Electric Superbike To Take On World's Finest Gasoline Racing Motorcycles
The SWIGZ Racing machine will attempt to make history on January 9, 2011 at the Auto Club Speedway in California, when the first electric bike goes head to head against conventional gasoline-powered race bikes in a professionally organized roadrace.
Chip Yates, the bike's rider and owner of SWIGZ Racing, 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 news comes in the light of the bike's recent exclusion from the FIM and TTXGP Championships for electric motorcycles, which has imposed a significantly lower maximum weight limit of 250kgs for the 2011 season. "Our bike weighs in at 266kgs right now", says Yates. "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."
Ahead of the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Series race weekend on January 9, the bike has been invited by Infineon Raceway, a motorsports leader in green performance and sustainability, to be put through its paces at race speeds for the first time ever on December 15. Chip and the SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing USA team will enjoy the private use of the world-class Infineon road course from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and media and the public are welcomed to attend.
