This is serious stuff – a street-legal motorcycle powered by a Rolls-Royce Allison gas turbine engine. Originally designed for a helicopter, it runs on diesel fuel and produces 224 kW of power (that’s 300 old-fashioned horses) and a massive 576 Nm of torque (on par with a large truck engine).
Twist the throttle and it sprints from 0-320 km/h in 15 seconds, covering the standing quarter-mile in 9.8 seconds. If this information leaves you unmoved, you probably had an unfortunate accident with your bicycle’s crossbar as a youth…
What’s more, the Y2K Turbine Superbike is equally at home in city traffic and ultra-quick highway dashes. According to the lucky few who’ve ridden it, the bike delivers smooth acceleration and handles surprisingly well.
Innovation and superior craftsmanship are apparent everywhere, from the high-tech carbon fibre wheels to the “rear view mirror” – a video camera coupled to a dash-mounted monitor.
According to its manufacturer, Marine Turbine Technologies of Louisiana, USA, the Y2K is built for “the ultimate connoisseur” who knows what he wants and is prepared to pay through the nose to get it – in this case, a heady R1.7-million.
Visitors to the Melbourne International Motor Show, which gets under way this week, will have a chance to see a Y2K in the figurative flesh. It will share the superstar spotlight with exciting new bikes from BMW, Honda and Harley-Davidson and new super-sportscars from Lamborghini, Maserati, Morgan and the Australian company Carbontech.
The Y2K has already attracted some celebrity owners, including the lantern-jawed Tonight Show host and comic, Jay Leno, who bought the first production bike (Serial Number 002) and rides it regularly.
He says of his wheels: "Once you are rolling, it’s like the hand of God pushing you in the back. It’s frightening! The engine’s meant to lift a 5 000 kg helicopter and it’s only pushing a 230 kg bike!"
Another satisfied owner is the sculptor Laranzo Ghiglieri, 70, who ordered his machine painted gold – using real gold dust.
The Y2K features a welded billet aluminium frame with a rake of 27.5 degrees, a seat height of 800 mm and a wheelbase of 1803 mm. It sits on 17-inch carbon fibre wheels.
The 54 mm front forks have adjustable rebound and compression and the shock absorbers are Mono-Shock adjustable units from Fournales. The huge (320 mm) front and rear Brembo disc brakes have six-pot Ferodo callipers.
Now to the engine room. The diesel-fuelled gas turbine develops its maximum power at 6000 rpm, with maximum torque available at 2000rpm. The compressor spins at 54 000 rpm.
Transmission? Well, there’s just one gear (plus neutral), so the choice of cogs is not exactly overwhelming.
* Unfamiliar with the operation of a gas turbine? Here’s how the people at Marine Turbine Technologies (MTT) describe it:
“By definition, a turbine is an engine turned by the force of gas on fan blades. The concept is simple: fuel is atomised in a combustion chamber located in front of the turbine wheels, which are spooled up by an electric starter.
“Upon ignition, the gas emitted from the combustion process expands, causing the fan blades to spin and producing incredible power in the form of thrust or shaft horsepower. Because all the moving parts spin, turbines are well suited to run for long periods at high power without self destructing like their reciprocating counterparts.
“MTT uses power turbines in its installations. Instead of using thrust for propulsion, power turbines have output shafts, which are coupled to driveline components. Found in turbo-prop aircraft and helicopters, power turbines are excellent power sources in many applications.”
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