For more see Lightning Motorcycles delivers LS-218 electric superbike to first paying customer over on LongTailPipe.
Showing posts with label Lightning Motorcycles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lightning Motorcycles. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Lightning Motorcycles makes first customer delivery of the LS-218 electric superbike
For more see Lightning Motorcycles delivers LS-218 electric superbike to first paying customer over on LongTailPipe.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Fastest production motorcycle in the world - Electric - Lightning Motorcycles - Debut is this weekend
Why LS-218? Well, the clue to that might be Lightning's land speed record in 2011 where they hit 218 miles/hr in one run. The average over those two runs worked out to 215 miles/hr, making the actual record 215 miles/hr. Last fall the team returned to Bonneville to attempt to beat that record, but bad weather (an epic rainstorm) cut those plans when the whole event was canceled. They did manage a 203 miles/hr pair of runs.
The LS-218 is a motorcycle that's been proven to be capable of hitting 218 miles/hr, from a dead stop, without changing the gear ratio.
With that same motorcycle, Lightning Motorcycles has won numerous road and track races. The hottest race they've won was the 2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb challenge, where their rider beat the entire field of every motorcycle by over 20 seconds. That meant beating top motorcycle riders riding top monster machines like customized/tuned Ducati 1200cc superbikes. By 20 seconds.
Lightning's CEO Richard Hatfield boasts that the LS-218 is the fastest production motorcycle in the world, based on this record. That claim has been a little unclear until now, because of uncertainty that they've sold any bikes, yet. LS-218 VIN# 001 is available for sale, now.
What's the specs? How about: liquid cooled 10,500 rpm electric motor can produce in excess of 200 hp and 168 ft/lbs of torque. At "highway speed" the riding range is said to be 100 miles, but I imagine that a bike this speedy would be difficult to keep as slow as "highway speed".
Charging can be done through a regular power outlet, and according to Lightning it is fast charging capable in under 30 minutes. Their press release did not say anything other than "public charging stations" so one wonders whether that's CHAdeMO or Combined Charging System? Will have to check with Richard about this over the weekend.
The dashboard is a fully customizable Android display. It can be customized in various ways including a carbon-fiber swing arm, or custom wraps.
“Since 2006 the Lightning team has been dedicated to developing electric motorcycles that meet and exceed the performance of the best ICE (Induction Combustion Engine) alternatives”, said Richard Hatfield, CEO of Lightning Motorcycle.“ To have broad acceptance from the motorcyclist community,we need to provide design, performance and value that competes head to head with the best gasoline motorcycles on the market. Lightning’s R&D team has developed electric vehicle technology through years of competition at racing events around the world. We believe that the LS-218 offers consumers the best of design, performance and value in today’s market.”
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Lightning Motorcycles sets AMA/FIM electric motorcycle land speed record
Yesterday I reported on the Bonneville land speed racing last week, saying that Lightning Motorcycles had probably set a new record. I've now talked with Richard Hatfield, and learned that they did set an official AMA and FIM land speed record for electric motorcycles, however they didn't get to beat their personal best speed from two years ago. The new AMA/FIM electric motorcycle land speed record is 203 miles/hr.
The racing event was cut short by a rainstorm that Richard described as the worst storm he'd ever seen. That meant they could plausibly have gotten a higher speed if they'd been able to take a few more runs.
I didn't get a listing of all the runs Lightning did. Richard said they set the FIM record first. Then, because the FIM and AMA rules for fairings are different, they had to modify the fairing before setting the AMA record. The difference is in the rear, where they had to expose the entire rear wheel from the axle rearwards. Look at the picture above, and ponder how the tail would be different with a notch cut out of it.
The AMA and FIM record now stands at slightly above 203 miles/hr, getting slightly above 203 miles/hr in both directions.
For a couple days they had the 3rd fastest motorcycle overall at the event.
Two years ago they'd gone to Bonneville for an event sponsored by the Southern California Timing Associated and set a record of 215 miles/hr, and a top speed of 217 miles/hr. While that was amazing, the SCTA events are not sanctioned by the AMA or FIM and the record was not recorded in the official record book. Two weeks later Chip Yates did so setting the AMA/FIM electric motorcycle land speed records at just below 200 miles/hr.
The racing event was cut short by a rainstorm that Richard described as the worst storm he'd ever seen. That meant they could plausibly have gotten a higher speed if they'd been able to take a few more runs.
The AMA and FIM record now stands at slightly above 203 miles/hr, getting slightly above 203 miles/hr in both directions.
For a couple days they had the 3rd fastest motorcycle overall at the event.
Two years ago they'd gone to Bonneville for an event sponsored by the Southern California Timing Associated and set a record of 215 miles/hr, and a top speed of 217 miles/hr. While that was amazing, the SCTA events are not sanctioned by the AMA or FIM and the record was not recorded in the official record book. Two weeks later Chip Yates did so setting the AMA/FIM electric motorcycle land speed records at just below 200 miles/hr.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Lightning Motorcycles may have set a record at Bonneville
KillaCycle Racing wasn't the only electric motorcycle team at Bonneville this week. Lightning Motorcycles was there too, but they didn't post as much on Facebook and I haven't had a chance to talk with them.
On Aug 26 they posted: "We're super excited to say that today, on the legendary Bonneville salt flats, we've claimed the first SOLAR land speed record! Hearty shout-out to SMA America for all the support, and more to come soon!"
What this shows is their race bike, but with the land speed record fairing. They've experimented with several fairings over the years and the idea is to cut wind resistance. Notice how this one has a leg shaped cut-out that's obviously so the rider can easily mount and dismount the bike as needed.
The solar panels are shown deployed in the first picture, and folded up in the second. They're mounted in aluminum frames on top of the Sprinter van, that have gas struts to hold the panels in place. When parked somewhere they deploy the panels, which then charge a 35 kilowatt-hour battery pack mounted inside the van. Also in the van is a pair of 6 kilowatt SMA inverters. The inverters are powerful enough to run high end Manzanita chargers letting them quick charge the bikes in under an hour. Plus it powers all the tools they need on-site.
They didn't post any specifics about speeds etc. I don't know what they mean by "solar land speed record" as I doubt the event organizers care about the source of the electrons that powered the bike.
The land speed record for this sort of bike is held by Lightning Motorcycles - 215 miles/hr in 2011.
Lightning did post this nice picture of conditions after the rain storm that canceled racing for the week. Whatever they could have achieved this week got cut short by the rain storm.
On Aug 26 they posted: "We're super excited to say that today, on the legendary Bonneville salt flats, we've claimed the first SOLAR land speed record! Hearty shout-out to SMA America for all the support, and more to come soon!"
What this shows is their race bike, but with the land speed record fairing. They've experimented with several fairings over the years and the idea is to cut wind resistance. Notice how this one has a leg shaped cut-out that's obviously so the rider can easily mount and dismount the bike as needed.
