440kph Y2K hyperbike India-bound

Meet the MTT Y2K. It will outrun a Bugatti Veyron Supersport, rev three times more than a Formula 1 car and make the mighty Suzuki Hayabusa feel like a Hero Honda Splendor.

Made by South Louisiana-based Marine Turbine Technologies (MTT), the Y2K has nothing less than a Rolls-Royce Allison 250-series gas turbine engine, usually found in, erm, helicopters.

Unleashed on the world way back in 2000, the original Y2K hyperbike, the yellow one in the inset, had a 320-horsepower engine that, the brochure claims, made peak power at no less than 54,000rpm (compressor speed) and churned out more torque than a Lamborghini Gallardo. All in a motorcycle that weighed 30kg less than a Hayabusa! It even had 200-section rear tyres mounted on carbon-fibre wheels.

Performance, as you might have already guessed, was off the charts. In the time it takes a Veyron to do 180kph, the Y2K would do 320kph (5.4sec, and we’re wondering how the rider hung on!) and top speed was an eye-watering 402kph.

Then, since that absurd top speed and 320bhp simply wasn’t enough for everybody, MTT introduced a 420bhp version called the Y2K Streetfighter. This one had a larger swingarm, wider 240-section rear tyres, bigger fuel tank and an enhanced cooling system.

Cut to the present and MTT is working on the red bike you see. Due for its launch in the United Kingdom in mid-2013, it’s the latest version of the Y2K that uses a Rolls-Royce 250 C-20B gas turbine engine rated to 420bhp and a claimed, if yet unproven, top speed of 440kph. It is currently undergoing wind-tunnel testing in the UK to determine what changes should be made to allow the bike to run at such speeds without, you know, taking off.

The new bike, when it’s out, will resemble the exclusive rendering pictured here. 

The best bit is that MTT is currently thinking of selling it in India. It has, in fact, imported one example of the Y2K here via its distributor, Viva Motorsports, to gauge Indian interest. It will be on display at The India Bike Week in Goa on the 2nd and 3rd of February 2013, so us mere mortals can eyeball it and hopefully hear its fighter-jet-like exhaust note as well.

As for the money, the Y2K retails for Rs 1 crore in the US of A, so expect it to cost roughly twice that  if and when it comes to India.

A word of advice: If you do see one on the road here, keep your distance. The jet wash just might melt your bumper off!

GAS IT UP

The Y2K, unlike other jet-propelled, land-bound vehicles, doesn’t use pure thrust to get it to move. No, the Y2K’s engine is connected to the rear wheel via a proprietary two-speed automatic transmission. To adapt the engine to run on the ground, MTT has turned it upside down so the exhaust can exit downwards. Also, it has the necessary hydraulic pump that allows it to be mated to the transmission.