Tuesday, February 28, 2006

More Tiny Terrors

Von brought up the Smart. It is the only kei car not made by a Japanese company. I have no desire to own one. It might make a great city car, but frankly its high center of gravity makes turning horrific. It was the Worst Handling Car in Top Gear's 2004 Car Awards. But if you want it to go really fast in a straight line, put the engine from a Hayabusa superbike into it. The engine and transmission from the bike won't last long because even the tiny smart is too heavy for them, but you can have a little fun while they do.

Motorcycle engines have me interested though. Radical racing is combining two suzuki RST inline 4s into a motorcycle inspire V8. If you follow the link to the dyno charts, it makes 360+ horses with only 2.6 liters of displacement. It also has no torque and makes all it's power above six or seven thousand RPM. Radical is also looking to bore the block to 3.0 liters for more fun. But in a very lightweight speedster, it still could be pretty impressive.

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