A bike-engined car is a small or light weight

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

that is powered by an

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

that was designed for use in a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

Characteristics

Morgan_–_Hamburger_Motorrad_Tage_2015_01

Early examples of bike-engined cars include the 1948

Invacar The Invacar (abbreviated from "invalid carriage") was a small single-seater microcar vehicle designed for use by disabled drivers, and distributed for free in the UK. History In 1948, Bert Greeves adapted a motorbike for exclusively manual ...

and the 1949

Bond Minicar Bond Minicar is a series of economical three-wheeled microcars which were manufactured by the British car manufacturer Sharp's Commercials Ltd (the company was renamed Bond Cars Limited in 1964), in Preston, Lancashire, between 1949 and 1966. ...

, both of which were designed as basic, low-cost transportation. Modern motorcycle engines are often available with higher

specific output Specific output is a measure of internal combustion engine performance. It describes the efficiency of an engine in terms of the brake horsepower it outputs relative to its displacement. The measure enables the comparison of differently sized engine ...

s than car engines, which provides a performance advantage in a lightweight car. The motorcycle's

sequential gearbox A sequential manual transmission, also known as a sequential gearbox, or a sequential transmission, is a type of non-synchronous manual transmission used mostly for motorcycles and racing cars. It produces faster shift times than traditional s ...

is often fitted with the engine, allowing for fast gearshifts. The drawbacks of using motorcycle engines in cars are the lack of reverse gear and reduced

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

output at low

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

. Performance models of bike-engined cars are often based on the

Lotus 7 The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight, two-seater, open-top, open-wheel, sports car produced by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars (initially called Lotus Engineering) between 1957 and 1972. It was designed by Lotus founder Colin Cha ...

-type

kit car A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor ve ...

Motor racing

In the United Kingdom, the 750 Motor Club runs a national race series for cars powered by road going motorcycle engines (RGB series).

Radical Sportscars Radical Motorsport is a British manufacturer and constructor of racing cars. The company was founded in January 1997 by amateur drivers and engineers Mick Hyde and Phil Abbott, who built open cockpit sportscars which could be registered for roa ...

also runs a racing series for its bike-engined cars. In the United States, the Lites 2 category of

IMSA Prototype Lites IMSA Prototype Challenge (formerly IMSA Prototype Lites) is a racing series featuring two classes of single-seat prototype cars racing simultaneously. The series is sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). Most races are ...

(formerly IMSA Lites) consists of cars using a Kawasaki motorcycle engine. The

Formula BMW Formula BMW was a junior racing formula for single seater cars. It was positioned at the bottom of the motorsport career ladder alongside the longer established Formula Ford category. Like Formula Ford, it was intended to function as the young ...

junior racing series (often used as a stepping stone towards

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

) used open-wheel cars powered by the BMW K1200RS motorcycle engine.

List of production cars with motorcycle engines

AC Petite The AC Petite is a three-wheeled British microcar with a rear-mounted Villiers single cylinder, two-stroke engine. The car has a single bench seat seating two adults, and was said to be capable of to and . There were two versions of the car. ...

(1952-1957) * Berkeley T60, T60/4, B65 (1956-1960) *

BMW 600 The BMW 600 is a four-seater microcar produced by the German automaker BMW from mid-1957 until November 1959. Partially based on the BMW Isetta two-seater, it was BMW's first postwar four-seater economy car. It was not a sales success, but it be ...

(1957-1959) *

BMW 700 The BMW 700 is a small rear-engined car which was produced by BMW in various models from August 1959 to November 1965. It was the first BMW automobile with a monocoque structure. The 700 was a sales success at a time when BMW was close to finan ...

(1959-1965) *

(1949-1966) * Fairthorpe (1954-1960) *

Frisky Frisky may refer to: * Frisky (automobile) a family of British microcars produced 1957-1964 * '' Frisky Tom'', a 1981 arcade game * Mister Frisky, a racehorse * ST ''Frisky'', a tugboat, previously the ''Empire Rita'' * "Frisky" (song), by Tin ...

