SWIGZ.COM Electric Racer To Go Head-To-Head Against Petrol Motorcycles In January
Friday, December 10th, 2010We’ve brought you information previously about the Swigz.com Pro Racer when it was unveiled at the battery show in San Jose.
Well now Chip Yates and co. are going one step further by pitting their bike up against traditional petrol powered motorcycle race-spec machines.
On January 9, 2010 the SWIGZ Racing machine will make history at the Auto Club Speedway in California by being the first electric bike to go head-to-head against traditional petrol powered race bikes in a professionally organised roadrace.
The bike in question is, according to Chip Yates the bike’s rider and owner of SWIGZ Racing, the most powerful and sophisticated electric superbike ever. SWIGZ says by February 2011 the bike will become the most powerful road racing motorcycle of any kind being actively campaigned, exceeding the power of a MotoGP bike.
Yates says: “We have to thank WERA Motorcycle Roadracing for inviting us into their series to make history with this news. Our electric motorcycle will compete head on with real racing superbikes such as the Ducati 1198 and KTM RC8 as well as other established manufacturers, and we expect to work hard to show the world that electric technology can achieve laptime parity with gasoline superbikes. We’re not going on track to make up the numbers; we’re going out to compete in order to raise our game and catch up to these gasoline guys.”
The bike has recently been excluded from the FIM and TTXGP Championships for electric only motorcycles due to its weight. “Our bike weighs in at 266kgs right now”, says Yates, referring to the maximum weight restrictions of 250kgs for the 2011 season. “Clearly, these championships are more concerned with promoting scooter development, and our bike is so much faster than the electric competition that we feel far more inclined to push our bike’s unique technology platform forward in the ultimate competitive environment of gasoline bike racing.”
The SWIGZ Racing machine will begin by competing in the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Heavyweight Twins Superbike class where its power to weight ratio puts it in the middle of the field. To stand a chance of winning the bike will receive a more than 20% increase to its current 194 horespower after the first race weekend in January.
Yates continues: “Our scheduled power increase will make our electric superbike more powerful than a MotoGP bike and will bring us extremely close to power to weight parity with the best 1,000cc Japanese superbikes. Those two facts are a simply outstanding reflection of the potential in electric power.”
If you can’t weight until January to see the bike then you’re in luck. On December 15th, the bike has been invited by Infineon Raceway to be put through its paces at race speeds for the first time ever. Yates and the SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing USA team will enjoy private use of the Infineon road course from 8.30am to 4.30pm and media and public are welcome to attend.
SWIGZ Racing will soon announce additional race dates where the electric superbike can be seen competing directly against gasoline bikes in the WERA championship series, that will include Miller Motorsports Park, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and other major venues across the USA.
