Five Things: what if supercar manufacturers made superbikes

Monday, 22 February 2021

Ever wonder what it would look like if supercar manufacturers went into making superbikes?

As you may know, Aston Martin is partnering with boutique bike-maker Brough to create its first superbike. Just 100 will be made, each at an eye-watering price of 108,000 euro (NZ$181,556) but this is basically the dictionary description of “rich person’s plaything”. Price aside, the AMG-001 is no slouch, making 130kW with a turbocharged V-twin, moving a rather stunning overall package.

Of course, Aston Martin isn’t the only supercar manufacturer capable of creating stunning designs, so what if other players decided to enter the two-wheeled game? Budget Direct Motorcycle Insurance has gone further than imagining and created some renders based on existing cars.

Ferrari

Red – check. Angry face – check. Massive performance – almost certainly.

Ferrari’s F8 Tributo is the most powerful V8-powered model ever built by the Prancing Horse, so an F8-based superbike should be similarly insane.

That riding position looks a bit weird, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing is an absolute riot.

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Note the weird front suspension, transparent body panels and aerodynamic gashes.

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Making an entire vehicle out of carbon fibre is usually a major undertaking, but it would be a walk in the park for Pagani.

This imagining has star-shaped wheels from the real thing along with an aggressive rear end, sharp headlights and an under-seat exhaust, like a proper high-performance Italian superbike. It’s probably not powered by a V8 but I know of another red-loving Italian bike manufacturer that could supply some exceedingly rorty V4s…

Lamborghini

Anyone else getting Ducati Paul Smart vibes from this?

The Lamborghini Veneno was created to commemorate 50 years of Lambo, with just three making it out of the factory. The US$4.6 million price tag might have something to do with that…

Anyway, the Veneno-styled two-wheeler gets sharp, edgy styling, a pointy tail and a single-sided swingarm to show off those intricate wheels. I’m not entirely sure about the position of the handlebars, seat and footpegs, it looks like riding the Veneno-bike would turn you into a sort of upright Superman.

McLaren

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the McLaren Senna's design lends itself well to a superbike. This imagining has the sharpened Kiwi-shape headlights from the car, along with a trellis frame visible through the transparent body panels and lots of aerodynamic gashes.

It also doesn’t have traditional front forks, instead using a complex shock-based suspension system for the front wheel. Now that would be an interesting ride.

Pagani

The Pagani Huayra-turned-superbike is a love letter to carbon fibre. The whole thing is made of the composite material, similar to real bikes like the BMW HP4 Race, while the gold wheels and quad-outlet exhaust pipe are nods to the Pagani Huayra hypercar.

This one is probably the closest on this list to looking like a real bike, with a rider triangle (the relationship between the handlebars, footpegs and seat) somewhat close to an actual superbike. That is to say, tolerable on a racetrack only.

Porsche

If this Porsche 918 superbike had slightly less bodywork, it would look like a modernised version of Ducati’s iconic Paul Smart 1000. That bike used a V-twin engine with minimal cafe-racer styling and quickly became a styling benchmark while still offering respectable performance.

The 918 superbike here uses a headlight from the supercar with two side-slung exhaust pipes hovering over a single-sided swingarm, Ducati style. There’s no word on power but, given all the Ducati links, a bellowing V-twin is the only way to go.