(1958-1959) *

Heinkel Kabine The Heinkel Kabine was a microcar designed by Heinkel, Heinkel Flugzeugwerke and built by them from 1956 to 1958. Production was transferred under licence to Dundalk Engineering Company in Ireland in 1958. However, the licence was withdrawn shor ...

(1956-1958) *

Honda Z The Honda Z (marketed also as the Z600) is a two-door hatchback kei car/city car manufactured and marketed by the Honda Motor Company, from 1970 until 1974. Exports mostly ended after 1972, when the domestic market models received redesigned pi ...

(1970-1971) *

(1948-1972) *

Isetta The Isetta is an Italian-designed microcar built under license in a number of different countries, including Argentina, Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, it became kno ...

(1953-1962) * Morgan three-wheeler (1911-1939) *

Opperman : ''There are also several persons called Opperman, listed at Opperman (disambiguation)'' S E Opperman was a tractor manufacturer in England. After he saw the Bond Minicar he decided to build his own four-wheel microcar at a factory in Elstree, ...

(1956-1959) *

Peel P50 The Peel P50 is a three-wheeled microcar originally made from 1962 to 1965 by the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man, and then from 2011 to present. It was listed in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever m ...

(1962-1965) *

Peel Trident The Peel Trident is the second three-wheeled microcar made by the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man. An all-new design from its one-seat counterpart the Peel P50, the Trident has two seats. History The Trident was launched at the 196 ...

(1965-1966) *

Piaggio Ape The Piaggio Ape (; is ), initially marketed as VespaCar or TriVespa, is a three-wheeled light commercial vehicle, manufactured and marketed by Piaggio as an adaption of the company's Vespa scooter ( being Italian for 'wasp' instead). It is in co ...

(1948-present) * Scootacar (1957-1964) *

Tourette Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...

(1956-1958) *

Triking Triking is the common name for the Triking Sports Cars, the United Kingdom based manufacturer of the 3-wheeled Triking Cyclecar, located in Hingham, Norfolk, formerly in Marlingford, Norfolk.The A-Z of Three-Wheelers A definitive reference ...

(1977-2006) *

Velorex Velorex was a manufacturing cooperative in Solnice, Czechoslovakia. Notable products included a small three-wheeled car, produced from the 1950s until 1971, and the Type 562 sidecar. The sidecar is still manufactured in the Czech Republic by Vel ...

Oskar (1945-1973)

Non-production motorcycle-engined cars

Suzuki GSX-R/4 The Suzuki GSX-R/4 is a concept car made by Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), ...

Westfield Megabusa The Westfield Megabusa is a British-made Lotus Seven inspired car with a 1,299 cc motorcycle engine, taken from the Suzuki Hayabusa, and six-speed sequential gearbox A sequential manual transmission, also known as a sequential gearbox, ...

Westfield XTR2 The Westfield XTR2 is an ultralightweight, two-seater sports car manufactured by Westfield Sportscars Limited, of West Midlands, UK. It features a lightweight steel tubular spaceframe chassis, and the , 1299 cc Suzuki Hayabusa 4-cylinder engine ...

These are all Suzuki Hayabusa-engined cars. The Hayabusa engine has also been used in

, the

Caterham Seven The Caterham 7 (or Caterham Seven) is a super-lightweight sports car produced by Caterham Cars in the United Kingdom. It is based on the Lotus Seven, a lightweight sports car sold in kit and factory-built form by Lotus Cars, from 1957 to 1972. ...

and

Ariel Atom The Ariel Atom is a road-legal high performance open-wheel car made by the British Ariel Motor Company based in Crewkerne, Somerset, England, and under license in North America by TMI Autotech, Inc. at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, ...

References

{{Reflist, 30em Automotive terminology

Characteristics

Motor racing

List of production cars with motorcycle engines

Non-production motorcycle-engined cars

See also

References