The V8 engine from the Ferrari F355 is nothing short of a masterpiece. 3.5 litres, five valves per cylinder, a flat-plane crank, and an 8500rpm redline all work to provide one of the most intoxicating exhaust notes this side of an old Formula 1 car.
It’s unusual to see a Ferrari engine ever end up in another car that doesn’t have prancing horse badges, though, let alone another kind of vehicle entirely. That’s just what’s being created by California-based custom motorbike builder Maxwell Hazan, however, who’s got his hands on an F355’s 375bhp V8, and is busy putting it at the heart of a wild one-off bike.
Maxwell Hazan’s Ferrari-engined bike
Creating a bike with a car engine is a lot more complicated than doing things the other way around, which is why it’s such a rare thing to see. At present, the bike is in a reasonable state of completion, with the engine unsurprisingly the centrepiece.
Sitting within a custom frame, it’s linked up to a set of beefy Öhlins forks and some sizeable brakes up front, which will be very much needed on a 375bhp motorbike. A custom swingarm links the rear wheel, shod in massively wide rubber, to the frame.
Once complete, it looks like the rider will sit out back atop a bespoke oil tank, leaning forward over the engine. The motor’s fully exposed for now, although it’s not clear if it’ll stay that way. Regardless, it’ll probably be worth the rider throwing on some extra ear protection.
It’s rare to see a bike with a car engine, thanks to irritating things like, y’know, the laws of physics, but it has been done before. Quite incredibly, the Dodge Viper’s enormous V10 has been used in two different bikes. There was the 2003 Dodge Tomahawk, an official Dodge concept that was more like a long, narrow quad bike; and more recently, the Millyard Viper, a genuine, two-wheeled motorbike with the Viper’s 8.0-litre V10 shoehorned into its elongated frame. We look forward to Hazan’s creation joining the list.
