The Y2K is the most powerful production motorcycle in the history of motorcycles.
Is it a motorcycle, or is it a helicopter? The answer is complicated, but let’s settle with a motorcycle. Marine Turbine Technologies (MTT) Y2K holds two Guinness World Record for the most valuable production and the most powerful production motorcycle in the world. The current-generation recognizes the Kawasaki H2R as the fastest motorcycle on earth, but a decade ago, the Y2K would make the H2R look sloppy and slower on the tarmac. How?
Enough with the suspense, so lets the break the ice now. A Rolls-Royce Allison 250-C18 gas turbine engine that is still being utilized in several Bell helicopters and Cessna planes powered the Y2K. The Y2K’s motor could develop a peak potential of 320hp and 576.2Nm of maximum torque. Compared to it, the Kawasaki H2R today only generates 321hp of power. That’s a one hp of power variation in 15 years, which demonstrates what the Y2K was back in the day.
The motorcycle comprised of carbon-fibre wheels and weighed only 250 kgs. The highest speed it ever touched was a massive 402 kmph. To run it stable at excessive velocities, the motorcycle featured a long swingarm that strengthened its overall wheelbase and enhanced the handling. Being armed with a chopper’s turbine, the motorcycle ran on kerosene in a 34-litre tank. However, it could be configured to run on diesel as well. Apart from these components, the motorcycle featured a fully digital instrument cluster and Pirelli Diablo tyres for better traction on the road.
In the year 2004, the company manufactured only five motorcycles and each one of them sold for $185,000 which is equivalent to 1,35,72,155 INR. That’s not all, as the company also introduced the Trike alongside the Y2K. The Trike was a three-wheel design of the motorcycle and had a value-card of $300,00 (INR 2,20,08,900).
After overwhelming the realm with the Y2K, Marine Turbine Technologies came up with another alternative design of the Y2K in 2013. Named Y2K Streetfighter, MTT displayed the motorcycle at the India Bike Week in Goa. The Streetfighter version took the Y2K to another height, as they designed it to produce 420hp (99hp more than the normal Y2K) and could strike a top speed of 440kmph.
Motorcycles like the Y2K and Y2K Streetfighter proves the hunger for speed among moto-devotees. What’s next in the motorcycle world is not known, but for now, the world should admire the tales of the Y2K along with the Kawasaki H2R.
