Kawasaki has unveiled the H2 and H2R hyperbikes with superchargers, Suzuki’s turbocharged Recursion is supposedly en route, and now Can-Am has jumped in the game with a turbocharged concept version of their Spyder.
The concept is a one-off; don’t expect to see it in showrooms anytime soon. However, if anything, it shows Can-Am is paying attention to the market, and is thinking about how to get more power out of the next generation of three-wheelers. Hopefully, the technology on display trickles down.
How much power are we talking? The turbo’d Rotax puts out 150 hp at 6800 rpm and and 137 ft-lb of torque at 5,000 rpm. That’s good enough for a 12.3-second quarter mile, and 0-60 in 4.3 seconds, which certainly ought to capture your attention if you’re behind the bars. For reference, the standard F3 Spyder this trike is based on can do 0-60 in a claimed 4.8 seconds; it had claimed max power of 115 hp, and 96 ft-lb of torque.
That great power comes with the potential for great irresponsibility. The Can-Am concept has a Sport mode that allows the rear wheel to break traction; standard Spyders have traction control packages that limit their capability for hoonery in the name of safety, but this version has potential for a bit more fun.
Along with some custom bodywork and race slicks, the concept trike also gets a bobbed seat, drag bars, trick Fox shocks, AutoMeter boost gauge, and some other upgrades. It’ll be on display at NASCAR races this year, so if you’re at one of those events, check it out.
Well Nascar did switch to Injection a couple of years ago for Cup cars at least.What I find amusing is the pushrod rule that sees Toyota and Ford having to build them while their entire street fleet is OHC.As I watch the Daytona race today though I am reminded they aint that bad as the drivers hold it on the mat for 500 miles at 9 grand or so.
Funny that BRP is showcasing a turbo in a racing series that still features carburetors, sticker kits to differentiate the manufacturers and phony ‘debris’ caution periods.
I wonder how much that is costing them ?
Oops, that was a rant wasn’t it….?
…For people who don’t know how to ride a real motorcycle 🙂
It’s still got 3 wheels…
And its Canadian. give a Fuk it got ten wheels…
Uncle Sam isn’t… Dumb ass.
Could this be the last hurrah for the turbo/super chargers?
With the development of electrically driven chargers on the horizon, we could be seeing a more nuanced method of upping the performance of the internal combustion engine.
If one looks at current F1 technology, turbocharged hybrid engines are the state of the art in producing high power output with low emissions and reduced fuel consumption. Energy recovery systems, battery technology and turbocharging have all come a very, very long way over the last ten years. Heck, even the new Ferrari turbo V-8 manages a mostly normally aspirated sound to the point that even the typical waste-gate overrun PSHHHH sound is missing from the symphony.
I don’t expect turbos to be going away any time soon. If anything, we’ll see them popping up more and more as manufacturers look to get the same output from smaller displacements.