Blimey, I must be excited, I've had to write another blog entry!

I'm thinking about the arguments for and against and the resistance to the advent of electric racing motorcycles and I'm struggling to understand why there is any resistance..My ride on the Zero last week has really flipped my racing head another way up...

Many of the key arguments have more often than not been; Expense, range, complexity and the really big one.."they're not as fast"..The experience I had last week showed me that those arguments are being eroded and people are starting to fear the encroachment of these machines towards the domain of the petrol bikes...But why? I've been forced to ask myself why I love motorbikes and why I love racing, something most of us take for granted. "We're doing it aren't we? We must love it". Motorbikes are petrol powered, we must love petrol. Motorbikes are noisy, we must love noise. Motorbikes are smelly we must love the smell....I do..I do love these things but there are some things that stand above these for me, things that are much higher priorities, at least in the world of racing motorbikes...The race, the power, the speed..If these priorities are attended to I really don't care how the bike is powered, how noisy or how smelly it is. What I'm caring most about is how easily it helps me get past the bike in front of me and how much closer it gets me to being the first one past the chequered flag..All within the realm of fair competition of course..

Take tuning for example; With existing combustion engine powered motorbikes you need to take the engine apart, modify it, put it back together, test it then feedback the results into a repetition cycle of the process. To most people that would involve a £2k bill from your engine tuner every time. With an electric motor driven motorcycle, given the right controller, you can (potentially) modify power characteristics on the fly...An electric motor is already capable of giving you too much power...the limiting factor is how much you give it and how you allow it to give it to you... all with a dial or a lap-top...something already used to control fueling on some petrol powered bikes..but the point is you can do in a session what would take a season with a petrol engine..

And they're simple.. I always thought there was an array of fantastical feats of wiring and electronics prowess which was probably the case with the early prototypes but all the major components are commercially available as 'black boxes'. Motor, controller, batteries...that's it, to make it even easier you can now buy pretty well sorted whole bikes straight from the showroom..As soon as Asia start manufacturing these and shelling them out like peas, (and they will, they've told me) you'll  be able to pick them up for the cost of a mountain bike...

A few reading this will probably be all too familiar with the budget required to set up a Superbike spec racebike...If you took that budget and used it to build a prototype electric bike you would have a faster and more powerful motorcycle...for the first time this year a prototype electric motorcycle beat petrol powered bikes on the same playing field at Pikes Peak, a major world class event...That's a pretty major milestone..

What about noise? Noise is a good thing right? We all love the sound of multi-cylinder petrol engines screaming a symphonic cacophony to the worshiping onlookers...Well..I know I do...What about the other good folks of this crowded island? We may not like it but there is growing pressure from the wider community to curb this wonderful thing...Mallory Park, Castle Coombe, Croft...all historic racing locations citing noise as one of the pressure points putting them under pressure for closure..At all UK circuits now we're tested for excessive noise before we're allowed anywhere near a circuit...Imagine the faces of the protagonists when we take that particular gust from their sails...

Some of the above points already suggest to me that we're already past Genesis and looking at an incredibly strong future for racing motorbikes we're well into the next phase of racing's evolution and I'm getting really excited about where it's going....Imagine urban race complexes with low socio-economic catchment (council estates to you and me!) providing the next world dominating British racers. Ok maybe I've overstepped an imaginary mark, a little far fetched perhaps but possible...sometime in the future. Low cost, low noise..massive fun..who wouldn't want some of that? Racing wouldn't have to be the preserve of the wealthy, or at least those that are obsessive enough to sell all that they own to be a part of it..

So far I've managed to avoid the elephant in the room, the green credentials...and that's mainly because I don't think it's a very strong argument...Ok, in terms of burning finite reserves of precious hydrocarbons there are benefits to be had but in-turn the production of motors, controllers and particularly batteries they are not going to provide an ecological answer..yet. They might however provide a stepping stone...if a more sustainable way of providing electrons to these motors can be found then it'll provide a way to continue racing these marvels of engineering and creation...combustion engines wont..we already know this. Some aren't yet ready to admit it but eventually, kicking and screaming, they will and they'll need something else to race, they are after all racers..

Le Mans European eRoadracing championships

It's often the last minute things that present the best opportunities....You know the ones that leave you thinking, just in that moment, 'this is never going to happen, there's far to much to do in-time..it can't be done, I can't..shouldn't afford it, I can't do it..' They were some of the thoughts going through my head when Mike Edwards messaged me, ('cos that's how we roll these days..) He was asking if I wanted to step in for a ride...at Le Mans, in a European championship...on an electric bike...Well, what do you think I said?! :o)

I drove down to LeMans the night before, picking up a fellow racer Martin Cooper on the way down to ride the second Zero S that was available. We'd been told that if we got ourselves to the circuit there would be two bikes ready to race in the European eRoadracing championships. And there were...If you call two street commuter bikes with thier number plates removed and Chinese commuting tyres 'ready to race'..:) Martin and I looked at each other, then at the slick-shod prototypes we'd be racing against, shrugged and said, "what's the worst that could happen?"

