Beast of Turin

This “Beast of Turin” movie trailer is quite wonderful and reminds me of our own “monsters,” machines in which one quality has defeated all others. That was certainly true of Fiat’s S76, which, in 1910, put a 300-horsepower four with seven-liter cylinders into a chassis designed originally for 60 hp. Seven liters is 427 cubic inches.

1. 1970-71 BSA/Triumph Triples: A case of an antique pushrod cylinder being packaged into something big and heavy enough to raise dogs in, so much so that when a simplification arrived, it was so small and inexpensive that almost anybody could have one. That was the 350cc Yamaha twin, which produced essentially the same power-to-weight ratio in a bike 100 pounds lighter that could be sold for $1800 with everything it needed already in place. Who could resist?

2. Yamaha TZ750: The successful 350 twin's cylinder, repackaged into a 140-hp monster that was workable only because the all-new, long-travel suspension and slick tires of its era (1974-on) made it almost rideable. When the Japanese began to focus instead on 500s, they built initially less powerful but much more agile bikes that easily left the crude 750 behind.

3. 500cc GP bikes: These 190-hp V-fours finally worked themselves into a box from which there was no escape; lap times had stagnated. The 500s had become bad behavior for bad behavior's sake. When Mick Doohan said to Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, "Give 'em a liter," a new derby was on, with 990cc four-strokes combined with the improved chassis, tires, and suspension developed for the 500s. Lap times again began to drop because bikes could now be ridden out of corners under control, instead of dynamited out. A giant 990cc four-stroke was big enough to overcome the natural power advantage of two-strokes.

I think that soon the world may tire of MotoGP, which shoehorns a car engine into a motorcycle chassis at a cost equal to that of two F4 Phantom jets. I could install a TZ750 engine easily by myself, but I'd need a crane for the current generation.