Ferrari dismisses motorcycle rumours

Ferrari have officially dismissed rumours they are planning a motorcycle after stories emerged about a patent lodged by the firm showing a V-twin motorcycle engine.

Speculation and rumour emerged last week after a patent, initially lodged in June 2012, was published on the European Patent Office (EPO) website. The patent showed a cruiser-style motorcycle with a V-twin engine with the patent lodged by outside consultant engineer Fabrizio Favaretto.

Internet stories quickly linked the patent to the development of an actual Ferrari motorcycle but this has been completely blown out of the water by Jason Harris,

Ferrari’s Northern European spokesman who told MCN: “There is simply no suggestion we are going to build a motorcycle and there is no motorcycle future for Ferrari.

“With any patent we are moving to protect technology worth protecting now and into the future but that doesn’t mean the technology is imminent.”

But why the image of a motorcycle on the patent application?

Harris explains: “The person who submitted the patent application chose to demonstrate the technology Ferrari has chosen to protect with a motorcycle because it was the easiest way of demonstrating the patent is offering something new when compared to existing technology.”

“The patent concerns a new balancing technology that eliminates the need for a balancer shaft as it manages to balance each side of the Vee of an engine at the plane of the crank. This has benefits in terms of weight and packaging and the V-twin layout was used to illustrate the design as it’s the minimum number of cylinders that can be used without going into detail over how many cylinders any future engine may have.”

“What works on a V-twin can work on a V4, a V6, V8 or V12 engine.”