Ducati 1199 Panigale S - supercar vs superbike showdown

2 April 2014
Feature

The Ducati 1199 Panigale S is a mould-breaking superbike, but how will it fare against one of our favourite supercars, the McLaren 12C? Will the McLaren's sheer power and incredible braking power be too much for the Ducati? Or will the Panigale's epic power to weight ratio rule the day?

Our last supercar vs superbike outing saw the Nissan GT-R beat a Ducati 1098 at Cadwell - will the Panigale level the score this time out?

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Comments
27

kendwilcox47

31 January 2014
Steve a very good vid,next time perhaps you could use the M600
I think the bike would have to work a bit harder.
Keep up the good work Steve.

fadyady

31 January 2014
There seems occasions when the McLaren driver may have suppressed the urge to nudge the Ducati but that would have been game over for the Panigale S and we don't want that. Certainly not.

TBC

31 January 2014
The M600 has slightly more power and is slightly lighter, however on a track, the breaking performance is king, and I'm not convinced that it would be any faster than the 12C, as borne out by the times posted at the Top Gear track. A stripped down, track focused, but road legal, 12C might be another proposition however....................

Ofir

31 January 2014
Yes, a track car like a Radical or perhaps even Exige S Cup would win. In short, a car closer to 1000 KG would have the edge.

Scudtimes

31 January 2014
This is not an impressive display of how fast that bike is, it's a more impressive display that the 12C with it's air con, sat nav, comfy seats, beautify styling and day to day practicality can give a top of the line super bike a run for it's money. Not to mention doing it all in safety that compared with the bike is simply laughable.

If we're comparing whats faster, 2 wheels or 4 - this is the wrong test and actually the bike should be embarrassed it didn't clear up more! Be interesting to see how a spot of rain might effect the situation ; )

david RS

31 January 2014
Surprising.
And a McLaren with half slick tyres?

Matthew Langton

1 February 2014
Quite shocking to think that a bike with over 1000hp per tone can only go 1.6 seconds faster than 400 odd bhp per ton car. It's really embarrassing. Imagine what a 480hp Radical would do to the bike.......it would murder it. Why not next time use a Mclaren 12C GT3 with a similar track focused pedigree as the Ducati. This is the problem with a large majority of these bike vs car comparisons.....they don't use cars that have a similar power to weight ratio and focus. Steve......next time use a Radical!!!!

TBC

1 February 2014
I guess it comes down to how much of an adrenaline junky you are.............

Biter

1 February 2014
In the lucky position of owning both a nice car and nice bike, I don't really get these comparisons. Surely we own such things for enjoyment and the enjoyment of riding or driving, and in this respect the bike wins by a huge margin. On almost any given day (Bar snow or freezing rain) the bike will deliver more smiles per mile and get you from A-B faster and ensure you get to go around your favourite bends at your speed rather than the speed of the car/s your stuck behind.

Sure you could find a faster car to put on the track! But no cars will be as fast point to point on the road. Times in which even on my favourite 25 mile cross country route my bike delivers me several minutes faster rather than seconds.

I love fast cars, but the speed of them is becoming less and less relevant on today's roads.

Matthew Langton

1 February 2014
1.6 seconds is not a huge margin.......considering you have a extra 600hp per ton up your sleeve......a 1.6 second margin is pathetic.

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