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Voxan Looking to Beat the FIM Motorcycle Land Speed Record

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We were surprised to hear that French brand Voxan was going to make an attempt on the FIM land speed record for electric motorcycles (specifically the I.A1.B VII +300kg record).

Last we heard, the Voxan brand was being shut down by parent company Venturi, with the company’s electric cruiser model, the Voxan Wattman, classified as dead on arrival.

Now taking that same platform (though the two motorcycles seem to share nearly no components), Voxan has sprung back to life to try and tackle the outright FIM record for partially streamlined two-wheeled electric motorcycles.

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Reviews

What It’s Like to Ride a MotoE Electric Race Bike, A Review

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I have been lucky in my career to ride some of the finest one-off electric motorcycles ever created. I was the first to ride the Mission R street bike from Mission Motors, and first of two journalists to swing a leg over the Isle of Man winning MotoCzysz E1pc.

I was the first to ride the Alta Redshift SM prototype, back when the company was still called BRD Motorcycles, one of only a handful of souls can lay claim to riding the Lightning LS-218 around a race track, and one of the first to swing a leg over the Energica Ego.

Coming to the Valencia track in Spain, I knew though that I would be adding another one of these special machines to my list, as Energica had invited Asphalt & Rubber to ride its MotoE race bike, the day after the Valencia GP.

Five flying laps on the Energica Ego Corsa is all that we would get this day at the Spanish track, which didn’t include our out-lap and in-lap, which I have to admit disappointed me.

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Racing

Isle of Man TT Halts Electric TT Zero Races for Next Two Years

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Bad news for electric motorcycle race fans, as the organizers of the Isle of Man TT have announced that they will no longer hold the TT Zero event for the 2020 and 2021 editions of the iconic road race.

The Isle of Man’s Department of Enterprise says in a press release that it has become “increasingly challenging” to run the electric class and to find competitors for it each year.

Of course, anyone watching the TT Zero race will see that the only promising entries came from the Mugen team, that the starting grids were single-digits in number, and that both factors made for lackluster viewing.

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A&R Pro

Notes from the Very First MotoE World Cup Race

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I would start with some grandiose phrase - "this weekend we witnessed history in the making" - but the reality is that there have been several attempts already to achieve what the MotoE World Cup sets to undertake.

Electric motorcycle racing has been in the nexus for almost a decade now, and if we are frank, the progress has been tough.

TTXGP, FIM ePower, TT Zero - there are achievements to each of these efforts, but none have been able to create a product that is on par with their petrol-powered counterparts.

So while we have been here before, with a new series dedicated to racing electric motorcycles, there is a chance that we have seen history in the making, because the MotoE World Cup shows signs of life...and it shows how a new racing series can be launched in the 21st century.

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MotoGP

Nicolas Goubert Talks About Rebuilding MotoE, Part 2

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Coming weekend, history will be made. For the first time, Grand Prix racing will welcome vehicles not powered by internal combustion engines, as the MotoE series makes its debut at the Sachsenring. It is the very first step on the long path toward a future where batteries replace burning hydrocarbons.

But the series got off to a rocky start, even before the first race. At the second test of the electric bike racing series, a fire started in the special tent containing all of the bikes, batteries, and chargers, destroying everything and wiping out the entire series in one fell swoop.

Since March, Nicolas Goubert, director of the MotoE series for Dorna, Energica, who build the spec electric bikes to be raced in the series, and Enel, who supply the charging technology to maintain the bikes, have worked at double speed to rebuild everything needed for the series, and get it ready for the inaugural race at the Sachsenring.

In Le Mans, I spoke at length to Goubert about the progress made in preparing the series, the challenges they had faced, and the lessons learned from the fire in Jerez. The fire highlighted some of the difficulties of an electric bike series, but just staging the series raises logistical and technical issues which nobody had foreseen.

Here is part 2 of the interview. If you want to read part 1, catch it here.