The solar panels are shown deployed in the first picture, and folded up in the second. They're mounted in aluminum frames on top of the Sprinter van, that have gas struts to hold the panels in place. When parked somewhere they deploy the panels, which then charge a 35 kilowatt-hour battery pack mounted inside the van. Also in the van is a pair of 6 kilowatt SMA inverters. The inverters are powerful enough to run high end Manzanita chargers letting them quick charge the bikes in under an hour. Plus it powers all the tools they need on-site.
They didn't post any specifics about speeds etc. I don't know what they mean by "solar land speed record" as I doubt the event organizers care about the source of the electrons that powered the bike.
The land speed record for this sort of bike is held by Lightning Motorcycles - 215 miles/hr in 2011.
Lightning did post this nice picture of conditions after the rain storm that canceled racing for the week. Whatever they could have achieved this week got cut short by the rain storm.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Lightning Motorcycles makes motorsports history at Pikes Peak with win
As we predicted, Lightning Motorcycles with Carlin Dunne did win outright in the motorcycle division. That news is being overshadowed by a shocker of a win by Sebastien Loeb with an 8:13.878 lap time that demolished the previous record of 9:46.164 held by Rhys Millen, but we're here to discuss electric racing not gas powered. The electric cars and motorcycles both made a great showing. The fastest electric car almost beat Millen's previous record, for example.
The biggest news for electric racing is the win by Lightning Motorcycles. Carlin Dunne finished with a 10:00.694 lap time, average speed of 71.917 miles/hr.
The next fastest motorcycle was ridden by Bruno Langlois, in the Pikes Peak 1205 class, for a 10:21.323 lap time and 69.529 miles/hr speed. The next fastest bike after him was in the Superbike 750 class, ridden by Michael Henao, with a 10:31.499 lap time and 68.409 miles/hr average speed.
While Dunne beat all the gas bikes by a 20 second margin, he didn't beat the overall motorcycle record of 09:52.819 set by Dunne himself in the Pikes Peak 1205 class in 2012. Dunne's 2013 result was #9 in the overall standings, #1 in the motorcycle standings.
Basically .. this puts the motorsports world on notice. Electric racing is catching up. Electric bikes just won in a major international event against the gas bikes.
It's not too dissimilar in the electric cars at Pikes Peak either. Monster Tajima nearly beat the previous lap record held by Rhys Millen, with a lap time of 9:46.530, average speed of 73.654 miles/hr. This should catch some attention as well. However, Tajima earned fifth place overall and the top four finishers all beat Millen's previous record.
Both Mitsubishi and Toyota in their post-race press releases expressed disappointment, and blamed the rain for their showing. The electric (car) division went out after a heavy rain-storm.
Mitsubishi switched to grooved tires, and even with those the cars were sliding quite a bit. Greg Tracy said he was aiming for the win and was disappointed. He wants to come back in dry conditions and try this again.
Toyota went with an "intermediate" tire but it didn't have enough "grip" for Millen to get a good result. They're additionally pointing to having brought a two-wheeled race car when other "class competitors" were running four-wheel drive vehicles.
Amarok Racing entered a custom built electric motorcycle featuring twin Agni motors and going by the results I believe it would have finished with a time competitive with the Zero Motorcycles bikes. They posted on Facebook saying their rider ran into a wreck about 2 miles uphill, and had to start over. With a diminished battery pack he ended up running the pack flat five turns from the top.
The bulk of the electric motorcycles were made by Zero Motorcycles, in a conglomerate organized by Zero and Hollywood Electrics. Those bikes are roughly equivalent to 250cc gas bikes, and indeed there were 250cc bike results scattered among the results for Zero riders.
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that the top three Zero results beat Chip Yates' record for electric motorcycles at Pikes Peak in 2011. His laptime in 2011, 12:50.094, gave him some bragging rights at the time. He was originally planning to enter in 2013 with Lightning Motorcycles to defend that time, but backed out apparently after learning that Carlin Dunne had joined the team. That aside, his time was beaten by nearly a minute by three riders, with the top rider (Jeff Clark) riding not a Zero S but a Zero FX.
To put this in perspective - during 2010 and 2011, Chip Yates made a lot of noise claiming he'd built the first legitimate electric superbike. His bike was big and heavy, and relied on a UQM drive train that would normally be used for electric trucks. With it he entered and won a gas bike race, in a club race series in Southern California, entered the 2011 Pikes Peak, and went to the Bonneville Salt Flats for land speed racing hitting speeds close to 200 miles/hr.
That was with a custom built heavy electric motorcycle. These riders in the Zero Motorcycles group (the Exhibition Powersports-Z class) were all riding factory built bikes that were largely stock. That's how fast the electric motorcycle industry is advancing.
In short, electric racing is catching up quick with gas powered. We had one outright win this weekend, and there will be more to come.
The full results for electrics were:
Image sources:
Lightning Motorcycles: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151670622597210&set=a.389507682209.167316.336377937209&type=1&theater
Monster Tajima - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=549218995135101&set=o.336377937209&type=1&theater
Toyota: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605511069482180&set=a.604652496234704.1073741876.330359950330628&type=1&theater
Mitsubishi: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=613281942030015&set=a.613281815363361.1073741836.178795422145338&type=1&theater
Zero Motorcycles: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151671551137210&set=a.389507682209.167316.336377937209&type=1&theater
The next fastest motorcycle was ridden by Bruno Langlois, in the Pikes Peak 1205 class, for a 10:21.323 lap time and 69.529 miles/hr speed. The next fastest bike after him was in the Superbike 750 class, ridden by Michael Henao, with a 10:31.499 lap time and 68.409 miles/hr average speed.
While Dunne beat all the gas bikes by a 20 second margin, he didn't beat the overall motorcycle record of 09:52.819 set by Dunne himself in the Pikes Peak 1205 class in 2012. Dunne's 2013 result was #9 in the overall standings, #1 in the motorcycle standings.
Basically .. this puts the motorsports world on notice. Electric racing is catching up. Electric bikes just won in a major international event against the gas bikes.
 |
Mitsubishi switched to grooved tires, and even with those the cars were sliding quite a bit. Greg Tracy said he was aiming for the win and was disappointed. He wants to come back in dry conditions and try this again.
Amarok Racing entered a custom built electric motorcycle featuring twin Agni motors and going by the results I believe it would have finished with a time competitive with the Zero Motorcycles bikes. They posted on Facebook saying their rider ran into a wreck about 2 miles uphill, and had to start over. With a diminished battery pack he ended up running the pack flat five turns from the top.
The bulk of the electric motorcycles were made by Zero Motorcycles, in a conglomerate organized by Zero and Hollywood Electrics. Those bikes are roughly equivalent to 250cc gas bikes, and indeed there were 250cc bike results scattered among the results for Zero riders.
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that the top three Zero results beat Chip Yates' record for electric motorcycles at Pikes Peak in 2011. His laptime in 2011, 12:50.094, gave him some bragging rights at the time. He was originally planning to enter in 2013 with Lightning Motorcycles to defend that time, but backed out apparently after learning that Carlin Dunne had joined the team. That aside, his time was beaten by nearly a minute by three riders, with the top rider (Jeff Clark) riding not a Zero S but a Zero FX.
