If you think stuffing a three liter Ferrari V8 into a custom
frankenstein motorcycle is a bit looney, you’d be right. But would you believe
this wasn’t the first ridiculously fantastic creation by former two-wheeled
racer Andreas Georgeades? And it wasn’t the last either.
After Georgeades realized he was pretty good at motorcycle
racing, he spent the later part of the 1960s in the pursuit of creating the
ultimate racer. In his quest, he became the first to successfully build and win
first place with his Honda 600 four cylinder automotive engine powered Gran
Prix racer.
The forums at CBX International chronicle a brief history of “George
the Greek’s” two-wheel exploits. After achieving a fair amount of racing
success including a podium in his first year at the Isle of Mann, he went on to
tour the European and Canadian racing circuit in a Matchless 500 GP50 gran prix
racer that he took possession of as payment for work in the restaurant
business.
Exposed for the first time to Honda while in Canada, he
found their small, four-piston car engine a nice fit into a Norton Manx frame.
Deleting the water jackets and machined fins on the block, it was converted to
air cooling. Cylinder heads were then swapped in favor double of overhead cams
with four valves per cylinder from a Honda 250 Twin race kit. Sleeves were
added to the cylinders to strengthen the block and tighten tolerances.
Andreas also had to also fabricate his own couplers to
connect the cams and converted the chain driven cam gear to belt drive proving
he was years ahead of what manufacturers were offering. The resulting build was
a 500cc race bike that lumbered through corners but was fast as blazes on the
straits and won several races in South Africa and the USA.
The ASG (Andreas Susan Georgeades) special received many
revisions including a complete set of fairings, custom curved megaphone exhaust
and even disc brakes.
With a successful racing career behind him, including a
Canadian National Championship, Andreas decided to hang up the racing suit and
continue to pursue his passion of homologating car and motorcycle into one
fantastic vehicle.
Between 1978 and 1998 Andreas went on to build three Ferrari
powered custom built motorcycles. Two Ferrari V6 powered called “Dino” and the
the third a 308 Ferrari V8 called “Andreas”.
His first two-wheeled creation with a Maranello mill
resulted in this Honda CBX stuffed with a Ferrari 2.0 Dino. This V6 appeared in
Ferrari’s very first mid-engined road car and produced nearly 200 hp. Ferrari
later later handed the motor off to Lancia for use in its WRC-champ Stratos in
the early 1970s when they updated the Dino to eight cylinders.
The Ferrari Dino originally had gear/chain driven cams which
were converted to belt drive and the motor was also modified to accept the
transmission and clutch from a donor Suzuki motorcycle. It looked good and rode
great, but there was still something missing.
Andreas’ next evolution was to obviously add more cylinders.
A 1978 Ferrari 308 engine with a hand-built aluminum frame that uses suspension
components from a Kawasaki 900 Ninja became the next radical iteration. The
rear wheel came from a Yamaha V-Max but the drive shaft was ditched in favor of
a conventional chain drive. The four-cam, eight cylinder Italian motor pumps
out a credible 250 hp and would cost nearly $55,000 in 2015 dollars. Andreas
had to trade a prize bronze trophy from his podium finish at the Isle of Mann
TT to source this prancing horse power plant.
Modifications to the bike also include a new cam-belt drive
that also powers the water pump, and a three-gear transfer case between the
engine and Honda CBX transmission. A bank of Yamaha V-Max carburetors fuels the
front cylinders while Suzuki GS1100 carbs feed the rear. Suzuki GT750 radiators
mount at the rear of the bike to keep the wheelbase down to a short 59 inches
hence the massive ducts on the back to aid in cooling. A truly glorious
Frankenstein.
Andreas went on to create a third and equally amazing bike
based around the same Ferrari Dino motor that powered his first. But why use
the same engine again? A new level was achieved by bolting on a home-spun
supercharger to force performance to unprecedented levels. The blower was
designed personally by Andreas and machined from some seriously big chunks of
billet aluminum.
If you’re in the market for a custom built, Ferrari
motorcycle from the personal collection of an acclaimed retired motorcycle
racer, you’re in luck. This rare beast recently hit the market for a cool
$250,000. Where else would you expect to shop for what could possibly be
considered a museum quality bike? You guessed it, head on over to the Craigslist and
try to out your best offer.
You’d think that three separate Ferrari powered motorcycles
would be the crown jewels of any collection, but no. Georgeodes has continued
his search for the most insane build. Next on the drawing board is a 2.0 liter
V12 Honda CBX. Yes, that’s two six-cylinder CBX engines welded together.
The front end is from a ’98 Yamaha YZF. The rear wheel and
brakes are Suzuki ’98 and the transmission is from a Honda CBX, which he also
used on the Ferrari V8. All 12 intake manifolds are fueled by three Weber
carburetors and the exhaust is a complex 12 into 4 system muffled by modified
Yoshimura cans, and by modified, I mean gutted.
Just listen to the roar of this quad exhaust V12 as Andrea
fires up the beast and takes it for a spin around the neighborhood.
After 26 years and four crazy bikes under his belt, Andreas
was not content to sit idly and while appreciating his own accomplishments. He
is now in the process of attaching two flat-eight cylinder engines to create an
enormous H-16 based off a British Racing Motors Formula 1 design used to win
the 1966 US Grand Prix in a Lotus 43.
Four Yamaha YZF600 engines gave their lives in order to be
reborn into one mega motor. The gearbox has to fit between two of the flat
eight engines so two separate shifting drums are used and then connected with a
chain. One of the sprockets will be slotted for perfect timing between the
drums. If one is off a little bit he can engage two gears at the same time,
which would be a very bad thing.
While the H-16 is still five years in the making, you can be
assured that one day it will roar to life and Andreas will be cruising to his
favorite coffee shop in La Jolla rattling windows and setting off car alarms
along the way.
If you’d like to keep up with his build process and learn
more about this crazy genius, checkout this Facebook group, V12 CBX that’s
dedicated to all things Andreas Georgeades.
source: http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/a-wonderful-crazy-genius-crammed-a-ferrari-v8-into-a-cu-1695948642
by Chris Clarke
Photos: George Dilloway
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