Some people's criteria for choosing their vehicle is finding something that makes them stand out from the crowd. Unless you're willing to pay the kind of money that would otherwise buy you a suite on the French Riviera, that could prove problematic.
That's partly why we have such a booming tuning industry, and also why things like pink Rolls-Royces exist - you see, this desire to be unique doesn't always go hand in hand with common sense. But that's not always a bad thing. Playing by the rules can become boring at some time, so the need for something to break the routine might make itself felt.
But instead of sticking a huge wing on the trunk of a sedan or applying animal print wrap on a limousine, this French company came up with something a lot more decent, but just as outrageous. It's called the Lazareth LM847, and it will give serious headaches to those who try to explain exactly what it is.
From a distance, it definitely looks like a bike. Yes, it's unusually big, but it has that unmistakable classic architecture of a motorcycle. The closer you get, though, the more weird things start to become. For one thing, the LM847 has a wheelbase of 1,850 millimeters (that's 73 inches), which means it is just 23 millimeters (less than an inch) shorter than that of a smart fortwo car.
It also has a humongous engine - a 470 hp, 620 Nm (457 lb-ft) V8 from Maserati, to be more exact - not like the kind of units you're accustomed to finding on a bike. But if the side profile looks just slightly weird, once you get to see the front or the rear, you'll be scratching your head for hours. Technically, the Lazareth LM847 is a quad bike, and those thick two wheels are actually four. Thanks to a clever independent suspension system it still allows the driver to lean in corners as they would on a regular bike, but at 400 kilos (880 lbs) its maneuvrability will be limited.
Lazareth is remaining silent about the performance figures of the LM847, but that may be because nobody's found the courage to drive it really hard so far. Its power to weight ratio of over one horsepower per kilogram is excellent, and since it comes with a single-speed transmission, it should be able to accelerate with blistering speed.
Lazareth says it will reach 150 km/h (93 mph) in "a few seconds." That's all we needed to know. Actually, there's one more thing: since it has four wheels, can somebody who doesn't have a motorcycle license drive it? I'm asking for a friend.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
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