1995 Ferrari 900 : The One and Only Ferrari Motorcycle

Sathurshan

February 10, 2020

1995 Ferrari 900 is the one, and only Ferrari badged motorcycle ever made. David Kay from David Kay engineering is the mastermind who made this possible.

1995 Ferrari 900 | Photo Credit: Bonhams

David Kay was famous for designing a few well known MV Agusta Motorcycles, where he previously worked as an engineer. David Kay’s family business, MV Meccanica Verghera specializes in manufacturing replacement parts for road and racing motorcycles.  Until today, they mainly focus on pre-1980 MV Agusta’s and other  Italian bikes.

On the 23rd of May 1990, after seeking permission from Piero Ferrari David Kay received a signed written letter approval by P. Ferrari himself to use Ferrari’s logo on a one-off bike that Kay wanted to build. The Ferrari 900 was a tribute to Enzo Ferrari from the start.

1995 Ferrari 900

From experience Kay gathered throughout the family business, he built the bike mostly from scratch. The bike featured a 900cc transverse DOHC four-cylinder air-cooled 16 valve engine. The engine was combined with a 5-speed gearbox which was capable of putting out 105 horsepower at 8,800rpm.

The designer, Terry Hall, specifically designed the bike to resemble the Lemans 24 hour Ferrari Testarossa race car.  The bodywork was handbuilt out of aluminium. On top of this, the Ferrari 900 featured Magnesium castings components, carbon fibre mudguards and reverse cone megaphone all built by Terry Hall inhouse. As a result of the lightweight materials that were used in the process, the bike weighed only 172Kg (dry), and it could reach an estimated top speed of 265Kmph.

Just as the four-wheeled Ferraris, the Ferrari 900 came out with Brembo callipers and disc brakes. On top of this, the bike featured 17-inch Astralite wheels and WPS shock absorbers.

After spending nearly 3000 working hours and 5 years later, In 1995 the one-off bike finally rolled out. However, the bike spent most of the time in David Kay’s office as a showpiece.  Later in 2008, the bike was put up for auction with an asking price of  $236,430 (£180,000), but nobody was willing to pay the threshold price. The Ferrari Motorcycle which is the Ferrari 900 later showed up on eBay for $328,350 (£250,000), again, nobody had the interest to buy it. Finally, in 2012, the Ferrari 900  sold at Bonham’s auction for £85,000.

Ferrari 900 Photo Gallery | Photo Credit: Bonhams