Yes, There Is An Official Ferrari Motorcycle In The World - Here Are The Details
You might think the performance car crowd and sports bike enthusiasts would mix more often, coming together for a shared love of potent speed. However, there are only a few collaborations between automotive and motorcycle manufacturers. Ducati has joined forces with carmakers such as Bently, Lamborghini, and Mercedes AMG. KTM worked with Brabus on an interesting bike that featured reworked carbon fiber body elements with a Brabus visual flair. There is even a rather strange partnership to note, between a laptop manufacturer and a motorcycle company, birthing the Lenovo Ducati 5 limited edition 14" laptop with large racing stripes.
Considering the aforementioned ventures and all the exotic sports car makers in the world, we're missing a Ferrari motorcycle program. According to Motor Sports Stats, with an average of almost 11 Formula One podiums per season, there is plenty of inspiration to draw from. In fact, one Ferrari motorcycle did surface in the mid-1990s from David Kay of MV Meccanica Verghera Ltd. So, why was this bike made, what was special about it, and how did it perform?
In honor of the late Enzo Ferrari
Few names in automotive and racing history garner as much reverence and respect as Enzo Ferrari. With a fascination for cars, Ferrari would attempt to get a job with FIAT as a young man, only to be turned away. Thankfully, for the legions of fans that would follow, this rejection didn't deter Ferrari. He found his way behind the racecar wheel before going on to lead a racing team for Alfa Romeo. After racing, Ferrari founded Auto Avio Costruzioni — later Ferrari – to design the cars he had always dreamt of.
A little-known fact about Enzo Ferrari was that he used to race Scott motorcycles as a teenager and had an affinity for bikes, perhaps even before he fell in love with cars. Influenced and inspired, David Kay, a motorcycle engineer, wrote a formal letter to Piero Ferrari, the surviving son of the late Enzo, following his death. Kay explained that he wished to make a single Ferrari motorcycle to pay tribute to Enzo, also gaining permission to use the iconic prancing horse label of the Italian automaker. If you're interested, there is an incredible story behind Ferrari's prancing horse logo. The project wasn't a simple cosmetic change to an existing bike but a hand-made motorcycle crafted entirely from the ground up. The Ferrari 900CC project started in 1990, and the Ferrari motorcycle wasn't unveiled until 1995.
The Ferrari 900CC
Mark Kay would work alongside his father, David Kay, on the Ferrari 900CC motorcycle for years, leaving no details unfinished. Designed in line with what Kay envisioned a bike coming out of the Ferrari factory would look like, the sleek all-aluminum body nods to Ferrari's Testarossa model with similar side-panel lines. The powerful 900CC four-cylinder engine and custom exhaust hit just the right notes. This bike also included Brembo brakes and a custom digital instrument cluster. The work reportedly took upwards of 3,000 hours from start to finish.
The Ferrari 900CC did participate in some performance testing, however, the figures it produced are not indicative of its limits. This one-of-a-kind motorcycle was too valuable to risk damage. With 105 horsepower, reports indicated it could go 0-60 in less than three seconds and reach nearly 160 mph. While admiration like David Kay's toward the famed Enzo Ferrari can help spur impressive works of vehicular art, so can spite, apparently. A slight from Enzo to a man named Ferruccio is how an insult from Ferrari's founder led to the birth of Lamborghini cars.