To put this in perspective - during 2010 and 2011, Chip Yates made a lot of noise claiming he'd built the first legitimate electric superbike. His bike was big and heavy, and relied on a UQM drive train that would normally be used for electric trucks. With it he entered and won a gas bike race, in a club race series in Southern California, entered the 2011 Pikes Peak, and went to the Bonneville Salt Flats for land speed racing hitting speeds close to 200 miles/hr.
That was with a custom built heavy electric motorcycle. These riders in the Zero Motorcycles group (the Exhibition Powersports-Z class) were all riding factory built bikes that were largely stock. That's how fast the electric motorcycle industry is advancing.
In short, electric racing is catching up quick with gas powered. We had one outright win this weekend, and there will be more to come.
The full results for electrics were:
- #5: Nobuhiro Tajima, 9:46.530 lap time, 73.654 miles/hr average speed (Monster Tajima)
- #9: Carlin Dunne, 10:00.694 lap time, 71.917 miles/hr average speed (Lightning Motorcycles)
- #13: Hiroshi Masuoka, 10:21.866 lap time, 69.468 miles/hr average speed (Mitsubishi)
- #14: Greg Tracy, 10:23.649 lap time, 69.270 miles/hr average speed (Mitsubishi)
- #16: Rod Millen, 10:24.301 lap time, 69.197 miles/hr average speed (Toyota EV P002)
- #63: Jeff Clark, 12:00.978 lap time, 59.919 miles/hr average speed (Zero)
- #67: Jeremiah Johnson, 12:05.612 lap time, 59.536 miles/hr average speed (Zero)
- #79: Troy Siahaan, 12:24.083 lap time, 58.058 miles/hr average speed (Zero)
- #95: Ted Rich, 12:53.612 lap time, 55.842 miles/hr average speed (Zero)
- #105: Nathan Barker, 13:14.262 lap time, 54.390 miles/hr average speed (Zero)
- #106: Brandon Nozaki-Miller, 13:16.476 lap time, 54.239 miles/hr average speed (Zero)
- #130: Roy Richards, 17:30.614 lap time, 41.119 miles/hr average speed (Honda Fit EV)
- #133: Ikuo Hanawa, DNF (Yokohama Tires, Summit Racing)
- #134: Janis Horeliks, DNF (Drive EO)
- #137: Michael Leon, DNF (Amarok)
Image sources:
Lightning Motorcycles: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151670622597210&set=a.389507682209.167316.336377937209&type=1&theater
Monster Tajima - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=549218995135101&set=o.336377937209&type=1&theater
Toyota: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605511069482180&set=a.604652496234704.1073741876.330359950330628&type=1&theater
Mitsubishi: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=613281942030015&set=a.613281815363361.1073741836.178795422145338&type=1&theater
Zero Motorcycles: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151671551137210&set=a.389507682209.167316.336377937209&type=1&theater
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Lightning Motorcycles on verge of making historic win at Pikes Peak
The big hairy audacious goals set by Lightning Motorcycles when the company was started including qualifying at the top of the pack in a major international race against gas powered bikes. A few years ago that goal seemed ridiculous, even in 2010 at the inaugural TTXGP at Infineon Raceway (now Sonoma Raceway) which Lightning won. On Friday, though, that particular goal was achieved, and it represents a tipping point in electric motorcycle development. That a big piece of history is about to be achieved, hopefully, by Lightning Motorcycles.
As I noted yesterday, Carlin Dunne riding for Lightning Motorcycles qualified in the 2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, in the Exhibition Powersports class. To do that he beat the time he set in qualifying in 2012, riding his 1200cc superbike. Last year Dunne went on to win the PPIHC outright. This year, with a qualifying time almost 7 seconds faster than the next entrant, on a 1200cc superbike, he had the fastest overall time of all motorcycles present. It appears likely he'll repeat this again on Sunday and take an overall win.
That would be historic. Winning outright against gas bikes in a major international race, against the top gas bike racers from around the world, has never been done in the history of motorcycle racing.
I just got off the phone with Richard Hatfield, CEO of Lightning Motorcycles, for a long conversation about where they are, and what this means in the bigger scheme of things.
Hatfield and a small crew have been on-site at Pikes Peak for most or all of June doing daily test runs with Carlin Dunne. They'd rise at 3:30 AM, on-site by 4ish AM, hold a riders meeting, and do multiple test runs for a few hours. They have two bikes on-site allowing Dunne to switch off and just keep riding. He's been an excellent development rider to work with providing concise feedback.
Hatfield says that Dunne believes the bike, as it exists today, does not need more horsepower. It has all the horsepower needed right now, even though more is possible with the components they have on the bike right now. The next phase is traction control, so they can increase the power and keep it on the ground.
To power the bikes they have a large solar array with a 35 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack and a pair of 6 kilowatt SMA inverters. The inverters allow them to quick-charge the bike at a 40 amp rate, with electricity gathered from sunshine.
But, what does it mean for Lightning to be where they are now? To have a top racer on his team, beating the best gas bike racers in the world?
Three years ago in the 2010 TTXGP season, electric motorcycle racing was a crew of scrappy upstarts. Most of the bikes were home built experiments that ran, most of the time, but were a lot slower than the 600cc superbikes. Even Lightning, with the top bike that year, was a lot slower than the 600cc superbikes. The whole scene was laughed off as one that would never amount to anything other than "oh, that's interesting".
Year after year the field of electric motorcycle racing teams have improved, especially the top bikes. This includes not just Lightning, but Brammo, Mission, MotoCzysz and others.
Lightning has come a long way. In 2010 at the Mosport (Canada) TTXGP race, Michael Barnes had a 1:39.289 best lap time compared to 1000cc superbikes with best laptimes in the neighborhood of 1:21-22. In 2013, at Pikes Peak, they've consistently been beating the gas bikers in practice all week long, the best gas bikers in the world.
What it means in the bigger scheme is, for Lightning Motorcycles, a validation of their years of hard work. It means they'll be able to present their superbike, the one they're selling to the public, as being a clone of the bike that won on Pikes Peak. It's the "race on Sunday, sell on Monday" adage, and Richard Hatfield certainly aims to do so when he returns to the office.
But he also said several times during the interview - "One small step for Lightning, one giant leap for electric vehicles."
If they do win, it'll be big for them as a company, but in the grand scheme it represents a major milestone being reached. One that many thought was impossible.
It's a short step from this to thinking about the success of Tesla Motors. Just a few years ago they were just selling the Roadster, and seeing all kinds of problems, while promising a top-notch luxury sedan with unheard of specifications. No matter the problems, they were tenacious and kept at the plan. And the success of Tesla Motors isn't just that the Model S is winning accolades around the world, but that Tesla's very existence pushed the automobile industry towards electric vehicles.
The existence of Lightning (and Brammo, Mission, MotoCzysz, etc) in electric motorcycles, with the improvements year-after-year, are playing a similar role with the gas bike manufacturers. The major gas bike makers are certainly looking over their shoulders seeing these electric guys catching up and wondering what to do.
