Ted McIntyre: Welcome to MTT; The home of the Y2K Turbine SUPERBIKE. We're located in Franklin, Louisiana down south of the wine country. Come on in and let's see how these things are built.
This is the engine shop. This is where the heart of the Y2K is built. The engine used in the Y2K is out of a Bell JetRanger helicopter. This engine would typically carry five men, 120 knots forward airspeed, defying gravity. This little engine weighs-in at 138 lb. produces over 320 shaft horsepower.
One of the unique things about the engine is the gas turbine uses fossil fuel and the burning of that generates expanding gas to drive the power turbine wheels.
One of the unique things about turbine engines is their tremendous torque. This engine produces 425 foot pounds of torque at 2000 rpm. We're talking the torque of a diesel engine. Torque being the ability of horsepower to do work. This is the little mule that pulls the Y2K down the course.
This is the fabrication shop where we build the components that are coupled to the turbine motorcycle.
Because of the torque this bike generates, this motorcycle is capable of accelerating to over 200 miles an hour in under 15 seconds.
This is the Y2K final assembly. This is where it all comes together. After 3000 man-hours, this is the final product; the Y2K Turbine SUPERBIKE.
We're here at Patterson airport with James Kane of Voodoo racing. James is a professional stunt rider. He has offered to ride the Y2K and see what she's got in her.
James Kane: He was explaining to me that riding this bike was like feeling of the hand of God, grabbing you on your butt and throwing you forward and that's exactly what it is.
Ted McIntyre: That's what I call torque! The Y2K sells for $185,000 and I guess if you say that real fast, that sounds it's bad! But it's not for the faint of heart and you know you've got to be able to stroke the check if you want it.
It is a truly street-legal motorcycle and I don't think anyone's just ready to challenge its 250 mph mark but if there are, we are ready and waiting. The Motorcycles are sort of like the last bastion of speed. You get on to that, you mean you're the pilot in command. It's no different from flying this helicopter and to describe this, is to say that if you could bottle and sell it, it'd be the most addictive drug in the world!
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