2CVs where the first cars I ever stripped apart .. you can see in the pictures where he has one of the drive shaft brake hubs strapped up and the other side is placed in direct contact with the wheel to drive it .. simply genius. No question this is real and would work .. however the jury is out on it being constructed in the desert in 12 days .. but I'd put my money on it being true.

The concept of transmission by friction with the tire comes directly from the Solex, another highly hackable vehicle that any young Frenchman born between 1930 and 1980 would be quite used to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solex

They could build a bike like that on Junkyard Wars in less than two commercial breaks. Granted, they do have all the equipment they need...

I didn't see it on their forum, so I submitted it there, under the "Historical 'Fact' Myths" section. With hope it will make it into next season.