Hatfield related a conversation he had while waiting at the results board. Two guys wearing Honda R&D shirts came up, saw him with his Lightning shirt, and said "Next time we'll come back with more horsepower." Richard says he responded saying "Next year you should come with batteries," to which one of them turned to the other and said "yes, we should."
To the extent that Honda == Mugen, it's very possible for Honda to race at Pikes Peak with an electric bike, perhaps with a Mugen name on the plastic.
The question when the major manufacturers enter the game is whether the scrappy upstarts like Lightning will be able to keep up. Hatfield says they have all the manufacturing partners and parts suppliers lined up to be able to go into production.
 |
| Carlin Dunne, Lightning Motorcycles 2013 Pikes Peak |
That would be historic. Winning outright against gas bikes in a major international race, against the top gas bike racers from around the world, has never been done in the history of motorcycle racing.
I just got off the phone with Richard Hatfield, CEO of Lightning Motorcycles, for a long conversation about where they are, and what this means in the bigger scheme of things.
Hatfield and a small crew have been on-site at Pikes Peak for most or all of June doing daily test runs with Carlin Dunne. They'd rise at 3:30 AM, on-site by 4ish AM, hold a riders meeting, and do multiple test runs for a few hours. They have two bikes on-site allowing Dunne to switch off and just keep riding. He's been an excellent development rider to work with providing concise feedback.
Hatfield says that Dunne believes the bike, as it exists today, does not need more horsepower. It has all the horsepower needed right now, even though more is possible with the components they have on the bike right now. The next phase is traction control, so they can increase the power and keep it on the ground.
To power the bikes they have a large solar array with a 35 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack and a pair of 6 kilowatt SMA inverters. The inverters allow them to quick-charge the bike at a 40 amp rate, with electricity gathered from sunshine.
But, what does it mean for Lightning to be where they are now? To have a top racer on his team, beating the best gas bike racers in the world?
 |
| Brammo, Lightning, Moto Electra, at 2011 North America finals at Miller Motorsports |
Year after year the field of electric motorcycle racing teams have improved, especially the top bikes. This includes not just Lightning, but Brammo, Mission, MotoCzysz and others.
 |
| Trophy for winning at Mosport |
What it means in the bigger scheme is, for Lightning Motorcycles, a validation of their years of hard work. It means they'll be able to present their superbike, the one they're selling to the public, as being a clone of the bike that won on Pikes Peak. It's the "race on Sunday, sell on Monday" adage, and Richard Hatfield certainly aims to do so when he returns to the office.
But he also said several times during the interview - "One small step for Lightning, one giant leap for electric vehicles."
If they do win, it'll be big for them as a company, but in the grand scheme it represents a major milestone being reached. One that many thought was impossible.
It's a short step from this to thinking about the success of Tesla Motors. Just a few years ago they were just selling the Roadster, and seeing all kinds of problems, while promising a top-notch luxury sedan with unheard of specifications. No matter the problems, they were tenacious and kept at the plan. And the success of Tesla Motors isn't just that the Model S is winning accolades around the world, but that Tesla's very existence pushed the automobile industry towards electric vehicles.
The existence of Lightning (and Brammo, Mission, MotoCzysz, etc) in electric motorcycles, with the improvements year-after-year, are playing a similar role with the gas bike manufacturers. The major gas bike makers are certainly looking over their shoulders seeing these electric guys catching up and wondering what to do.
 |
| A juxtaposition of TTXGP and Honda TTXGP 2010 world finals at Albacete Spain |
To the extent that Honda == Mugen, it's very possible for Honda to race at Pikes Peak with an electric bike, perhaps with a Mugen name on the plastic.
The question when the major manufacturers enter the game is whether the scrappy upstarts like Lightning will be able to keep up. Hatfield says they have all the manufacturing partners and parts suppliers lined up to be able to go into production.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Lightning Motorcycles takes pole at Pikes Peak, on track to win outright
A week ago Lightning sent out a press release saying that Dunne had beaten the gas bikes in an early practice round. It appears that in practice rounds since, Dunne has kept up that pattern.
It's beginning to look like, on Sunday, Lightning will take home the overall win in the Motorcycle category.
The results sheet they posted on Facebook shows Dunne finishing a 5.16 mile run in 4:13.532. The next finisher, Micky Dymond, riding in the 1205 class, had a time of 4:20.215, or 6.683 seconds behind Dunne. The next three, all on gas bikes, had 4:25.xx times. The next bike after those three, in the Pikes Peak Superbike 750 class, had a 4:28.184 time.
The numbers go on from there, suffice it to say that Dunne beat the field by a good margin. The next electric bike was a Zero S ridden by Jeremiah Johnson, with a 5:00.720 time.
Lightning is racing in the Exhibition Powersports class meaning that the gas bikers aren't in direct competition with Lightning or the other electric bikes. Someone will win in the Pikes Peak 1205 class, for example, and take home a 1st place trophy, even if Lightning's Dunne manages to beat the whole field.
If indeed Lightning does win outright, there's I'm sure some kind of special honor for having done so. In choosing Carlin Dunne, Lightning brought on board the winner in the motorcycle class for the last two years. In 2012 he had a 9:52.819 time in the Pikes Peak 1205 class.
Dunne has been beating the 1205 class all week, so it seems likely he'll do it again on Sunday.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Lightning's Carlin Dunne beats gas bike racers in Pikes Peak testing round
He was riding the Lightning Motorcycles electric race bike, earlier versions of which won many races and titles in the TTXGP, FIM e-Power, and land speed racing venues. "This is the first time in history that an electric bike has beaten top gas bike competitors on the same level playing field," said Richard Hatfield, CEO and Founder of Lightning Motorcycles.
Of course the important result is what occurs on race day, a bit over a week from now. The result came during a practice round and it's common for results to vary during practice rounds until the race event. Still, this is a most interesting result and marks a threshold that electric motorcycles are beginning to cross - speed parity or exceeding the speed of the top gas bikes.
I don't have time to track down the results to see what actually happened. I want to know the actual results, I want to report the results here, but ... sorry ... - the Pikes Peak event is a time trial, meaning that Dunne will have made it to the top of Pikes Peak in less time than the gas bike racers.
The primary takeaway in understanding this information is that the Pikes Peak event draws top competitors from around the world. When Hatfield says "this is the first time" we have to understand the context is "beaten top gas bike competitors." There are earlier instances where electric motorcycle racers have entered races against gas bike racers, in a sanctioned race, where the electric racers were racing for points and standing, and beat the gas bike racers. However, all the instances I know of occurred in club racing. The first of those is when Team Moto Electra (Brian Richardson team owner, Thad Wolff rider) raced in an AHRMA race and won. The second is when Chip Yates raced in a WERA race event in Jan. 2011, and won. This year Brammo has raced in a couple AFM events in Northern California, which I haven't had time to report on, and I don't know the results but I think they placed well or even won.
