Only Americans could think of mounting the engine of a super sports car, the Chrysler Viper’s V10, on a motorcycle, the result of which was the Dodge Tomahawk.
The Dodge Tomahawk was a real madness, not at all practical or, at least, performance-oriented, it was a prototype that worked, and this is the most surprising thing, since it could have been made of papier-mâché.
One would think that Dodge would have carried out brainy market research to make it… Nothing could be further from the truth.
As Mark Walters, a member of the Chrysler design team, explained, “We wanted to do something with the new Viper engine and since we all love motorcycles, why not a motorcycle?”
And that’s how they built the Tomahawk in six months, that’s nothing, in time to be unveiled at the 2003 Detroit Motor Show.
Huge in proportion (measuring 260 long by 93 wide and only 70 centimeters high) it is a single-seater that rests on two sets of twin wheels that allow it to dispense with a stand. It is a motorcycle with a car engine, a hybrid that cannot be called a motorcycle.
The propeller that appeared on its flanks – in fact, it is a longitudinally arranged engine on which wheels have been mounted – was that of the 2003 Dodge Viper RT/10; an 8.3-liter V10 at 90º that produces 506 hp at 5,600 rpm and a torque of 712 Nm. at 4,200 rpm.
The Dodge Tomahawk can be considered an engine that has had a cycle part installed.
Due to a matter of space, the cooling radiators were inside the V of the engine, very enclosed, so where the headlights were usually located there were two hatches that are activated when the gas is turned on and that allowed the air to be channeled towards the radiators.
The headlights and taillight were located between the twin wheels, a curious position. The headlight was made up of a set of 12 leds and the rear light by 8 red leds.
The dashboard was reduced to a large LCD screen with the main information.
And where was the gas tank? Well, it was placed vertically between the engine and the double wishbone front suspension, even though it only had 12 litres…
To transmit the power of the engine to the rear wheel, a two-speed sequential gearbox with a twin-disc clutch and king-shaft transmission was used.
At the front it incorporated an alternative suspension system with swinging arms and the shock absorber hidden between the twin wheels.
At the back, the double swingarm and suspension were hidden between the twin wheels, giving the feeling that the wheels are not connected to the bike.
To slow down the 680 kg beast, it incorporated four huge 20” perimeter brake discs placed on the outer face of the twin wheels.
The two front ones were each bitten by two gigantic 4-piston brake calipers, 16 pistons in total, while on the two rear discs there were also two calipers on each, but with two opposed pistons.
It is a grotesque, heavy, enormous “motorcycle”, yes, with 500 CV that are scary…
Interestingly, it incorporated an ingenious lockable hydraulic system in the suspensions, which ensured that each of the wheels was offset in relation to its twin, so that the motorcycle stood without a stand. An analogous system that we can find today in Piaggio MP3 or Quadro scooters.
And contrary to what one might think, the Dodge Tomahawk was moving, yes, clumsily. At Solo Moto we tested it in Miami, almost 20 years ago, but on a course of a few hundred meters and on a closed circuit.
And it is that the Tomahawk was not and is not legal to circulate on the street. The turning radius was enormous, despite the fact that it could tilt 45º.
Like on a Piaggio MP3, a Yamaha Niken or a Quadro 4-wheel scooter, the twin wheels were always in contact with the asphalt in a curve.
And how far did he run? At the time they declared that it could reach 700 km/h, something certainly unfeasible, basically for stability reasons, because it was not lacking in power…
Curiously, although it should have been a unique prototype, 9 units were finally built to order, whose price was around half a million dollars a unit…
The Dodge Tomahawk was pure mechanical surrealism, because of a motorcycle it only has the name and the driving position, nothing more. A true American madness.
