A bike-engined car is a small or light weight

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

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 ge ...

that was designed for use in a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

Characteristics

Early examples of bike-engined cars include the 1948

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

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 outputs 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 sequential transmission, is a type of non-synchronous manual transmission used mostly in motorcycles and racing cars. It produces faster shift times than traditional sync ...

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 analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. Wh ...

output at low

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

. Performance models of bike-engined cars are often based on the Lotus 7-type

kit car Kit may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Kit (surname), a list of people Places * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill ...

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 Limited, also known as Radical Sportscars, 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 s ...

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) was a racing series featuring two classes of single-seat prototype cars racing simultaneously. The series was sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). Most races we ...

(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 (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

) 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 city car produced by the Germany, German automaker BMW from mid-1957 until November 1959. Partially based on the Isetta, BMW Isetta single-seater, it was BMW's first postwar four-seater economy car. It was not a sales ...

(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 financ ...

(1959-1965) *

(1949-1966) * Fairthorpe (1954-1960) * Frisky (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 initially manufactured in 1953 by the Italian firm Iso (automobile), Iso SpA, and subsequently built under license in a number of different countries, including Argentina, Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil ...

(1953-1962) * Morgan three-wheeler (1911-1939) * Opperman (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 2010 to present. It was listed in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever ...

(1962-1965) *

Peel Trident The Peel Trident is the second three-wheeled microcar built 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 ...

(1965-1966) *

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

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

Tourette Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply 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) tic. Common tics are blinkin ...

(1956-1958) * Triking (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 Czechia by Velorexpor ...

Oskar (1945-1973)

Non-production motorcycle-engined cars

* Suzuki GSX-R/4 * Westfield Megabusa * Westfield XTR2 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 Alto ...

References

{{Reflist, 30em Automotive terminology

Characteristics

Motor racing

List of production cars with motorcycle engines

Non-production motorcycle-engined cars

See also

References