In other words, there are instances of electric bike racers wining against gas bike racers. But because those were in club racing events it's not the same as a win in the competitive field at Pikes Peak.
The result came during the "Tire Testing Weekend." This is a critical test for the teams, but practice time is limited because the event does take place on public roads which are closed for only short periods.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Pikes Peak top racer, Carlin Dunne, switches to electric with Lightning Motorcycles
Lightning Motorcycles has signed up a new rider for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb at the end of June. The rider, Carlin Dunne, is a top choice as he is the current all time record holder, and two-time consecutive champion of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Hence, this not just "Lightning adds another rider" but a top racer in the Hill Climb community is choosing to race electric, rather than race gas.
The 2013 Hill Climb was already looking like a tipping point for electric racing, with many electric cars and electric motorcycles entering the race, and with two electric teams predicting they'll win the Hill Climb outright. This makes it look even more so.
"I have a chance to be a part of something even bigger, to prove something to the rest of the world by riding this amazing electric bike. And I have to say, I've been testing it for a month, and it's insane. It's power and acceleration is like nothing I've ever ridden. When you light that fuse, hang on" said Dunne.
Dunne is a life-long racer who has risen to the top of several racing genres including the Baja 1000, mountain bike racing, and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The first year he entered that race he won, as a rookie, and won again the second year setting a time/speed record that still stands today.
"I still can't believe our good fortune in teaming up with a guy like Carlin. Not only is he the top talent, but he's a great guy. I'd root for him even if he were riding for someone else. But this is much bigger story than Carlin, or Lightning. This is a historic moment for the world. It's the tipping point in global transportation as we know it. The very best guy in the world at this race who won and set records on gas bikes, has chosen us, an electric motorcycle company, to try and beat his own records. Combustion engines are long from dead, but they were just passed by in performance" said Art Haynie, director of marketing for Lighting.
Richard Hatfield, Founder and CEO said, "This technology will drive the future of racing. Gas engines have been around for over 100 years and pushed to their limits - and they’re at a late stage of development. But we're just starting with this. It's like we're in the early 1900's all over again when it comes to the development of electric racing - and we're already breaking new ground. We always knew what we had in the performance of our electric bikes, but it takes time for the world to comprehend and accept a huge change like this. It took 50 years for people to accept a car was better transportation than a horse. Now here is the top rider in the world at this race, at the top of his game, putting his seal of approval on us by leaving combustion and going electric."
Chip Yates is also racing with Lightning at Pikes Peak. Actually ... what's going on is that Chip Yates is being replaced with Carlin Dunne after Yates quit.
The 2013 Hill Climb was already looking like a tipping point for electric racing, with many electric cars and electric motorcycles entering the race, and with two electric teams predicting they'll win the Hill Climb outright. This makes it look even more so.
"I have a chance to be a part of something even bigger, to prove something to the rest of the world by riding this amazing electric bike. And I have to say, I've been testing it for a month, and it's insane. It's power and acceleration is like nothing I've ever ridden. When you light that fuse, hang on" said Dunne.
Dunne is a life-long racer who has risen to the top of several racing genres including the Baja 1000, mountain bike racing, and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The first year he entered that race he won, as a rookie, and won again the second year setting a time/speed record that still stands today.
"I still can't believe our good fortune in teaming up with a guy like Carlin. Not only is he the top talent, but he's a great guy. I'd root for him even if he were riding for someone else. But this is much bigger story than Carlin, or Lightning. This is a historic moment for the world. It's the tipping point in global transportation as we know it. The very best guy in the world at this race who won and set records on gas bikes, has chosen us, an electric motorcycle company, to try and beat his own records. Combustion engines are long from dead, but they were just passed by in performance" said Art Haynie, director of marketing for Lighting.
Richard Hatfield, Founder and CEO said, "This technology will drive the future of racing. Gas engines have been around for over 100 years and pushed to their limits - and they’re at a late stage of development. But we're just starting with this. It's like we're in the early 1900's all over again when it comes to the development of electric racing - and we're already breaking new ground. We always knew what we had in the performance of our electric bikes, but it takes time for the world to comprehend and accept a huge change like this. It took 50 years for people to accept a car was better transportation than a horse. Now here is the top rider in the world at this race, at the top of his game, putting his seal of approval on us by leaving combustion and going electric."
Chip Yates is also racing with Lightning at Pikes Peak. Actually ... what's going on is that Chip Yates is being replaced with Carlin Dunne after Yates quit.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Mission Motors re-entering electric motorcycle field, how will they stack up?
Mission Motors appears to be coming back into the business of building high performance electric motorcycles. They of course started out in that business, but backed away from it when the company nearly died a few years ago. There was a change of CEO at the time, and a change of strategy.
The new strategy was to focus on making EV drive train components to sell to OEM's. Along the way they developed software to help with designing electric vehicles, and EV dynamics, that tracked performance plotting it on a 3D map.
The other day the company tweeted a link to a website containing solely the above image. This is clearly teasing us with a new electric motorcycle that will be launched on June 3.
All the while they we working on drive train components to sell to others, the engineers were using an electric motorcycle (the Mission R) as a test bed. The purpose they explained to me several times is that electric motorcycles have strong constraints on power and weight and size. Therefore, to successfully build a motorcycle with near-MotoGP performance (which they did) the components had to have a very high power to weight ratio.
Their claims are interesting - however. To build the highest performing street legal electric vehicle ever made means beating out some strong contenders. Some of whom are in production already, and could plausibly have higher performance than whatever it is Mission will be launching in June.
In my writeup elsewhere I focused on Lightning Motorcycles as the primary contender, but let's run down the list of possibilities, and why I settled on Lightning.
Tesla Model S: Let's dispense with this one right away. Carefully reading the statement they make, "street legal electric vehicle" includes 4-wheelers, right? The Model S has a top speed of 130 miles/hr and 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds. That's very impressive, but it'll be easy for Mission to beat that. The Mission R beat that in 2011, I believe.
Rimac Concept One: This is probably not a production car so shouldn't be considered? The specifications page doesn't list a top speed, but says 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds.
Lightning Motorcycles: Lightning is in production right now, I haven't checked lately but the sales volume so far is probably still under 5 bikes. For some people that's enough to say it's a production electric motorcycle. The bike that's in production is the race bike. We saw it in race conditions last year, and for example at the Laguna Seca TTXGP/e-Power event last July they nearly beat the laptime record held by Mission Motors. At the 2011 Laguna Seca event Steve Rapp rode the Mission R, setting a fantastic lap speed record, while beating both Lightning and MotoCzysz pretty badly. For the 2012 event Lightning showed a strong improvement, but did not beat Rapps lap speed from 2011.
Brammo Empulse RR: This bike is definitely not in production so shouldn't be considered in relation to the claims Mission is making about their upcoming bike. The RR instead is Brammo's prototype bike. With that bike Steve Atlas and Eric Bostrom were hitting 170 miles/hr at Daytona last fall, and they showed massive improvements over the 2012 season. I didn't get to see them at the Sonoma Raceway event last weekend but I hear they made a respectable showing within the pack of 600cc gas powered superbikes.
