0 to 100 km/h in 0.4 seconds on open water: a British engineer's crazy garage project (4 photos + 2 videos)

Yesterday, 23:00

Graham Sykes, a 62-year-old British engineer, decided to go back to basics. From his private workshop in Bedale (North Yorkshire), he rolled out a monster named "Force of Nature." It is a rocket on wheels that runs... on ordinary water.

During recent tests at the Santa Pod track, the machine demonstrated such extreme performance that it scared off the local street racers.

This steam-powered motorcycle is capable of accelerating to 100 km/h in just 0.4 seconds, outperforming most dragsters. The machine covers the 402-meter distance in 5.5 seconds, reaching a speed of 310 km/h, while the rider experiences G-forces of up to 6.8G—levels comparable to those in fighter jets.

Before the start, a special external heating station (the "Mothership") is connected to the motorcycle. Inside it, a powerful burner fueled by refined kerosene or biofuel heats up the bike's internals. So, it turns out they couldn't completely abandon conventional fuel.

Inside the motorcycle's titanium tank sits 120 liters of ultra-pure deionized distilled water. The system heats it to 260°C, raising the pressure inside the tank to a staggering 50 atmospheres. At this stage, the water doesn't boil away simply because there is physically nowhere for it to expand.

At the start, the rider presses a button on the handlebars, opening the nitrogen valves. Superheated water rushes out through two special de Laval nozzles. Upon release, it instantly boils, turning into steam and generating massive jet thrust.

The motorcycle has no chain, driveshaft, or gearbox—the wheels aren't connected to the "engine" at all. In essence, it is simply a furious steam cannon propelled forward by a jet stream. This strange bike wasn't built in secret NASA labs or funded by major automakers; it is a genuine garage project. Graham Sykes is building it alongside his wife, Dianna.

"Everyone keeps talking about the environment and electric power, but batteries are heavy and boring," Graham explains. "Steam, on the other hand, is pure physics—Novikov and Newton. We take water, release energy, and get clean steam as the output. Our carbon neutrality is absolute—except for the kerosene used to fuel the heater's burner. But on the track itself, we don't burn a single drop of fossil fuel!"

To prevent the motorcycle from tearing itself apart right at the start, Graham had to apply all his expertise in precision engineering. The central reservoir was hand-welded from a high-strength alloy. Every weld was X-ray inspected; if even a single micro-crack were present in the structure, 120 liters of water superheated to 260 degrees Celsius would instantly turn the bike into a fragmentation grenade.

The bodywork is completely enclosed and flat. At speeds exceeding 300 km/h, any turbulence under the chassis would simply flip the motorcycle over. Graham machined the body and chassis components on old machine tools in his garage. Some valves and hydraulic parts were even scavenged from agricultural machinery.

And that is how a cool, yet ultimately useless, bike came into existence.