At this point Martin and I were still in 'motorbike racer mode', neither of us had ridden an electric bike before let alone raced one and were concerned about 'standard race issues', tyres usually being at the top of that list. It wasn't long into the free practice session that I realised I'd need to re-shuffle my priorities...This is still a fledgling series and most of the bikes are based on existing racebike designs with the electric power plants, batteries and controllers grafted in, performance is similar but a much broader spread than you expect in a normal race series. Whilst all running similar motors, some riders prefer to prioritise performance over longevity and others longevity over performance. This means that in the same race you've got standard scratching type racing and some 'tortoise and hare' type racing..it makes for an interesting final lap..

The first thing I noticed and was really surprised about was the performance. The bike I was riding was remarkably similar in size and shape to a Honda CB500 which is probably a benchmark most of us can relate to.. the power was better though..After the initially bizarre experience of having no engine/induction noise and no vibration from the engine, you do notice that there is a much more lucid connection between rider and bike. I was able to feel much more clearly any feedback coming through the bars and seat and as there is no gearbox or clutch I was able to position myself more positively on the bike in left handers..The second thing I noticed was Chinese commuter tyres were never intended to be pushed in a racing situation! I'm no stranger to production racing tyres or even road tyres on track days, but they are usually performance related tyres of some kind...these were... well...not. On the first cold lap I had to pick the bike up twice due to the tyres being cold and covered in rubber marbles (from the Oscherslieben round) and once I got them warm the rubber got too hot and made the long fast corners at Le Mans a less than comfortable experience..

Lets get back to the power...The controller on this bike was the standard street version designed to allow a certain level of performance safeguarding the heat build up in the motor and how fast the power is sucked out of the batteries...Now that makes it sound like it was limiting but it really wasn't that bad..The amount of available torque was impressive and throttle control much more controllable than any well carburated bike I've ever ridden...When exiting the corners and opening the standard type twist-grip throttle the bike would leap forward with a really strong urgency, but really fine control, right up to it's (limited) top speed of 153km/h, quicker than I was expecting it to (and quicker than some of the production racers I've ridden). As the laps click-on the motor gets hotter and as the motor gets hotter the controller limits the performance so the top speed starts to reduce as the amount of time the motor is being used at full capacity goes on....There are uprated controllers available for these bikes and with a minor change in wheel sizes they could wear slicks..some race teams have also fashioned air ducts to cool the motors to help lengthen the amount of time peak performance is available and some have even got water cooled motors..With a little more time and not a insignificant amount of money these little commercially available street commuters would be race ready and able to battle at the front with the (mostly) developed racing prototypes that are currently dominating the series from Zongchen, Mavizen and Agni. In fact some teams in the states that own their own Zero S bikes have done just that in a well supported environment for e racing bikes. 

Having ridden effectively during the practice and qualifying I found myself qualified for the race. Unfortunately my traveling buddy Martin crashed early in the free practice session, succumbing to the poor quality tyres and broke both his hands quite badly. The second Agni which was probably my only other chance for a good scrap in the race also went down in qualifying and the German rider injured, braking his collar bone and ribs..This meant I was at the back of the grid on my own for the race.

The initial performance of the little Zero before it's limitations kicked in was frankly awesome..heading off the line I shot through the pack to the front only to be immediately swamped by the prototypes as we headed into the first turn...'swamped' might not be that accurate, 'swamped' indicates I was 'in and around' the other bikes, that was not the case..:) As the last race of the season the other campaigners had turned up the performance on thier bikes, got thier slick tyres warm and headed off into the distance at a serious lick! I was left circulating on my own enjoying my first experience of racing an eRoadRacing bike and wondering when I'll get the chance to do it again. As it turns out the French Journalist and 1991 World Endurance Champion who was riding the Mavizen prototype was having a few performance issues and pitted but finished the race putting me 4th out of 5 finishers (6 starters). One of the Chinese riders on one of the three Zongchen prototypes crashed, trying to stay ahead of me of course! ;)

Qualifying for the race itself means that I automatically qualify for the World cup final in Qatar in November. The Americans will be there and if my UK sponsor Darvill racing can raise the money I will be there too. I've no idea if there's a bike for me to ride yet, but if there is I will be making concerted efforts to get there!

Thanks as ever to my Sponsors; I2V for tremendous support, Shark helmets for my amazing Carbon pro, Held for superb leathers and gloves and TCX for the best boots!

Keith McKay (Aardvark racing) Alex Aitchisson (Team Principal Darvill racing) For moving mountains for me

Mike Edwards for thinking of me for the ride in the first place.

And a very special mention to the team at eRoadracing for organising a great series with no small resistance from the 'old guard'...:)