This Badass Racing Motorcycle Spits Fire. Literally
All Photo Credits: Andri Margadant
This one-off drag racer from VTR Customs is named the Spitfire, and you probably know the reason why.
That’s right. This VTR custom earned its name because of its fire-spitting exhaust system. Fire spitting aside, though, this special motorbike is also said to have gained inspiration from the single-seat Spitfire fighter airplanes Britain’s Royal Air Force once used in World War II.
So not only is this monstrous two-wheeler a flamethrower, it is also inspired by WWII fighter planes. How much more badass can this motorcycle get?
According to VTR head honcho Daniel Weidmann, he decided to equip the backside of the Spitfire with what is essentially a flamethrower because he “wanted to replicate the spitting flames and smoke” he witnessed from plane engines during his stint as a classic aircraft technician.
“As a maintenance guy of this WWII fighter, I remember the spectacular engine start up with the big radial engine of the plane I was working on,” Weidmann said in an interview with RealClearLife. “I felt immediately that we must build this idea and have it shaped and designed as an aircraft from WWII.”
With a BMW Motorrad 2017 R1299 R used as a base model, Weidmann used his past experience as an aircraft technician and added details to the body of the bike, such that it resembles the build of aircraft fuselages.
For authenticity, VTR even sourced original instruments and switches from the Spitfire cockpit and installed them onto the bike. The vehicle’s aluminum alloy body was done completely by hand, after a gruelling hand-drawn sketching process.
Speaking to Bike EXIF, he said: “This is the most challenging and complex bike we have ever made,” Dani admits. “We had to make the tail end three times to get the look we were after. I now have to wear my back protector at work, because I fear Cello is going to kill me with a knife from behind!”
Except for the engine, everything else was pretty much transformed into an unrecognizable machine. The reason for hardly touching the engine is because VTR apparently wanted the bike to meet Factory Class racing regulations, and so the two-cylinder boxer was kept.
As for the actual fire spitting, it is done through a discreet setting on the bike.
“We found a control unit that can generate a signal for the flame system,” Weidmann revealed. There are also two switches in the cockpit - one to activate the ignition and the other to activate the fuel spray. The latter activates a fuel spray nozzle connected to the gas tank, and then the injector nozzle will spray fuel on to the spark plug mounted in the exhaust.
However, they “only use this before and after races to scare [their] competitors,” Weidmann jokes. “While racing, the system is off.”
It’s still pretty scary though, even from a safe distance and with a digital screen separating us from the heat.
Even so, this whole motorbike came out of the factory looking utterly badass and amazing. Still, we gotta say that the riding position when mounted on the bike is rather unique.
“We are very happy and very proud of the outcome,” Weidmann said to RealClearLife. “The build of the bike took us to many challenges where we had two ways forward: compromise or do it again. We always went the second way: no compromises. We are happy we did take that road, even it took us sometimes to our limits.”