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Chip Yates Hits 190.6 MPH at the Mojave Mile Shootout

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Chip Yates and his crew might be SOL for the electric motorcycle racing season, after both the FIM and TTXGP lowered their maximum allowable weights for electric race motorcycle, but that hasn’t stopped the Southern Californian engineer from taking on the gasoline-powered bikes on their own turf. Already showing that his SWIGZ.com Pro Racing Electric Superbike can compete with the WERA racers in the Heavyweight Twins class, Yates was out at the Mojave Mile this weekend seeing what sort of top speeds his electric motorcycle could produce. The answer to that question is quite succinct: 190.6 MPH.

While the team is laying claim to the “Fastest Electric Motorcycle in the World” title, the distinction comes with a couple caveats as the Mojave Mile is a single-run event, meaning there’s no return-run the opposite direction that would meet the requirements for a land speed record (the official LSR for an electric motorcycle is 173.388 MPH). Additionally, previous top speed passes from other electric motorcycle makers have been conducted on salt flats, which typically suck 10% off the top speed compared to those run on asphalt. Still as Yates pointed out to us, the purpose of the entry was to prove his technology and see what bike would do, simply stating “it was a really fun weekend event” in his eyes.

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News

Spy Shots: Brammo Empulse RR Testing at Thunderhill

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Yesterday was a sunny day in the San Francisco/Bay Area, with weather in the mid-60’s. Just recently getting my bike back from a tune-up, I was itching for a ride and decided to pack things up early for the day, and go for a quick jaunt up to Thunderhill Raceway to gatecrash Brammo’s latest testing session with the Empulse RR electric race bike (close-up shots from Laguna Seca last year here).

Using my best ear-to-ear smile at the front gate, I rode into the paddock to see Brammo’s Director of Product Development Brian Wismann shaking his head upon my arrival, and muttering something about someone posting the session’s schedule online. Always a good-sport, Wismann graciously allowed me to stick around for the remaining day’s sessions, while Brammo’s CEO Craig Bramscher definitively removed me from his Christmas card list (you’ll still get a card from me though Craig).

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News

BRP Developing Hybrid Can-Am Spyder

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The Canucks are getting into the hybrid scene, as news from up north reveals that BRP, with help from the Canadian government, will develop a hybrid model of its Can-Am Spyder three-wheeler. Working alongside the Université de Sherbrooke, BRP is investing $5.1 million CAD ($5 million USD) into the school’s Centre de Technologies Avancees (CTA), while the Canadian government’s Automotive Partnership Canada program is matching funds to the tune of $6.2 million CAD ($6.1 million USD).

BRP and the researchers at Université de Sherbrooke will be building a ground-up hybrid system, since apparently the systems currently available for cars have proven to be inadequate for the confines of motorcycles and trikes. We guess they missed the product releases from MotoCzsyz (D1g1tal Dr1ve D1) and Mission Motors (MissionEVT), both of whom have developed their drive trains from electric motorcycles. More info after the jump, along with an obnoxiously French-Canadian video.

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News

Federal Reserve Discloses $2.3 Billion Short-Term Loan to Harley-Davidson – $3.3 Trillion in Total to Others

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The Federal Reserve made disclosures today that it quietly made short-term loans to major institutions and Fortune 500 companies during the 2008-2009 economic meltdown. Among one of the companies listed as receiving a 3-month Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF) promissory note from the Fed is Harley-Davidson, which received 33 loans totaling $2.3 billion in aid to meet operational needs. Other companies who received economic help include GE (12 loans totaling $16 billion), Verizon (two loans totaling $1.5 billion). Commercial paper was also purchased from McDonalds, UBS ($74.5 billion), AIG ($60.2 billion) and Dexia ($53.5 billion).

The concept of “buying paper” has been mislabeled by other sources as a bailout from the Fed, despite the fact that loans made by the Federal Reserve differ from the bailouts we saw for the auto and banking industries both by being for a short-term duration, and because they only replaced other short-term cash flow loans that disappeared during the financial crisis (that’s what you get for getting financial news from a motorcycle site that spells Warren Buffett’s name like a meal from which guests server their own food, and then over reports his lending amount to Harley-Davidson by over three-fold).

If anything this news shows the great lengths the Federal Reserve had to take in order to keep the credit market open for major American businesses and institutions. It should be noted that because of the Fed’s efforts these companies were able to receive the cash flow and short-term loans to stay afloat during the crisis, and now that the CPFF program is over, the Federal Reserve reports that it not only was paid back in-full by every borrower, but also made money on the interest of all the loans ($849 million in total).

