Dodge Tomahawk V10 Superbike – A Four-Wheeled Motorcycle

Dodge Tomahawk V10 is a mind-blowing superbike equipped with 4 wheels and a Dodge Viper motor. The concept was introduced a decade ago, and made its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. No one ever thought the bike would see the light of the day. It is one of the heaviest bikes in the world series. Moreover, it is also one of the world’s quickest weighty bikes.

Dodge is a renowned brand known for producing cars with tremendous power outputs. No one ever assumed that it would put a 507 PS, 8.3 Litre, V10 motor in a motorcycle, from a Viper supercar. The Tomahawk attracted huge press and industry attention for its astounding design. Actually, it is one of the most expensive motorcycles in the entire world. According to the statistics, only this bike continues to be sold out always.

Design

The design was the work of a staff, who built the vehicles around the Dodge Viper 8.3 litre V10 engine. After the approval of the design, the fabrication process took 6 six months. The engineering as well as the fabrication was outsourced to RM Motorsports. The V19 engine needed several design changes. To lower the engine and make it close to the ground, the lubrication system was changed from wet sump to a dry sump type. A single radiator was splitted into two and the size was also made smaller which was attached or fitted to the V shaped space above the engine. This was the place, where a belt driven fan sourced from a Porsche 911 was used to force fed the cooling air.

Suspension

The Tomahawk has an independent suspension on all four wheels designed to allow the rider to counter-steer and lean into turns like a tilting 3-wheeler.  Two double-tyre wheels, swingarm at either end, and hub-centered steering, so the bike bends over and counter-steers just like a motorcycle.

The rider can use a rear suspension lock, which lubricately holds the two wheels in relative positions, allowing the vehicle to stand on its own, without any kind of support or using a side stand. Though the 2 wheels at the front looked like one and the 2 wheels at the back looked like another one. Each of the 20-inch wheels was connected to an independent suspension. But, it was a Viper-based, four-wheeled, single-rider vehicle.

“In theory, the Tomahawk can blast from a standing start to 60 miles an hour in two and a half seconds and reach 300 miles an hour.’’ The company- Dodge denied all the offers and didn’t allow to put the motorcycle on a speed test or to test with a dynamometer that could measure the top speed. Till now no one has ever attempted to ride The Dodge Tomahawk V10 Superbike at the maximum or the highest speed. Hand-made replicas of the Tomahawk V10 superbike were offered for sale through the Neiman Marcus catalog at a price of US$555,000, and some around 9 replicas were sold. As they were not street legal, Dodge called the Tomahawk a “rolling sculpture”, not intended to be ridden.

Dodge Tomahawk V10 at launch event
Dodge Tomahawk V10 at launch event

Dodge Tomahawk V10 Superbike: Its Engine and Speed

This is an 8285 CC, V10 motor vehicle, cased in an aluminum piling mounted at both ends. Its four wheels along with leaning or supporting capability and a promise of 500 bhp. It has a seat, footpegs, and a handlebar, and then you are all set to go for long rides.

There are a lot of speculations and assumptions about the speed of the Dodge Tomahawk V10 superbike. Its theoretical and practical speed differs. A representative of Dodge said, “If a 3,400-pound Viper goes 190, this’ll go 400, easy.” A Senior Designer, who was in charge of the project, said he does not believe the speed of 400 mph was even possible, noting that the bike was geared for acceleration, and if geared for speed, 250 mph (400 km/h) would be within reach.

How fast it can go?

The Dodge Tomahawk is the fastest motorcycle in the game as well as the fastest vehicle in the game in general while taking its Supercharge abilities into account. It has a very high maximum top speed of 315.3 mph, enormous fast acceleration but very poor handling, a sharp drifting radius or cornering ability, and extremely virtuous nitro efficiency. The Tomahawk is prostrate to skidding. Like all other superbikes, it has the features of ‘stunt’ and ‘supercharge’ abilities. This allows the Tomahawk to increase its speed at the cost of becoming extremely vulnerable to skidding. It travels at approximately 520 km/h (323 mph) at Supercharge Level 1 and at approximately 526 km/h (327 mph) at Supercharge Level 2.

Without any riding support, secure riding position, no wind blast, it becomes extremely unsafe and dangerous for the rider to even reach 200mph. This happens due to the instability of the design and the lack of any provision to prevent aerodynamics. This results in pulling or throwing the rider off the seat.

The Tomahawk accelerates to its full speed from a standstill, with a Tuning Kit applied, in 2.4 seconds, which is roughly the same speed as the Lamborghini Centenario LP 770- 4  and the Devel Sixteenmodels; this makes it one of the fastest-accelerating vehicles in high-end Class S. It is second best for high end Class S because of its perfect nitro efficiency. So it is only inferior to the Lamborghini Aventador LP 750- 4 SV.  

2 Rumoured catches of the Dodge Tomahawk V10 Superbike

Well, there are two rumoured catches that was detected in this motorcycle, of which many of you are not aware of.

The Dodge Tomahawk was not street legal that means it does not have all the legal requirements to use it on ordinary roads. It was made to be a rolling sculpture with an awesome design and is an evidence to extreme engineering. 

The other catch was that the Tomahawk was also not a motorcycle. Though, it was ridden on stage like one, but it had two front wheels and two more in the back. Each of the 20-inch wheels are connected to an independent suspension. But, it was a Viper based, four-wheeled, single-rider vehicle. The Tomahawk V10 for sure looked like a motorcycle, mostly because it was wide was huge. The width of the body had to be suitable to support and back the huge V10 engine. Overall though, the Tomahawk was not wider than the engine, and the wheels and tires were exposed at all four corners.

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