On the small Isle Of Man between Great Britain and Ireland, the 2015 TT practices and races are going on the 37.73 miles mountain course . Victory electric motorcycle 1st rider Lee ‘General Lee’ Johnston rode a 103.94mph lap and screamed through Sulby 15mph faster than his previous practice lap, hitting 157.9mph. 2nd rider William Dunlop is unable to ride due to a crash in morning practice in another class on his Tyco BMW S1000RR . He has a broken rib and bruising, ruling him out of any more racing this week. After consultations with both teams and both riders, William’s Tyco BMW teammate Guy Martin will ride the electric motorcycle in Wednesday’s TT Zero race. For his first ever ride on the electric bike, Martin rode an incredible 104.56mph lap and hit 147.8mph through the Sulby speed trap.
With Martin stepping in last minute, the team was able to run two bikes and now has two sets of battery data that it will study to make decisions about the setup for the SES TT Zero race tomorrow Wednesday June 10th. “Luckily, we’ve been given another qualifying session tomorrow so we can take another shot at getting the perfect balance between power and energy consumption.” The practice highlights how performance in the Zero TT is down to the amount of electrical energy that can be stored onboard. Parker’s US-based strategic account manager, Kevin Holloway, sums it up succinctly: “Energy storage is the Holy Grail for electric vehicles.”
After Lee Johnston achieved 157.9mph today on the bike, Victory Racing and Parker Racing have more details about the design of the electric motor that propelled him to that speed. The motor is made by Parker and called the Parker GVM. It’s cylindrical and sits behind the swingarm’s pivot point. The Parker GVM is just eight inches (0.2m) in diameter and five inches (0.13m) long, but generates 175hp giving around 165hp at the rear wheel. It is 97% efficient; nearly all of the electrical energy drawn from the Brammo batteries is converted in to kinetic energy to drive the chain and sprocket on the rear wheel.
Glad to hear WD wasn’t seriously injured. Looking forward to the races!
IOM, Pikes Peak! Flat track next? Never know!
The salient point for technology? – “175hp giving around 165hp at the rear wheel. It is 97% efficient”
Oh and massive torque from 1% throttle on up.
Don’t see electric as a replacement for everything – but as another way to enjoy life on 2 wheels.
Thanks for the coverage Cyril
Robert Pandya
Victory Motorcycles
come on VIC bring us an american sport bike , with all the quality we’ve seen you guys produce in V-twins, give us a sport bike we can be proud to ride! keep up the good work VIC
would love to find out what you here at 157 with out the exhaust blaring
No exhaust blaring, suppose you hear the ooohs and ahhhhs of the HD crowd?
At eight inches long and five inches around… and it puts out 175hp!
Imagine that thing with mega batteries when you don’t have the space and weight limitations of a racebike!
And folks, I know exactly what you hear at 157 without the exhaust noise – I ride Hondas. It’s still loud as hell thanks to the sound of the wind blowing past you!
Make that, Hondas with stock, quiet pipes
Be great to hear what Guy Martin has to say, he is one of Motorcycling’s great characters.
It will probably raise the Bikes profile, the man has a huge following.
If you can “watch closer to the edge” it profiles him and all his eccentricity !!
Watched “Road” the other night on the Dunlop Family. Great but sad.
IOM has unbelievable followers and History. Great place for Victory to be seen on the World stage.
Good Marketing
Been an IOM junkie ever since I saw a small blurb in Cycle World about the death of a fella named Joey Dunlop (look it up…..). This is a big deal to have Victory there. Not just there showing a concept but getting dirty and racing. I truly hope this and the Pikes Peak bike signal an American performance bike maker is coming. I need a replacement for my XB9R.
Can an 8 X 5 inch cylinder that puts out 175 horsepower officially be called a Flux Capacitor?
Wow !! That is something if the dimensions vs. the power output
Still not ready to give up my gas V-Twin, yet ????
Good luck to the Victory/Polaris Racing team
You are making milestones every time you go around the course
Isle of Man is great racing. Ya gotta go at least once!
Rodent, don’t forget Victory drag racing program.