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MotoGP

Nicolas Goubert Talks About Rebuilding MotoE, Part 1

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Coming weekend, history will be made. For the first time, Grand Prix racing will welcome vehicles not powered by internal combustion engines, as the MotoE series makes its debut at the Sachsenring. It is the very first step on the long path toward a future where batteries replace burning hydrocarbons.

But the series got off to a rocky start, even before the first race. At the second test of the electric bike racing series, a fire started in the special tent containing all of the bikes, batteries, and chargers, destroying everything and wiping out the entire series in one fell swoop.

Since March, Nicolas Goubert, director of the MotoE series for Dorna; Energica, who build the spec electric bikes to be raced in the series; and Enel, who supply the charging technology to maintain the bikes, have worked at double speed to rebuild everything needed for the series, and get it ready for the inaugural race at the Sachsenring.

In Le Mans, I spoke at length to Goubert about the progress made in preparing the series, the challenges they had faced, and the lessons learned from the fire in Jerez.

The fire highlighted some of the difficulties of an electric bike series, but just staging the series raises logistical and technical issues which nobody had foreseen.

Here is part 1 of the interview. Part 2 will follow tomorrow:

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A&R Pro

Up-Close with the Mugen Shinden Hachi

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The 2019 Isle of Man TT once again saw the record lap drop for the electric class, with the new TT Zero record mark set at 121.909 mph by Michael Rutter, on the Mugen Shinden Hachi machine.

The Japanese squad has become a tour de force at the Isle of Man TT, taking now six-straight victories on the Mountain Course. Each year, we have seen the winning TT Zero lap time drop in number, and 2019 was no different...though barely.

Shaving less than a second off his time from 2018, Rutter crossed the line in 18'34.172" - a figure likely attributable to the dismal weather conditions for this year's TT gathering, which meant very little practice time for all the competitors.

Despite that lack of progress, a quick look at the Mugen Shinden Hachi shows that the Japanese outfit has not been resting on its laurels, despite the lacking arrival of a serious competitor in the TT Zero class.

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Bikes

Mugen Shinden Hachi Electric Superbike Debuts for IOMTT

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Another debut from the Tokyo Motorcycle Show, the next iteration of the Mugen Shinden has debuted and its ready for the Isle of Man TT.

The bike is officially dubbed the Mugen Shinden Hachi – and for those who don’t know, “hachi” means “eight” in Japanese, with this being the eighth iteration of the Mugen Shinden electric superbike.

On the spec sheet, we see that nothing has changed on the 2019 bike versus the Mugen Shinden Nana that raced last year. But, a quick visual inspection sees that the Japanese tuning brand has been busy optimizing its aerodynamics package.

As such, the front intake for the Shinden Hachi has been revised. The tail section has also been reworked, and looks a bit more slippery.

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Racing

Fire Destroys MotoE Paddock in Jerez, Delays Season-Opener

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It was a grim sight in the early hours of today, as the MotoE paddock that had been erected in Jerez burned to the ground. A shared space for all the MotoE World Cup teams and riders, word from Spain is that the flames engulf all of the Energica Ego Corsa race bikes for this years series.

The damage will obviously mean that the opening round of the series, which was set to be at Jerez, will not occur, but Dorna says that the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup will take place this year, despite today’s setback. 

A calendar for the later race dates will be released, most likely when Dorna and Energica (the single-spec bike provider) can figure out how long it will take to build the 20 or so race bikes that the series needs. From what we hear, the last motorcycles for the MotoE series were just delivered to Dorna a few weeks ago.

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Podcast

Paddock Pass Podcast #88 – Jerez Test

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Episode 88 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we see David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Steve English on the mics, as we cover the Jerez Tests in Spain.

The post-season test saw a bevy of classes out on the track getting ready for the 2019 season. First up, the guys tackle the MotoGP paddock, which takes a good portion of the show.

The conversation then turns to the WorldSBK paddock, which took to Jerez once the GP boys were done. The show then concludes with a testing report from the Moto2 and MotoE classes, as they start a new era of racing next year.

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