![Bugatti Bird-gate Followup: Driver identity revealed <b>[*UPDATE:</b> Now with actual crash video!]](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/11/bugatti-veyron-swim-1258147199_143x85.jpg)
Rapom V8 bike produces 1,200 horsepower and loose bowels
What to do with that spare Mopar big block you've got left over from your monster truck project? Why, let's build a motorcycle! We're not using our arms that much, anyway, so we might as well just tear 'em right out of the sockets; it's not like we perform manual labor, we're keyboard jockeys. Voice-recognition software will ensure our job security once the old extremities are history, anyway.
Bike owner and builder Nick Argyle got out of the monster-truck business but still wanted a nice toy. He'd downsized his shop, so the available space dictated a motorcycle. Nick's wife was down with it as long as he used the engine he had sitting around -- an 8.2-liter supercharged Mopar V8. Whooee! That's a lotta iron to climb over just to get to the drag strip. It's road legal, and some ingenuity led to the engine being used as a stressed member of the frame. Note also the routing of the supercharger drive belt through the front forks.
Basically, the bike looks like a couple of wheels bolted onto an engine. Sure, that describes essentially every motorcycle on the road. In this instance, however, it's supremely cool (and strange) to see an engine sitting there looking just as it would under the hood of a car, but with a set of handlebars and a drive chain connected to it. There's no performance data, but some rough math assuming a 1500lb total weight (blown Mopar big blocks aren't light -- the engine alone probably weighs 1000 pounds) and using the provided horsepower figure of 1200 gives an estimated quarter-mile ET of 6.27 seconds with a trap speed of 217 MPH.
Damn.
We'd be curious to see actual ETs, as we just scratched a few things out on paper without knowing gearing or the actual weight using the handy formulas in our Auto Math Handbook. Even if it didn't go fast, it looks mean, and we bet it sounds even meaner with those wide open headers. WHAT!?
More photos after the jump
[Source: Carscoop]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
john 12:01AM (2/01/2009)
I would kill myself on a bike like that!
Reply
Tim Reinhardt 5:13PM (1/25/2007)
I can imagine driving this at WOT. A blower explosion is not a pretty site on a funny car. I don't think a helmet will be enough to protect this guy
Reply
Jason 9:51AM (1/25/2007)
This thing looks like eventual death to the rider. I hope that guy has life insurance. What a ridiculous bike.
Reply
Din 2:39PM (1/25/2007)
I am not an expert in transmissions, but it's hard to believe that this bike actually transfers 1200 HP to the back wheel via a chain. All I know is that chains are just not suitable for the torque produced by this engine.
Reply
Eric B 9:57AM (1/25/2007)
Holy Crap!
The rear tire is so wide, the bike doesn't even need a stand. That's hilarious.
Noticed also, there's no gearbox. Mind you, I think there's enough torque to not stall on takeoff...
I pray the blower belt doesn't let go too often - he's gotta take the whole front end apart to change it!
Forget about taking corners at any kind of speed, though - how the hell do you lean a MT anyway??
Yeah, hug your hubby tight, cuz he may not be around for long if he's actually thinking of starting that bad boy up and letting the clutch out.
Reply
Chris 11:28AM (1/25/2007)
He basically took the Chrysler Tomahawk design and went a little nuts. I just pray that the guy doesn't open it up on the highway... I think the look on his wife's face pretty much sums up her feelings on the matter.
Reply
no5 10:56AM (1/25/2007)
what's 'trap speed'
Reply
Colin Smith 2:28PM (1/25/2007)
How useful!
Reply
MikeW 2:11PM (1/25/2007)
What no drive chain on both sides of the rear wheel? [2 chains]
It is not legal in the US, no anything [mufflers, lights, etc.]
Reply
Lynn Reid 7:59AM (2/07/2007)
How can this bike be road legal? I don't see turn signals, mirrows or mufflers. The new EPA rules are really changing on one off bikes like this. Its getting tougher. Hang it on the wall as useless.
Reply
Lynn Reid 12:51PM (1/25/2007)
How can this bike be road legal? I don't see turn signals, mirrows or mufflers. The new EPA rules are really changing on one off bikes like this. Its getting tougher. Hang it on the wall as useless.
Reply
Lynn Reid 8:00AM (2/07/2007)
How can this bike be road legal? I don't see turn signals, mirrows or mufflers. The new EPA rules are really changing on one off bikes like this. Its getting tougher. Hang it on the wall as useless.
Reply
Kevin White 1:14PM (1/25/2007)
A 50cc moped would smoke this thing on any kind of twisty road...
Reply
C'est Raoul 3:07PM (1/25/2007)
Some say masturbating can lead to deafness...
This too...
Reply
Steve 3:43PM (1/25/2007)
no5, trap speed is the speed at the end of the measured distance, in this case quarter mile.
Reply
Manish M. Patel 4:52PM (1/25/2007)
Not enough horsepower.
Does the supercharger doubles as a headlamp?
Reply
James Sonne 4:53PM (1/25/2007)
How on EARTH do you "estimate" to three significant figures, to 1/100th of a second? That's meaningless.
Reply
Larry Edgarton 5:44AM (1/26/2007)
I don't care what all of you pansys say, real men don't need a reason other than it can be done.
Cool Beans!
Reply
damn_fast 5:23PM (1/25/2007)
Hah.Even dragster bikes are pritier than this "bike".
When i heard for 3.0l bike i laughed.
I knew that american felows like big choppers but this is more than stupid.
That thing (whatever it is) can not be handled on road.For example - see 1.3l - 499hp Hayabusa how hard handles.
By the way i know some 14,4l V8 diesel plants - does someone wants build a "super bike"?!? :D
Reply
Dan O 8:00PM (1/25/2007)
1200 hp is a theoretical number because there is no way to put those ponies to the ground without torching the rear tire.
It's simply saying "I've got 1200 horses here but a 1000 of them are completely useless".
Reply