There's nothing quite like motorcycles. The idea of being on two wheels, on a saddle that sits upon enough fuel to set you on fire, a combustion engine that’s made out of a thousand moving parts ... the road, the ability to be one with the elements ... it’s almost like the rest of the world ceases to move when you twist your wrist on that throttle.
Add to that the ability to do whatever the heck you want to a motorcycle, customize it to your own whims, and paint it yellow! Now that’s some cool shite. Exactly what Aussie engineer and moto enthusiast Ian Drysdale did with this V8 superbike in 1997.
“I have always thought that bikes could be better,” Drysdale says in our chat. “As Henry Ford (apparently) said, 'Ask people what they want and they'll say a faster horse.' Same with motorcycle racers – they don't want something revolutionary, they just want something 2% faster than last year.”
Now that’s one way to look at motorcycles. So let’s start with the heart of the machine. It runs on a 749cc V8 – yes, V8 – with a flat-plane 180-degree Ferrari-style crankshaft – yes, Ferrari – with 32 valves and four overhead cams. It produced about 120 horsepower at 16,000 rpm, revving to over 17,000 rpm – yes, 17,000 rpm. That was enough power for competitive racing with the 750s of the late 90s.
Per Drysdale, it stacked up against like-for-like factory-made track bikes of 1997 pretty well. He raced the V8 a couple of times but had minor teething problems – an oil surge that destroyed a crankshaft, an oil filter blowing off as the internal relief valve was blocked – those sorts of things. He says he never had the budget to mount a serious race effort.
Working with V8s was risky at the time considering the inherent complexity, weight, and balance issues. “The 750-V8 started off as a 1080cc V-twin 2-stroke (2 KTM 540s in one crankcase), but things got out of hand," explains Drysdale. “It was originally intended as a sidecar racing motor but that is a small market, so I designed it so that it would fit into a two-wheeled motorcycle chassis as well. In the end, it was never used in a sidecar as the international regulations for sidecar engines kept changing all the time.”
This model had six-piston front brake calipers and a fully adjustable inverted Yamaha front fork as part of the high-spec suspension. A special transverse/underslung "scissor action" system for the rear suspension controls a specially designed Ohlins shock.
Duncan Harrington, an Australian industrial designer and motorbike enthusiast, created the bike's eye-catching one-piece fiberglass bodywork.
Drysdale is a rather interesting Aussie bloke, born and raised on a dairy farm, then trained as a fitter and turner, toolmaker, tool and gauge design draftsman, and hydraulics technician. He also went to university for an engineering degree – which he never ended up finishing.
Apparently, he ended up making another one that was a 1,000cc V8 that used the FZR600 heads – which again, was well and truly competitive against 1,000cc bikes of the late 1990's.
Strangely enough, that bike ended up getting stolen about seven years ago. The story goes like this ... The owner had it chained to his Harley. Three guys broke into his underground car park at 3 AM, cut the chain, and stole the bike, but get this – left the Harley. How’s that for a story over a few drinks?
There was an itch in my head that ultimately made me ask Drysdale if there are any still available for purchase for anyone who might be crazy enough to want one. Guess what, he says he has enough parts to build another three or four, and he’s more than happy to build one should someone want one. There you go folks, get that cash out!
Here are a couple of my last questions to Drysdale, that I best leave unedited ...
Are you working on any new builds? If yes, could you shed some light on that?
The stolen 1000-V8 superbike is going to be rebuilt as a naked bike, with twin shock rear suspension and 8-in-8 exhaust pipes with 4 mufflers on each side.
What do you love most about doing what you do?
Building things that stand out from the crowd (but in a good way). I've been asked to build Harley-based choppers, but it just doesn't interest me.
What a guy. What a bike.
Via: Donington Auctions