Two Engines, 740bhp and one barking mad driver
For those who haven’t heard of the car before, the TT-based Bimoto idea was prompted by a Mercedes project to shoehorn two engines into an A-Class. MTM-boss Roland Mayer challenged his team to create a car in less time, with fewer people, that would be able to crack the magic 400km/h barrier.
Two 1.8 turbo engines – one for each axle - tuned to develop 370bhp each, two transmissions and a lot of creative work with carbon fibre later and the first car was ready to roll. Development continued in the wind tunnel and, when the first car reaches the 400km/h Holy Grail, if you have a spare 600,000 Euros, MTM is planning a limited run of 10 cars.
A number of attempts have been made at reaching top speed at the Mercedes test track at Papenburg, where first the record was set at 384km/h.
Last Tuesday, Porsche Carrera Cup racer Florian Gruber raised the bar to an average speed of 393km/h (244.2mph) in two trial runs in less than ideal conditions – windy, partial rain and temperatures just squeezing into the 20s. It’s probably a good thing that MTM was able to carry over the standard TT’s ABS system too.