Super Rare Drysdale 750 V8 Sells For Staggering Amount

Rare bikes regularly roll over the auction block, but bikes as rare as this Drysdale 750 V8 are a very peculiar machine to ever see in person, let alone to own.

The machine comes via Donington Auctions, which is oddly based nowhere near the Leicestershire track, and is instead located in Victoria, Australia. It recently went to auction with the firm, and eventually sold for the staggering sum of AUD 73,850 or around £37,000 at today's exchange rate.

And if you are wondering what makes the Drysdale such a sought-after machine, there are a few points of note. First and foremost on that list is the engine, which started life purely as a project for a standalone powerplant, and it was only when fully developed that it morphed into a fully-fledged two-wheel project.

To create the engine, Drysdale mated two FZR400 engines to a custom-made crankcase in a 90-degree V8 configuration. The result is a 749cc V8 with a 56x38mm bore and stroke, 32 valves, four overhead cams, and a flat-plane 180-degree crankshaft. 

Those internals mean the engine is extremely high revving, for a motorcycle engine of any capacity, but especially for a V8. The 750cc version of the Drysdale is reputed to hit a 17,000 rpm redline, and while power output is a modest (by today’s standards) 120bhp, the riding experience, thanks to the ear-splitting exhaust, and linear pickup, is said to be hair-raising.

Completing the appealing looking machine is a custom-made steel trellis frame wrapped in svelte yet retro-looking bodywork, which wouldn’t look out of place on a modern-day Italian bike.

And if you’re thinking that the 750 isn’t quite extreme enough for you, Drysdale went a few steps further with his 1,000cc V8. That bike again used Yamaha-derived engine parts but this time from an FZR600, helping it to produce around 150bhp at 12,200rpm.

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