More electric motorcycle racing

The Mugen team again won the 2015 Isle of Man TT Zero Challenge, and MotoE just announced the five races for its 2015 championship.

John McGuiness won the Zero Challenge on its Mugen Shinden at an average speed of 119.279 (192 km/h). The Zero Challenge is a one-lap race against the clock on a 37.73 mile (60.72 km) road track. Past winners have included Team Agni and MotoCzycz.

This year’s surprise was the presence of team Victory, which raced an evolution of a Brammo bike. The performance of the Victory was rather impressive for its first race.

Results:

1. John McGuinness    Mugen/Team Mugen         18:58.743                  119.279 mph
2. Bruce Anstey             Mugen/Team Mugen         19:02.785                  118.857 mph
3. Lee Johnston             Victory / Parker Racing    20:16.881                   111.620 mph
4. Guy Martin                Victory / Parker Racing     20:37.987                  109.717 mph
5. Robert Wilson           Sarolea / Team Sarolea      21:15.256                  106.510 mph
6. Michael Sweeney      University of Nottingham  30:56.695                   73.156 mph

There are other electric bike races all over the world. The fledgling MotoE has listed 5 tentative races for its second year edition:

Round 1: 25th – 26th July  – Great Britain:  Anglesey

Round 2:  31 July- 2nd Aug  –  Germany: Schleizer Dreieck

Round 3:  15-16 Aug  –  Great Britain:  Donington Park

Round 4:  18-20 September – Great Britain:  Silverstone

Round 5:  2-4th October  –  Portugal: Portimao

No list of participants yet, except that last year’s winner Chi Fung Ho will be racing for Zongshen again on a brand new as yet unveiled machine.

In Australia, there are eFXC races, and in the US we have the eMotoRacing series. But it woud be time to again try for a world electric bike championship. Electric motorcycles have reached a level of development that would guaranty great racing. Instead of having isolated series with just a few entries, wouldn’t it be great to see the best teams in the world compete in the same races? Imagine a race in which Mugen, Victory, Zero, Zongshen, Sarolea, Saietta /Agni and others are competing!

Or should electric bike racing imitate the Formula E car racing concept? Formula E has 10 teams with 2 cars each, and all cars are identical, with races all over the world. In its first season, the new series has been extremely successful among competitors and the public.

Either way, electric motorcycling needs a real world championship.