2013 MotoCzysz e1pc: Ditto what I just said about the Empulse RR. Not in production, and showing lots of improvements, including hitting the 100 miles/hr lap speed on the Isle of Man in 2012.
As I see it - the way to validate Mission's claim is to get their bike into a race against these other bikes. Yes, in 2011 the Mission R with Steve Rapp riding beat Lightning and MotoCzysz. But both them and Brammo have moved a long long ways forward since then. Has Mission also moved forward? We won't know until the bikes can be put into a race against each other, eh?
The new strategy was to focus on making EV drive train components to sell to OEM's. Along the way they developed software to help with designing electric vehicles, and EV dynamics, that tracked performance plotting it on a 3D map.
The other day the company tweeted a link to a website containing solely the above image. This is clearly teasing us with a new electric motorcycle that will be launched on June 3.
All the while they we working on drive train components to sell to others, the engineers were using an electric motorcycle (the Mission R) as a test bed. The purpose they explained to me several times is that electric motorcycles have strong constraints on power and weight and size. Therefore, to successfully build a motorcycle with near-MotoGP performance (which they did) the components had to have a very high power to weight ratio.
Their claims are interesting - however. To build the highest performing street legal electric vehicle ever made means beating out some strong contenders. Some of whom are in production already, and could plausibly have higher performance than whatever it is Mission will be launching in June.
In my writeup elsewhere I focused on Lightning Motorcycles as the primary contender, but let's run down the list of possibilities, and why I settled on Lightning.
Tesla Model S: Let's dispense with this one right away. Carefully reading the statement they make, "street legal electric vehicle" includes 4-wheelers, right? The Model S has a top speed of 130 miles/hr and 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds. That's very impressive, but it'll be easy for Mission to beat that. The Mission R beat that in 2011, I believe.
Rimac Concept One: This is probably not a production car so shouldn't be considered? The specifications page doesn't list a top speed, but says 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds.
Lightning Motorcycles: Lightning is in production right now, I haven't checked lately but the sales volume so far is probably still under 5 bikes. For some people that's enough to say it's a production electric motorcycle. The bike that's in production is the race bike. We saw it in race conditions last year, and for example at the Laguna Seca TTXGP/e-Power event last July they nearly beat the laptime record held by Mission Motors. At the 2011 Laguna Seca event Steve Rapp rode the Mission R, setting a fantastic lap speed record, while beating both Lightning and MotoCzysz pretty badly. For the 2012 event Lightning showed a strong improvement, but did not beat Rapps lap speed from 2011.
Brammo Empulse RR: This bike is definitely not in production so shouldn't be considered in relation to the claims Mission is making about their upcoming bike. The RR instead is Brammo's prototype bike. With that bike Steve Atlas and Eric Bostrom were hitting 170 miles/hr at Daytona last fall, and they showed massive improvements over the 2012 season. I didn't get to see them at the Sonoma Raceway event last weekend but I hear they made a respectable showing within the pack of 600cc gas powered superbikes.
2013 MotoCzysz e1pc: Ditto what I just said about the Empulse RR. Not in production, and showing lots of improvements, including hitting the 100 miles/hr lap speed on the Isle of Man in 2012.
As I see it - the way to validate Mission's claim is to get their bike into a race against these other bikes. Yes, in 2011 the Mission R with Steve Rapp riding beat Lightning and MotoCzysz. But both them and Brammo have moved a long long ways forward since then. Has Mission also moved forward? We won't know until the bikes can be put into a race against each other, eh?
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Lightning signs Isle of Man TT Winner Cameron Donald to ride TT ZERO and other European races
Lightning Motorcycles has signed two-time Isle of Man TT Winner Cameron Donald to race for the team in the TT Zero and European electric motorcycle racing. The Australian won both the Superbike and Superstock classes during the 2008 TT Week. He joins Michael Barnes and Miguel Duhamel on the Lightning Motorcycles racing team.
“This is unbelievable, it’s like Eric Clapton coming to play your birthday party.” says Richard Hatfield, chief executive officer and founder of Lightning Motorcycles. “This really changes things for the electric racing world.”
In the 2013 season, the team intends to race in both North American and European electric motorcycle racing, as well as a return to Bonneville and El Mirage for land speed racing. Their exact schedule will depend on funding as well as rider availability.
Neither the FIM e-Power nor TTXGP series' have announced the 2013 electric motorcycle racing schedule as yet, however we have heard this announcement is imminent. Lightning expects to have Cameron Donald ride in European events including the TT ZERO, while Barnes and Duhamel will cover the North American events.
Michael Barnes has ridden for Lightning in TTXGP races since 2010. Miguel Duhamel rode for Lightning at the FIM e-Power race during the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. For Lightning's land speed runs they've had Paul Thede in the saddle.
This makes another top motorcycle racer signing up to race on an electric motorcycle. Earlier examples include not just Barnes and Duhamel, but Eric Bostrom who joined the Brammo team in 2012, and Steve Rapp who rode for MotoCzysz in 2011.
As the electric motorcycle field starts to move beyond early adopters it will help to draw fans if big name racers are in the saddle.
“This is unbelievable, it’s like Eric Clapton coming to play your birthday party.” says Richard Hatfield, chief executive officer and founder of Lightning Motorcycles. “This really changes things for the electric racing world.”
In the 2013 season, the team intends to race in both North American and European electric motorcycle racing, as well as a return to Bonneville and El Mirage for land speed racing. Their exact schedule will depend on funding as well as rider availability.
Neither the FIM e-Power nor TTXGP series' have announced the 2013 electric motorcycle racing schedule as yet, however we have heard this announcement is imminent. Lightning expects to have Cameron Donald ride in European events including the TT ZERO, while Barnes and Duhamel will cover the North American events.
Michael Barnes has ridden for Lightning in TTXGP races since 2010. Miguel Duhamel rode for Lightning at the FIM e-Power race during the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. For Lightning's land speed runs they've had Paul Thede in the saddle.
This makes another top motorcycle racer signing up to race on an electric motorcycle. Earlier examples include not just Barnes and Duhamel, but Eric Bostrom who joined the Brammo team in 2012, and Steve Rapp who rode for MotoCzysz in 2011.
As the electric motorcycle field starts to move beyond early adopters it will help to draw fans if big name racers are in the saddle.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Lightning wins Le Mans e-Power/TTXGP while Muench wins the TTXGP European championhsip
Miguel Duhamel, riding for Barracuda Lightning, has won the e-Power/TTXGP joint race at Le Mans this weekend while Matthias Himmelmann (Muench Racing) has won the European championship in both series. Duhamel took the pole position with strong finishes in both qualifying rounds. Zongshen's Tang Yu came in third place.
