If you think putting a car engine in a motorcycle is overkill, British engineer Allen Millyard took the concept to the extreme of absurdity. He built, literally in his garage, a motorcycle equipped with the monstrous 8.0-liter V10 engine of a Dodge Viper GTS. And the best part? This masterpiece of insane engineering is up for sale.
The model will go up for auction on July 22 by H&H Classics, at the National Motorcycle Museum, in England. The estimated value of the lot is between £100,000 and £150,000 (somewhere between R$ 715 thousand and R$ 1,07 million in direct conversion). For the level of exclusivity and complexity of the project, the price is almost a bargain — the equivalent of a brand new German SUV in Brazil.
The story of the “Millyard Viper V10” began in 2004, when Allen and his son watched the Dodge Tomahawk demonstration at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Tomahawk was that futuristic four-wheeled concept from Chrysler that used the same V10 engine. At the time, the engineer’s son challenged him: “I think you can do something better and that it’s a real motorcycle.” Challenge accepted.
Millyard bought a Viper engine on eBay and spent the next few years designing the monster. Unlike the Tomahawk — which had 10 static units sold as “car sculptures” for more than half a million dollars each — the British’s goal was to create a vehicle that was usable, comfortable (as far as possible) and fully road-legal.
Pure engineering: no chassis and no gear
Putting an engine weighing more than 300 kg on two wheels requires genius solutions. The bike does not have a conventional chassis: the Viper’s V10’s own iron and aluminum block acts as the main structure ( stressed-member type structural element). A front tubular subframe holds the steering, and the single-arm rear swingarm is screwed directly into the transmission housing.
And speaking of transmission, the bike has no gears. With an absurd 500 hp of power and 72,5 kgfm of brutal torque coming from the 8-liter engine, there is no need to change gear. It runs in a single, straightforward relationship. The theoretical maximum speed is adjusted just by changing the chainring of the secondary transmission for chain, and can vary from 250 km/h to more than 430 km/h.
Another mechanical curiosity: the Viper’s original flywheel, made of cast iron, was so heavy that the dynamic torque (gyroscopic effect) almost knocked the driver to the side on the first start. Millyard had to machine a replacement part out of aluminum to alleviate the effect.
As no motorcycle suspension in the world could handle the total weight of more than 600 kg of the set, the creator manufactured the front forks using hydraulic piston components from JCB excavators. The exhaust received thermal insulation made with ceramic inserts similar to those used in NASA’s space shuttles.
Record-breaking and ready to ride
The bike was finished and licensed in 2009. In the same year, in official tests by the British magazine Motorcycle News, it reached the real top speed of 333.2 km/h (207 mph), without any kind of protective fairing. In 2023, Allen Millyard himself and TV presenter Henry Cole entered the Guinness Book of World Records by reaching 295 km/h riding in tandem (rider and pillion) on the same bike.
Despite the prohibitive fuel consumption and colossal weight, the odometer marks more than 14,500 km driven. The designer has toured with her all over the UK and even completed a lap of the legendary Isle of Man circuit.
Now, the engineer has decided to pass the relic on. “I don’t think I have anything more to prove with her. It takes up a lot of space at home and takes a lot of work to maintain,” Millyard joked. The money raised at the auction will be used to fund the next madness he comes up with in his garage.
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