The 400hp supercharged Triumph Speed Triple 1200RR wows at Goodwood

A stretched-out, supercharged Triumph Speed Triple 1200RR drift bike captivated crowds at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed – boasting 400bhp, adaptive aerodynamics, and even artificial intelligence.

Built by UK custom house Thornton Hundred and ridden up the illustrious hill climb by company owner Jody Millhouse, the one-off sideways screamer known as the SC RR (Supercharged RR) took around seven months to build and was ready just days before the July 13-16 event.

“This year we wanted to bring something back to the Festival of Speed that was going to absolutely capture people’s imaginations and give them something that they might not have ever seen before,” Millhouse told MCN.

Having stunned the crowds with the World’s Fastest Bobber the year before – a 201bhp supercharged, nitrous-injected Triumph Bonneville Bobber – this year’s build was inspired by Jody’s family background of stunt riding and sideways off-road action.

“I’ve ridden something with that much power, but nothing as light as this,” he continued. “It’s 400bhp at the crank, but it weighs 187kg wet.

“The suspension is really high at the back and really low at the front. You just accelerate and it spins. You could be in sixth gear doing 150mph and it will spin, so it’s just nuts.”

To produce that performance, the Thornton Hundred team stripped the bike down to the bare crank and built up from there. Adding a big dose of power is the Rotrex C30 supercharger, with a custom housing developed in-house.

A billet aluminium stretched swingarm, 180mm longer than standard, is hollow to store five litres of methanol. This is injected into the supercharger plenum to cool things, removing the need for an intercooler.

“It’s the most expensive single component we’ve ever produced, at a cost of around £14,000 just for the swingarm,” Millhouse continued. “I did all the stress testing on it… to make sure that we can put all this power through it, send it sideways, and it’s not going to break.”

Alongside carbon bodywork and wheels, plus forged engine internals and a full titanium exhaust system weighing just 2.4kg, the bike gets cutting-edge 3D printed active aero.

He explained: “Those aerofoils are actuated using accelerometers housed within the dashboard. It means that when you jump on the brakes the flaps come up to slow you down, a bit like an air brake.

“When you accelerate, they fold back to reduce drag. When you’re in a corner, they also react to your lean angle and also twitch individually.”

What’s more, the team have also developed Thornton Hundred Artificial Intelligence or THAI for short, which allows the bike to talk back to the rider. You can even play games with it, including rock, paper, scissors!

“We’ve actually built speakers into the back of the fairing and the back of the bike so that when you turn it on, the bike says a message like: ‘Morning Jody’.”

Although this bike is a one-off, you can check out their retail builds at www.thorntonhundred motorcycles.co.uk.