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| Himmelmann led for the first couple laps |
The battle between Himmelmann and Duhamel included Himmelmann having his bike stop dead on the track after being out in front for a couple laps. “A bit of rubber got stuck in the circuit breaker. I found the problem after a general check and then I was able to chase down Miguel,” said Himmelmann. Over on Facebook they explained it thusly: "Furios: Während des Rennens ist ein Stein auf den Notausfallschalter von Matthias Himmelmann gefallen, sodass dieser die TTE-2 ausschaltete. Eine außergewöhnliche Leistung, dass Matthias sich vom sechsten Platz wieder auf den zweiten Platz hochkämpfte!" The translate function unhelpfully provides this amusing attempt: "Furious: During the race a stone on the emergency failure switch by Matthias sky who has fallen, so it turned off the TTE-2. An exceptional performance, that Matthias again highly kämpfte is from sixth to second place! (Translated by Bing)"
Despite finishing second in the race, Himmelmann had a huge lead in points and won the European Championship for the third year running.
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| Tang Yu |
This is the second podium finish for Tang Yu despite his teammates having more powerful bikes. "I am really happy to podium here in Le Mans representing Zongshen Racing and China. After the crash I had in the first practice the team had to work really hard to repair the damage and i am so please to be able to give them a podium position and thank them for building me a good bike. It was an exciting end to the European season and i am very happy to be involved. "
Christian Amendt had a motor failure during qualifying and had to rebuild his bike. While he was able to finish the race he came in last place.
Somehow Katja Poensgen only finished a couple laps. On their facebook page this is written: "Katja Poensgen, wird mit ihrer gestrigen Bestzeit von 2'05.677 von Platz 4 starten. Nach Problemen von Katja im ersten Qualifying am Donnerstag haben die Ingenieure nochmals Änderungen am Batteriesystem der MÜNCH TTE-2 vorgenommen. "Wir haben noch mal alles geprüft und anhand von Computerauswertungen Änderungen vorgenommen. Sie ist heute ohne technische Probleme die Distanz gefahren. Alle taktischen Maßnahmen für das Rennen um die Meisterschaft sind getroffen und abgesprochen," so Thomas Schuricht nach dem zweiten Qualifying. Das Rennen wird am Freitag den 7. September um 16:00 Uhr stattfinden." Or: "Katja Poensgen, uses their yesterday's best lap of 2'05. 677 of 4th place start. After problems by Katja in the first qualifying session on Thursday the engineers have made again TTE-2 changes to the battery system of Munch. "We have again everything checked and changes made on the basis of computer evaluations." The distance is driven today without any technical problems. "All tactical measures for the race for the Championship are met and talked," so Thomas Schuricht after the second qualifying session. The race will be held on Friday 7 September at 16: 00. (Translated by Bing)"
Results from: http://www.egrandprix.com/news.php?id=316
Second qualifying round results from: http://www.egrandprix.com/news.php?id=312
The results:
pos | no | team | rider | ses.1 | Ses.2 | lap | gap | KM/h |
| 1 | 17 | Barracuda Lightning | Miguel Duhamel | 1:49.200* | 1:50.630 | 15 | 137.967 | |
| 2 | 49 | Muench Racing | Mattias Himmelmann | 1:50.834 | 1:50.144* | 15 | 0:00.944 | 136.785 |
| 3 | 59 | Zongshen Racing | Ho Chi Fung | 2:05.431* | 2:10.827 | 12 | 0:16.231 | 120.144 |
| 4 | 65 | Muench Racing | Katje Poensgen | 2:05.677* | 2:07.322 | 11 | 0:16.477 | 119.879 |
| 5 | 26 | Zongshen Racing | Tang Yu | 2:09.971* | 9 | 0:20.771 | 115.918 | |
| 6 | 70 | Zongshen Racing | David Dumain | 2:13.665* | 7 | 0:24.465 | 112.715 | |
| 7 | 36 | Epo-bike.de | Christian Adment | 2:15.900* | 17 | 0:26.700 | 110.861 |
Qualification time: 2:17.910 (120%)
The results are provisional until the time limit for protests and appeals.
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| http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=422851947752300&set=a.422851464419015.83084.270268563010640&type=1&theater |
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| Post-race relaxation? Miguel Duhamel in foreground, Richard Hatfield in background. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=422856671085161&set=a.422851464419015.83084.270268563010640&type=1&theater |
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Lightning leads after first qualifying round at e-Power/TTXGP Le Mans joint race
As I noted the other day, the Barracuda Lightning Motorcycles Racing team has gone to Le Mans for the e-Power/TTXGP race. As expected the teams rider, Miguel Duhamel, is at the top of the results sheet for todays practice round, beating Matthias Himmelmann of Muench Racing. Why expected? Because of how far back Himmelmann finished behind the Lightning bikes at the Laguna Seca race.
At Laguna Seca, Himmelmann finished the race 16.325 seconds behind Michael Barnes on the Barracuda Lightning #80, and had a best lap time 1.927 seconds slower. With a top-notch rider like Duhamel, the Lightning race bike should perform just as well as if Barnes were riding, and I expected that Lightning would win over Himmelmann/Muench again.
The results were:
#1, Barracuda Lightning, Miguel Duhamel, 1:49.200 best lap, 137.802 km/hr
#2, Muench Racing, Matthias Himmelmann, 1:50.834 best lap, 135.771 km/hr
#3, Zongshen Racing, Ho Chi-Fung, 2:05.431 best lap, 119.970 km/hr
#4, Muench Racing, Katja Poensgen, 2:05.677 best lap, 119.736 km/hr
Additionally three racers are shown as "Not classified" as being slower than the qualification time of 2:18.186 best lap time.
#5, epo-bike.de, Christian Amendt, 2:18.754 best lap, 108.451 km/hr
#6, Zongshen Racing, Tang Yu, 2:30.469 best lap
#7, Zongshen Racing, David Dumain, no stats listed
I don't know if this means these riders have no chance to qualify tomorrow or not. The FIM e-Power series follows a qualification rule that, in essence, requires bikes to be within a given speed percentage of each other. The three bikes name fell below that percentage. Todays race is described as "first qualifier" so perhaps they'll be allowed a second chance in the second qualifier tomorrow.
Christian Amendt "was held up by problems with his electric motor".
Tang Yu "was stymied by a crash".
David Duhamel, is also driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and "fell in the qualifiers and was unable to take part in the first e-Power practice session."
Miguel Duhamel, 17 – Lightning Barracuda Racing Team
« I am pretty satisfied with my qualifying, said Miguel Duhamel, but I could have done better. I spent the last three years on my couch and I need to give myself a bit of a shake to get back into a competitive frame of mind. The motorcycle is going well and I am sure I shall be faster tomorrow. »
Matthias Himmelmann, 49 - Munch Racing TT
« After our big problems in Oschersleben, I am really pleased with this qualifier. I lapped in 1’50 compared to 1’52 last year. This weekend is very important as it will decide both the e-Power and TTXGP championship titles. »
The second qualifying round will be held at 10:00 AM on Friday, with the race proper at 4:35 PM on Friday.
