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If the KTM RC8 Ever Makes It Back This Is What We'd Like to See

As much as some like to hope, we are not at all sure that we will ever get to see a KTM RC8. In August last year we reported on KTM’s intention to ditch the RC8 superbike, but this doesn’t mean bike designers must stop dreaming. Even more, the prospect of having to wave the RC8 good bye for good seems to have inspired some fellows and caused a creativity boost. It’s the case of Sylvain Berneron, better known as the Holographic Hammer and the latest KTM RC8 iteration.
Naked KTM RC8 rendering 4 photos
Photo: Holographic Hammer
Naked KTM RC8 renderingNaked KTM RC8 rendering shows MotoGP DNANaked KTM RC8 rendering
The rendering looks even cooler with the added wonder-factor of a new design team member, Olivier, who seems to be a most skilled 3D modeler. His latest work on HH’s RC8 exercise shows just how cool things could be, even though the future of the model is uncertain, to say the least.

Even though a bike which rarely makes it on the designers boards, the KTM RC8 nevertheless has all it needs to be transformed into a completely different beast, even an overkill café-racer. Truth be told, the pictured bike looks more like a café-racer which was spliced with a ton of MotoGP DNA. A quick peek at the slicks, huge front rotors, ultra-high-tech fork, the Akrapovic exhaust and the massive radiator are definitely telling a story which could effortlessly unfold at the Mugello or COTA circuits.

Will we get a streetable MotoGP-derived bike?

One of the most ardent questions for the future of KTM’s superbike line-up is whether the Austrian maker will indeed deliver track-only machines reserved for MotoGP. While the RC16 V4 machine s under development right now and will see the track in 2016, ahead of the 2017 MotoGP comeback, this doesn’t mean that KTM will not deliver a streetable beast based on the new engine and frame.

If you want, the story could be in a way similar to what Kawasaki did with the Ninja H2R and its street-legal H2. Likewise, Yamaha’s example is yet again one worth following, with the YZR-M1 MotoGP prototype serving as the building base for the track-minded YZF-R1M and its road going YZF-R1 sister.

The possibilities are there, but at the moment all lips are sealed shut in Mattighofen. If we were to make a bet, we’d put our money on a road-legal RC version, packing 200hp and laden with technology derived from the Grand Prix machine. And powered by a V4, obviously. Time will tell.
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