Check out Leno's ride. I've got to get one of these.[8D]

http://www.uponone.com/videos.php?id=1334

 

the y2k, nice. it was in torque at the end.

 

Ya, one sweet ride. There are a few turbos that can keep it in sight for 1/4 mile but after that forget about it. The only thing is getting fuel -- I wonder if you could use kerosene?

 

I saw a bunch of those engines on the test/rebuild stands while I was at McEntire AFB.

I bet he only gets about 8-12 mpg. Considering the burn rate of a turbine engine, even that size is still around 24 pounds an hour or more. Most turbine chopper engines run at a constant rpm in flight mode to keep the blades rotating at a constant speed. This is different than a turbo-fan, which changes speed to change thrust.

Chopper engines, like any other aircraft engine, has a time-limit before it has to be pulled and rebuilt. After so many hours of use, the engines are considered "end of life" and can no longer be used in an aircraft. However they still may operate just fine for thousands of hours before they are junked. That is how they built the Y2K bike.

I would think that some engine engineer student would want to build a smaller turbine engine that only put out about 200 SHP. That would be enough to make a killer sport bike. If they could figure out how to compensate for the turbine lag.

Here are some examples of miniturized engines.

http://www.weberprecision.com/

-Del

 

We got a few pics of one down in Daytona for bike week this past year. It was unreal.

 

Words of wisdom...couldn't have explained it better myslef.[8D]

 

Strap some wings on that mo'fo and you will be at work in no time

 

And to think that thing is street legal...

 

Man I don't know...

I'm not sure which video this is of that bike, but assuming we're talking about the jet-bike...

Have you seen the video of him pulling out of the gas station or whatever? Man! That looks like entirely too much work. Especially for a bike that doesn't take the twisties well.

It sounds bad as all get down, and it does have the performance once she gets going... and it WOULD be a hell of a ride on some straights and light curves...

But just entirely too much work. I wonder how much it weighs?

 

A story related to that bike was that leno was apparently stopped at a light and some dude in a benz or something pulled up right on his ***... the turbine exhaust was so hot it melted the front bumper of the car, true or not you decide.