Victory Racing Electric Empulse And Gas Powered Project 156 Win Their Respective Classes At The 2016 Pikes Peak International Climb.

1-B99Showcasing its Modern American Muscle powered both by gas and electric motors, Victory Motorcycles® is proud to announce that Victory Racing’s® electric Empulse® RR ridden by Cycle World’s Road Test Editor Don Canet and gas-powered Project 156™ piloted by Jeremy Toye accelerated away from the competition to win their respective classes at the 2016 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) In the overall competition, Canet and the Empulse RR placed 2nd while Toye and Project 156 placed 3rd, both closely following veteran racer Corsican Bruno Langlois and his Kawasaki Z 1000 who benefitted from a dryer and warmer course later in the morning due to a series of red flags.

2-B156Canet and his Empulse RR clocked a time of 10:17.813 with an average speed of 69.9 mph through the 156-turn course that takes racers from 9,390 feet above sea level to the mountain’s summit of 14,115 feet above sea level. The 12.42-mile course is split into four sections. Canet zipped through the flowing section #1 in 1:50.531, steep section #2 in 2:26.924, technical section #3 in 2:53.568 and longer, high elevation section #4 in 3:06.790. Toye rode Project 156 to the Pikes Peak summit in a time of 10.19.777 with an average speed of 69.7 mph. He and his Project 156 bellowed through section #1 in 1:52.520, section #2 in 2:27.213, section #3 in 2:53.375 and section #4 in 3:06.669.

Victory Motorcycles was the only brand at this year’s PPIHC to race both electric and gas-powered race vehicles.

11 Responses to “Victory Racing Electric Empulse And Gas Powered Project 156 Win Their Respective Classes At The 2016 Pikes Peak International Climb.”


  1. 1 Chief Waldo Jun 28th, 2016 at 8:59 am

    I find it interesting that the gasoline powered bike was faster than the electric at the higher altitudes, while the electric did better at the lower sections. Pretty much the opposite of what I would have guessed, since the gas bike loses power as it gets up into the thinner air.

  2. 2 Gerry Jun 28th, 2016 at 9:01 am

    Speed is also related to the rider…

  3. 3 richards Jun 28th, 2016 at 9:31 am

    So the KAW actually won the race?

  4. 4 SoCalPhun Jun 28th, 2016 at 10:22 am

    I foresee a Project 156 performance bike coming from Victory in the near future.

    They keep the same DNA, make it look right, price it in the 13K-15K range….they may have a winner.

  5. 5 NoH2oh Jun 28th, 2016 at 8:14 pm

    There is no way Polaris is racing the 156 just to race it. Has to eventually get some kind of return, no? Buell sold 125,000 or so Sportster engine based bikes. There is a demand.

  6. 6 Matt W. Jun 29th, 2016 at 7:18 am

    Great job Victory/Polaris.

  7. 7 coma Jun 29th, 2016 at 7:59 am

    Respect.

  8. 8 grouchy Jun 29th, 2016 at 8:10 am

    win on Sunday, sell on Monday. Victory could sell a lot of street versions Project 156.

  9. 9 Hillbilly Jim Jun 29th, 2016 at 11:30 am

    Who was it that keeps saying it’s a very exciting time to be a motorcycle enthusiast in America? Oh yeah , that was me.

  10. 10 Ripple54 Jun 29th, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    Chief Waldo…..regarding the gas bike being faster in the top section. The electric bike went off the paved road for a bit in that section. Plus, as the day got longer the top portion of the course dried off and became faster.

    Read the re-cap at cycleworld.com from Don Canet’s POV.

  11. 11 Jim Gianatsis / FastDates.com Jul 4th, 2016 at 4:04 pm

    Unfortunately a reprinted Press Releases from Victory doesn’t give you a report of the race and the full story. Here are the complete 2016 Pikes Peaks Class Winners:

    http://www.ppihc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016-Overall-Results.pdf

    Looks like Pikes Peak first time privateer french rider Bruno Langlois took quickest motorcycle time on a production Kawasaki KX1000. Here is his video of the run – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-09xxYfKYto.

    The Victory pro riders Don Canet and Jeremy Toye, who are very experienced at Pikes Peak, were the only factory backed motorcycle team there, with their prototype bikes, and while their times were quick, they were beaten by a production Kawasaki and an unexperienced Pikes Peak rider.

    Interesting to see the electric race cars turned the 2nd and 3rd quickest times this year.

    The absolute fastest Pikes Peak time set on the new fully paved road was set in 2013 by French World Rally Champ Sébastien Loeb who shattered the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record with a breath-taking time of 8m13.878s in the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak special 4-wheel drive rally car estimated to be making over 1000 horsepower!. The Frenchman negotiated the 20 kilometres and 156 corners of the mountain at an average speed of 145kph (90mph).
    See his run here – https://youtu.be/Y20CLumT2Sg

    The fastest motorcycles are 2 minutes / 25% slower.
    Which compares to road racing Formula 1 cars vs MotoGP bikes,
    Racing motorcycles are on par performance wise with the LeMans GT1 factory sports cars.

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Cyril Huze