Source: http://www.egrandprix.com/news.php?id=311
At Laguna Seca, Himmelmann finished the race 16.325 seconds behind Michael Barnes on the Barracuda Lightning #80, and had a best lap time 1.927 seconds slower. With a top-notch rider like Duhamel, the Lightning race bike should perform just as well as if Barnes were riding, and I expected that Lightning would win over Himmelmann/Muench again.
 |
| Miguel Duhamel |
The results were:
#1, Barracuda Lightning, Miguel Duhamel, 1:49.200 best lap, 137.802 km/hr
#2, Muench Racing, Matthias Himmelmann, 1:50.834 best lap, 135.771 km/hr
#3, Zongshen Racing, Ho Chi-Fung, 2:05.431 best lap, 119.970 km/hr
#4, Muench Racing, Katja Poensgen, 2:05.677 best lap, 119.736 km/hr
Additionally three racers are shown as "Not classified" as being slower than the qualification time of 2:18.186 best lap time.
#5, epo-bike.de, Christian Amendt, 2:18.754 best lap, 108.451 km/hr
#6, Zongshen Racing, Tang Yu, 2:30.469 best lap
#7, Zongshen Racing, David Dumain, no stats listed
I don't know if this means these riders have no chance to qualify tomorrow or not. The FIM e-Power series follows a qualification rule that, in essence, requires bikes to be within a given speed percentage of each other. The three bikes name fell below that percentage. Todays race is described as "first qualifier" so perhaps they'll be allowed a second chance in the second qualifier tomorrow.
Christian Amendt "was held up by problems with his electric motor".
Tang Yu "was stymied by a crash".
David Duhamel, is also driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and "fell in the qualifiers and was unable to take part in the first e-Power practice session."
Miguel Duhamel, 17 – Lightning Barracuda Racing Team
« I am pretty satisfied with my qualifying, said Miguel Duhamel, but I could have done better. I spent the last three years on my couch and I need to give myself a bit of a shake to get back into a competitive frame of mind. The motorcycle is going well and I am sure I shall be faster tomorrow. »
Matthias Himmelmann, 49 - Munch Racing TT
« After our big problems in Oschersleben, I am really pleased with this qualifier. I lapped in 1’50 compared to 1’52 last year. This weekend is very important as it will decide both the e-Power and TTXGP championship titles. »
The second qualifying round will be held at 10:00 AM on Friday, with the race proper at 4:35 PM on Friday.
Source: http://www.egrandprix.com/news.php?id=311
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Lightning Motors is heading to Le Mans for the e-Power/TTXGP Europe race
This weekend was the TTXGP 2012 North America Championship race, won by Brammo's Steve Atlas. The big question of the weekend is, where was Lightning Motorcycles? As we noted in the race coverage, had Lightning raced this weekend at Miller the results could well have been different. The answer came in the form of a posting yesterday on Lightning's Facebook page reading:
I managed to talk with Richard Hatfield by phone this morning, shortly before the race at Miller Motorsports, to get insight into the team's thinking behind this decision.
The answer comes down to a pair of motivations. One is simply the prestige or glamour of not only being at Le Mans on the weekend of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but to participate in a race held on-site during that weekend. The opportunity arose, and the team chose to take the opportunity. The second part is a little more complex and has to do with a path in which Lightning could well win the 2012 e-Power Championship. Going by the results at Laguna Seca, Lightning soundly beat Muench Racing and the same result could occur again.
For the Le Mans race, Lightning has selected famed AMA Pro racer Miguel Duhamel to ride for the team. Duhamel is the second winningest racer in the AMA SuperBike series, and has the most wins in the AMA SportBike series. He retired from racing four years ago, and is coming out of retirement to race with Lightning at Le Mans.
Gearing up for the FIM E-Power/TTXGP International Championship in Le Mans, France. The race is on the Eighth (7 days away!), so we're shipping out pretty quickly here.That answers the first question, why weren't they at Miller. They were instead preparing for Le Mans. The question then is, "Why Le Mans?"
I managed to talk with Richard Hatfield by phone this morning, shortly before the race at Miller Motorsports, to get insight into the team's thinking behind this decision.
The answer comes down to a pair of motivations. One is simply the prestige or glamour of not only being at Le Mans on the weekend of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but to participate in a race held on-site during that weekend. The opportunity arose, and the team chose to take the opportunity. The second part is a little more complex and has to do with a path in which Lightning could well win the 2012 e-Power Championship. Going by the results at Laguna Seca, Lightning soundly beat Muench Racing and the same result could occur again.
For the Le Mans race, Lightning has selected famed AMA Pro racer Miguel Duhamel to ride for the team. Duhamel is the second winningest racer in the AMA SuperBike series, and has the most wins in the AMA SportBike series. He retired from racing four years ago, and is coming out of retirement to race with Lightning at Le Mans.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
The power of 200 ft-lbs of torque on Lightning Motorcycles' TTXGP race bike
It's the opening weekend of the 2012 TTXGP North America electric motorcycle race series. One bit of excitement in yesterday's practice round was when the #80 Lightning Motorcycles bike, ridden by Michael Barnes, suddenly pulled off to the side of the track. The cause was both extremely mundane, and testament to the massive power put out by their electric race bike.
Lightniing Motorcycles team owner Richard Hatfield explained to me the 200 ft-lbs of torque put out by their drive train simply STRETCHED the bolts holding on the chain tensioner. The chain tensioner is a little gizmo in the swing arm to adjust the rear wheel and chain tension. The power of the motor pulled on the rear wheel so strong, that it stretched the tensioner bolt on one bike, and on the other bike the bolt broke.
Lightniing Motorcycles team owner Richard Hatfield explained to me the 200 ft-lbs of torque put out by their drive train simply STRETCHED the bolts holding on the chain tensioner. The chain tensioner is a little gizmo in the swing arm to adjust the rear wheel and chain tension. The power of the motor pulled on the rear wheel so strong, that it stretched the tensioner bolt on one bike, and on the other bike the bolt broke.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Lightning Motorcycles testing race bike at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway
Lightning Motorcycles sent around a press release that they'll be testing their race bike this weekend at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. The riders will be Isle of Man racer John Burrows, and AMA racer Ted Rich.
Lightning worked with Ted Rich for one of the TTXGP races last summer.
John Burrows rode with Lightning for the TT Zero last summer on the Isle of Man.
Hence, it seems likely that Lightning plans to go back to the Isle of Man this summer. Hopefully this time they'll finish the race rather than run out of juice a couple miles from the finish line.
It's unclear whether this means anything about Lightning's TTXGP rider for 2012. Will they bring back Michael Barnes, or will they work with Ted Rich instead.
Lightning worked with Ted Rich for one of the TTXGP races last summer.
John Burrows rode with Lightning for the TT Zero last summer on the Isle of Man.
Hence, it seems likely that Lightning plans to go back to the Isle of Man this summer. Hopefully this time they'll finish the race rather than run out of juice a couple miles from the finish line.
It's unclear whether this means anything about Lightning's TTXGP rider for 2012. Will they bring back Michael Barnes, or will they work with Ted Rich instead.
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