A 240-hp electric bike set up for competitive racing hits 163.7 mph in track tests.
We recently wrote about what is billed as the world’s most powerful and technically advanced electric superbike that went head-to-head against conventional gasoline-powered race bikes in a professionally organized roadrace at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.(http://eetweb.com/applications/swigz_racing_bike_121410/) After finishing in third place in this outing, bike developer Chip Yates reports he is further upgrading the bike with a bigger, 240-hp electric motor, and with anti-wheelie software so the front wheel isn't so prone to come off the ground as the bike accelerate.
Yates reports he was also attempting to set a laptime of 1:35.88 to prove that the bike could qualify for the AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Race that was held at Auto Club Speedway in 2010. He came up 1.428 sec shy of that goal due to some high speed instability on the front and back straights.
Yates also says he set his fastest lap of 1:37.308 before the wind came up and caused instability at high speeds.
"We are heading to the wind tunnel to isolate the issue," he says. "Despite this aerodynamic buffeting stopping me from opening the throttle very far, it was an incredible weekend - we got lots of data and info from being on track with 1,000-cc superbikes and were able to easily pass most of them on the track at will. I started carrying much more lean angle and was amazed by how well the bike is handling through the slower corners - in fact, it's doing great in the tight sections, with my laptimes being hampered by the wheeling and high speed buffeting on the straightaways, which is the opposite you would expect from a 585-lb bike."