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Racing

Lightning Motors Sets Electric LSR at Bonneville

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At the 2010 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials week Lightning Motors took the FIM and AMA land speed record for special construction partial streamlining electric motorcycles (300-APS-W) with an official two-way average speed of 173.388 mph. Blasting down the course at 170.732 mph with a 10 mph headwind, Lightning Motors’ return run was clocked at 176.044 with no wind.

This was a marked improvement over the team’s unofficial 166mph pass last year, but still short of the company’s goal of hitting 200 mph on the salt flats. Coming straight from the track at VIR, the only modifications to the Lightning electric motorcycle was a larger sprocket, as you can see above, it’s still in its track fairings (note: other sites have been running photos of the the Lightning bike in an open streamliner fairing, which was used last year, not this year).

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Banter

The 70mph Computer Case

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Do you roll your own box? Are you a case modder? Do high school kids talk about your l337 h4x0r skillz? When you read the MotoCzysz product names like the D1g1tal Dr1ve Superbike, do they make perfect sense to you? We answered no to those questions too, but here’s the work of one Canadian who clearly uses his computer for more than just publishing articles on a silly motorcycle blog. From the ashes of a 50cc pocket bike, a user by the name of Saibot has created the ultimate motorcycle case mod. Photos after the jump. w00t!

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Bikes

Concept: Chaparral A1 e-Racer by Oberdan Bezzi

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Italian designer Oberdan Bezzi (view our coverage here) is at it again with his pen and paper, and this time he’s set his mind to imagining a battery-powered electric motorcycle. Based off the now defunked Chaparral brand, Bezzi sees the Texan company reinventing itself and entering the electric motorcycle racing scene. The bike has a full carbon chassis, a liquid cooled motor, and great attention to aerodynamics, according to Obiboi. We can also see five removable battery packs on each side of the motorcycle, and single shock suspension used not only on the rear, but also on the front fork assembly.

Wait…we feel like we’ve seen this before…Yes, it seems Bezzi has ripped-off every detail found on the MotoCzysz E1pc, right down to the motor and controller mounting points. Of course the A1 e-Racer looks like the E1pc 1.0, with its square battery packs. Oberdan must have missed our article on the eDD where we explained that the E1pc’s chevron shaped batteries allowed for more front wheel clearance. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right Michael?

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Racing

A Postscript on e-Power at Laguna Seca

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Asphalt & Rubber got this email late last night from one of the competitors at the e-Power race at Laguna Seca this past weekend. It shows a rare glimpse into the electric racing scene, that even our own coverage can’t compare to in storytelling ability. The letter talks about sportsmanship: the sportsmanship that riders and teams share with each other, but also more importantly the sportsmanship that makes others take notice, and strive to be better. Read the letter after the jump.

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Bikes

Up-Close with the Brammo Empulse RR

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Although it didn’t take part in the e-Power electric race at Laguna Seca, the Brammo Empulse RR was on display in the Brammo pit area during the weekend, and we got a chance to lay our hands on the bike for the first time. Based off the Brammo Empulse street bike, the Empulse RR comes packed with 12.5 kWh of battery power (same as the MotoCzysz E1pc), which according to Brammo makes it the best bike in the paddock in terms of power-to-weight ratios.

Coming together in just eight weeks, the Brammo Empulse RR still has some kinks to iron out, as the bike apparently cooked off its liquid-cooled motor during testing. While the Brammo team figures out its foray into liquid-cooled electric motors (the Brammo Enertia uses an air-cooled motor), the rest of the Empulse RR package looks very promising.

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Racing

Officially Official: Brammo Racing at Laguna Seca

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Confirming what we already knew, Brammo has officially announced that it will be racing at Laguna Seca in the e-Power Championship in two weeks’ time. Taking to the track with its new Empulse RR race bike that’s based off the new Brammo Empulse, Brammo will be reunited with racing rivals MotoCzysz and Team Agni (the latter has not been independently confirmed).

With the addition of Brammo to the line-up, the FIM’s e-Power Championship race at Laguna Seca is looking like the electric race of the year, as the “Flying Banana” of Lightning Motors, which is currently leading the TTXGP points standings in the US, will race at the event, along with Betti Motors who have been dominating the European rounds of the e-Power Championship.

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Racing

e-Power Could Rival MotoGP for Grid Size at Seca

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With the US round of the e-Power Championship closing in upon us in two weeks, news of the grid size has begun to form. We had earlier predicted that the California rounds of the TTXGP and e-Power series would attract the largest field of competitors, when compared to the other races, and we were right. Set to go off on July 25th, with the MotoGP racing weekend at Laguna Seca, the e-Power Championship race at Seca is set to have 15 electric motorcycles or more on its starting line.

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