While most of the world is fascinated this week by the launch of the Hayabusa 2 satellite — which is on a daring 6-year journey to blast a crater into an asteroid and pick up core samples before returning home — there are a few hot rodders wrenching on a 1.3-liter Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine trying to pull around 400 horsepower.

This video, shot at George Dean Race Engines in Washington, shows a turbocharged Hayabusa being developed to run in a Palatov D4, a 900-pound all-wheel-drive racecar similar to the V8-powered canyon carver that won the Unlimited class at the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The lightweight 4-cylinder engine will be mounted transversely next to the driver and send power through a torque splitter to a pair of chains to drive front and rear differentials.

“Normally aspirated the Hayabusa will do about 175 horsepower,” says Dennis Palatov, designer of the cars that are built primarily as track day or hillclimb entries, although some can race in certain road racing and endurance classes. “With the turbo, intercooler and lower compression, we’re looking at 350 to 400 horsepower.”

• 
• 

Shown is the Palatov D4 that won the Unlimited class at the 2012 Pikes Peak race. That car had a Hartley V8 while the the chassis on the right sports a 4-cylinder version.

Most of the engine components are stock, with the exception of new pistons to bring down the compression ratio and Carillo connecting rods. The  induction is mostly custom with fabricated headers bringing the heat to a modified Garrett turbo. There’s also a custom airbox but the throttle bodies and fuel system are stock. Even the stock ECU is retained, but with a serious recalibration. Finally, the engine is set up with a dry-sump oiling system.

• 
• 
• 

Views from the SuperFlow dyno.

The Hayabusa, which means “Peregrine Falcon” in Japanese, was run with just 6 pounds of boost for this video as the team fine tunes the calibrations for pump and race gas. At that level it made 225 horsepower at 10,000 rpm with 131 lb-ft peak torque at 7,500 rpm. There’s probably the potential to run the turbo up to 30 pounds and make close to 500 horsepower, but there are endurance and durability goals that will keep the power levels around 400. Redline will likely be 11,000 rpm.

For those interested in this engine, the D4 that won at Pikes Peak was powered by a V8 version. Basically, the cylinders and heads of two Hayabusa engines — which arguably power the fastest motorcycles in the industry — are fused at a 75-degree angle into a common crankcase. Designed by John Hartley, this unique engine is used in a number of race and street applications. It’s capable of up to 1,000 horsepower when turbocharged, yet is one of the lightest, smallest V8 engines around. The Palatov D4 that ran at Pikes Peak turned in a time of 10:04.652, which was the fifth fastest overall and tops in the Unlimited class. In fact, Palatov could build a similar car for about $150,000. Considering it was faster than some major factory entries costing millions, that’s a pretty good bargain.