Honda's amazing motorbike-engined roadster concept needs to be made real

By topgear ,

60423 project 2 4 concept

Clearly Honda's immediate priority should be to halt production of everything, and focus instead on building Jenson and Fernando a decent F1 engine. However, we'll forgive them a quick lapse in this strategy, because this new '2&4' concept is, frankly, quite excellent.

It's been revealed today, here, ahead of a public debut at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. We're told it's the winner of Honda's global design project, and marries the worlds of motorbikes and cars.

2x4 side

Inspiration for the 2&4's design comes from Honda's quite beautiful RA272 Formula One car from 1965 – we've included a pic of it in the gallery above because, well, it's lovely. You'll also spot that excellent single-seat design, suspended, says Honda, as a sort of 'floating seat' to provide the freedom of a bike but security of a car.

The whole thing measures 3 metres in length, stands less than a metre high and takes up 1.8m of width. It also weighs just 405kg, which means its mid-mounted engine certainly makes its presence felt.

60421 project 2 4 concept

That engine is – unlike the RA272 F1 car – a motorbike engine. Specifically, the 999cc V4 four-stroke built for Honda's MotoGP bike. It's fitted low in the car, and produces 212bhp at 13,000rpm – with a redline at 14,000rpm. 14,000rpm!

A motorbike-spec 87lb ft of torque is delivered at 10,500rpm, reaching the rear wheels through a six-speed DCT gearbox. No performance figures have been issued. We suspect they'll be rather impressive.

ra272

"Honda Project 2&4 seeks to create an intense driving experience by combining the most thrilling elements of riding a motorcycle with the most engaging characteristics of driving a car," Honda tells us.

We'll bring you more pictures of the 2&4 next week once we've seen it for real. You want one though, right?