How to stick a Ferrari V8 in a quad bike

In a downsizing week of 660cc Hondas and 80bhp Caterhams, France has helpfully chipped in with, er... a 3.0-litre Ferrari-engined quad bike. Made by Lazareth, it's called the Matt Edition, and it's an even nastier version of the V8F we showed you a while back.

Let's talk power-to-weight. A 250bhp 3.0L Ferrari V8 bolted to a gearbox from a BMW M3, in a quad that weighs 650kg, equals a juicy 385bhp per tonne. Which is a lot.

The shifters for the sequential ‘box run through buttons on the handlebars. But that's the tip of the electrical trickery. The engine uses the injection system from two superbikes, and the whole lot's managed by a fully adjustable Sybelle system, so you can play with power delivery through a laptop.

Though it looks like a three-wheeler, there's actually a pair of Momo wheels out back, each sporting a massive 315 section 18-inch tyre (the fronts are relatively diminutive 285s). They hide a set of Brembo calipers and 324mm discs.

Lazareth won't tell us how fast the Matt Edition goes, but they will tell us how much it costs. Sitting down? £154,800. Or two Nissan GT-Rs. But it's still on our Christmas list - big's the new small round these parts.