1984 Ferrari 512/2 motorcycle prototype

[wisdonm]

1984 Ferrari 512/2 motorcycle prototype

Carrol Shelby once joked that the only reason Enzo Ferrari built road going GT's was so that he'd have something to drive to a rendezvous with his mistresses.

This is the 1984 Ferrari 512/2 motorcycle prototype that was designed by Enzo Ferrari's illegitimate son Piero Lardi. For thirty-two years, no word of him was breathed in public. He was not mentioned in Enzo's autobiography. After Enzo's wife, Laura, died in 1978, he was brought into the firm and openly and introduced as Piero Lardi-Ferrari. He is still with the firm today and owns ten percent of the company's stock.

The Scuderia Ferrari was always strapped for cash, even after the "sellout" to Fiat in 1969. Piero's job was to find new profit centers. In 1984, Piero was in Miami, Florida. A friend suggested they go to Daytona to see "bike week". He was amazed at the size, unrefined noise, lack of power, and the shear numbers of the omni present Harley Davidson motorcycles. Surely Ferrari could build a motorcycle, he thought.

Piero decided to create a show bike that combined the power and style of Ferrari's flagship, the Testarosa, with a motorcycle. He called it the 512/2, for five liters, twelve cylinders, and two wheels. Styling cues were definitely from the Testarosa. The five liter V-12 engine was a combination of old and new pieces. The dry sump block started as a 365 GTB. The single cam heads were modified from the early 275 GTB. There were six Weber twin choke carbs from the 250 GTO. The exhaust pipes were ceramic coated, like the F1 cars, to reduce heat radiation.

The most unusual part of the drive train was the right-angle, direct drive, in and out box that was used instead of a transmission. Power was transmitted to the rear Axel via a covered Pirelli cog belt with a 3:1 reduction. During the 512/2's initial presentation to Enzo, only eight months after conception, he asked the question "Why only one gear?" Piero answered "Our motorcycle makes more horsepower at idle than the others at red-line." For a moment, Enzo smiled, his eyes twinkled, and his face glowed. Then his face grew sad and slowly, Enzo move his head from side to side in silence. Sadly, the 512/2 was never developed any further. And to this day, there has never been a Ferrari motorcycle.

Notice: The people mentioned above are real. Sadly, the motorcycle and related events were not. This motorcycle is a phantom.

[Danno]

Whoa! Now that is ... unreal!

[highway]

Very nice concept. What scale is everything in?

[wisdonm]

I wish it was 1:1, but is roughly 1:18.

[RodneyBad]

Ya really had me going with the story.

Killer big, beats out the Viper V-10 bike

[randx0]

hot wheels made a similar motorcycle in the same scale.

[Draggon]

That is something else. My jaw dropped when I saw it. Great job!!

[Gregg]

We should hide the topic and save it for April Fools next year in the magazine!!!