Electric bike sets new TT course record

#tt #electric Team MotoCzysz made it four in a row at the 2013 Isle of Man TT Zero when its electric motorcycle — ridden by Michael Rutter — clinched victory. The bike also set a new record for the 37.75-mile TT course with an average speed of 109.675mph — 22.3mph faster than the first TT Zero in 2009. Team Mugen’s John McGuinness finished in second place, just 1.672sec behind Mr Rutter. Rob Barber, riding for the Ohio State University’s Buckeye Current team, completed the podium places, finishing with a 90.4mph lap — a significant achievement for the team of students.

The Isle of Man Government uses the event as a showcase for the Island’s ‘clean-tech’ capabilities, as well as encouraging enterprise and innovation. John Shimmin, the Minister for Economic Development, the said: “The TT Zero event has gone from strength to strength since being launched in 2009. Each year we see teams showcase their clean-emissions technology in one of the most testing racing environments in the world.

Running the electric bike race as part of the TT Races has also given us an excellent platform to demonstrate the Isle of Man’s clean-tech capabilities. The island is home to an increasing number of clean-tech businesses and is an excellent location to trial and develop cutting-edge products and services.

“If advances in power and efficiency continue to progress at the current rate, we are likely to see the performance gap between clean-emission bikes and petrol-fuelled machines closing, and events like the TT Zero proving that ‘green’ motor-racing can be a viable alternative.”

This year’s race saw 11 teams competing; they came from Japan, the UK, Belgium, the Isle of Man, Italy and the USA.