Times Five

Aston Martin is making a superbike. What if other performance brands did the same? Nile Bijoux looks at some renders created by Budget Direct Motorcycle Insurance.

Ferrari F8 Tributo

Ferrari’s F8 Tributo is the most powerful V8-powered model ever built by the Prancing Horse, so an F8-based superbike should be similarly insane.

This imagining has star-shaped wheels from the real thing, plus an aggressive rear end, sharp headlights and an under-seat exhaust, like a proper highperformance Italian superbike. It’s probably not powered by a V8 but I know of another red-loving Italian bike manufacturer that could supply some exceedingly rorty V4s...

Lamborghini Veneno

The Lamborghini Veneno was created to commemorate 50 years of Lambo, but just three made it out of the factory. The US$4.6 million price tag might have something to do with that. . .

Anyway, the Veneno-based twowheeler gets sharp, edgy styling, a pointy tail and a single-sided swingarm to show off those intricate wheels. I’m not entirely sure about the position of the handlebars, seat and footpegs – it looks like riding the Veneno bike would turn you into a sort of upright Superman.

McLaren Senna

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that the McLaren Senna’s design lends itself well to a superbike. This imagining has the sharpened Kiwi-shape headlights from the car, plus a trellis frame visible through the glass body panels and lots of aerodynamic gashes.

It also doesn’t have traditional front forks, instead using a complex shock-based suspension system for the front wheel. Now, that would be an interesting ride.

Pagani Huayra

The Huayra-turned-superbike is a love letter to carbon fibre. The whole thing is made of the composite material, similar to real bikes like the BMW HP4 Race, and the gold wheels and quad-outlet exhaust pipe are nods to the Pagani Huayra hypercar.

This one is probably the closest on this list to looking like a real bike, with a rider triangle (the relationship between the handlebars, footpegs and seat) somewhat close to an actual superbike. That is to say, tolerable on a racetrack only.

Porsche 918

If this had slightly less bodywork, it would look like a modernised version of Ducati’s iconic Paul Smart 1000. That bike used a V-twin engine with minimal caferacer styling and quickly became a styling benchmark while still offering respectable performance.

The 918 superbike here uses a headlight from the supercar, with two side-slung exhaust pipes hovering over a single-sided swingarm, Ducati style. There’s no word on power but, given all the Ducati links, a bellowing V-twin is the only way to go.