Jeremy Clarkson has gone green. The Top Gear presenter has finally bowed to pressure from the environmental lobby and got himself a bicycle. It has a wicker basket on the front, a jet engine at the back and a theoretical top speed of 70mph.

Built for the MPH 06 motor show, a motoring circus co-hosted by Clarkson, it has made such an impact the designers are thinking of producing it for sale.

“It’s fantastic and completely legal, probably,” said Clarkson. “You can ride across London without paying the congestion charge and Ken Livingstone can’t touch you.”

The bike uses a standard JetCat P-180 model aircraft engine that can be bought over the counter at model aircraft shops or from online modelling specialists for about £1,800.

The jet bike is reckoned to be fast enough to set a new land speed record, though Clarkson is careful about who he’ll allow in the saddle. “I’m not loaning it to Richard Hammond because he’ll ride it into a field and turn it upside down,” he said. “It’s the first bike you can ride without wearing muesli sandals and a beard. It’s Lance Armstrong and Frank Whittle in one. I’d enter the Tour de France on it but the French would just steal the idea.”

So far, Clarkson admits, he has managed only about 20mph in the confines of the Earls Court exhibition centre where MPH is currently playing. With burning exhaust gases firing from its tailpipe the jet bike might look like a hellraiser but it is actually easy to ride, according to Steve Howard, a motor racing engineer and owner of Euphoria Racing, who designed it.

“It would certainly nip through the traffic,” said Howard, who has already taken four orders for the bike from MPH spectators. “We did fit a smoke machine as well. With a smoke screen you really would beat the congestion charge cameras and speed cameras as well, but we decided not to use it.

“I’m going to make a few more but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend anyone rides them on the public road.”

Fuelled by a mixture of paraffin and jet oil (for lubrication), the engine packs 1100 lb of thrust at full pelt and the temperature inside can rise to more than 700C so the outside is wrapped in Kevlar. The bike produces a 10ft-long super-heated jet stream that Howard admits is not very friendly to traffic or pedestrians.

Tiff Needell, co-presenter of the show with James May, almost cooked his fingers during the first public showing at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre.

The bike’s frame and wheels are made by Pinnacle and donated by Evans Cycles. It can be pedalled like an everyday commuter bike without the engine ignited. The wicker basket on the front contains the fuel tank encased in fire retardant foam and there’s a fire extinguisher in the place where a water bottle would normally go.

An electronic control unit (ECU) attached to the frame is linked to a control panel in the middle of the handlebars with a joystick to start the engine and a red button that the user holds down while riding — take your finger off the button and the engine will shut down.

“You do have to keep your hands on the brakes all the time as well to slow it down, especially on the slippery Earls Court arena,” said Howard. “The ECU enables us to govern the revs per minute and set a maximum speed. It can go up to a maximum of 177000rpm but we’ve limited it right down to 113000rpm. I gave Clarkson an extra 500rpm for the last show. He likes to build up bit by bit.

“I’m sure it will go up to more than 70mph but we’ve not tested it yet.”

The Department for Transport was unable to come up with an answer when asked whether the bike would need to be taxed as a motor vehicle, or whether Clarkson should have a licence to ride it. A bemused spokesman said: “I imagine it would depend on how and where you plan to use it but the DVLA [Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency] may have a better idea.”



A spokesman for the DVLA called back two hours later with a more definitive response: “First of all it would have to conform to safety standards set out in the Road Vehicles Construction and Use Regulations. If it passed those, like all mechanically propelled vehicles, if it was kept or used on the public road it would have to be registered and licensed and would probably be taxed as a small motorcycle.

“I can’t see it ever being approved, though. It sounds like something out of a Warner Brothers cartoon.”

Howard’s role on BBC’s Top Gear has been compared to that of Brains on Thunderbirds. He builds many of the wild and whacky machines that feature in the programme’s stunts, frequently dreamt up by Andy Wilman, Top Gear’s executive producer, who is producing the MPH show. “I had to build a space shuttle for Top Gear, which you’ll be able to see in the new series,” said Howard. “We sent a Reliant Robin up 3,000ft up into the air on a plastic rocket. It was a bit of brain teaser but there is always someone who knows how to do it.”

Clarkson doesn’t want to let the jet bike go after the MPH show concludes tonight. During the performances he rides round in ever-increasing circles, building up speed as he goes along, protected by a white cycle helmet. “When the ecomentalists finally succeed in banning cars I’ll be riding this,” he said.