Wacky Wheel

WACKY WHEEL

Famed automotive stylist Franco Sbarro, for whom “nothing is impossible,” unveiled his radical “motorized wheel” at the Geneva International Auto Show this past March. One of several recipients for this amazing creation, which somehow fits a 160-horsepower Yamaha YZF1000 engine and transmission, airbox, gas tank, radiator, disc brake and suspension within a 22-inch wheel, was a recumbent called the “Monotrace.” Working with wheel-maker O.Z., the

64-year-old Italian combined the comfort of feet-forward sportscar seating with a motorcycle’s unique ability to lean into corners. The canopied conveyance features motorcycle-style controls and outriggers that deploy at stops. Sbarro’s “motorcycle of the future” is said to weigh just 441 pounds.

-Matthew Miles