By Before getting into the nitty, gritty of this article, believe it or not I know a lot about extreme weather.
As the saying goes knowledge is power, hence I’m not as alarmist about climate change in comparison to others.
I do understand though the need to implement new sources of energy, we can’t rely on oil forever.
With this in mind, it’s not been surprising to see the growth of electric machinery based racing, across the last ten years.
In 2009, electric bikes first took to the fabled, mythical Mountain Course.
Originally titled as the TT XGP, from 2010-2019, the re-titled TT Zero class formed part of the TT race week schedule.
Dividing opinion with many prominent racing insiders, there was often visceral critique about why the race should count as a true TT victory.
TT 2013 marked the last time that the late, great Michael Czysz’s MotoCzysz team participated against the mighty Mugen outfit.
A gripping one-lap race, saw Michael Rutter edge John McGuinness MBE for race honours.
Pumping vast resources in, allied to the formidable, potent Shinden steeds, skillset of riders including the aforementioned Rutter, McGuinness MBE, Post 2013, the following six TT’s yielded absolute domination for Mugen.
The 2019 TT Zero encounter, would see Macau GP wins record holder Rutter give the Japanese marque a sixth successive victory in record breaking fashion, setting a new record lap speed of 121.909 mph.
Despite the ever improving speeds, the innovative technology, entry numbers were struggling to nudge into double figures.
Just eight years after the first TT Races took place in 1907, 51 racers completed the blue riband Senior race.
In contrast eight years post the first EV (Electric Vehicle) TT, just five competitors finished, yes you read that right.
In October of 2019, TT organisers made the decision to remove the TT Zero race from the 2020, 2021 race schedules.
The decision to phase out TT Zero competition, which has expanded through to this year, gained an interesting reaction via seasoned TT fans on social media.
Speaking back in October of 2019, Rob Callister MHK stated:
“As an island we remain committed to the principles and passion that continues to motivate everyone associated with the TT Zero class and the clean tech industry.
Our intention is to have a moratorium on the event to allow the motorcycle industry as a whole to catch up on the leading edge developments that some manufacturers and individual race teams and universities have achieved to date.
We remain incredibly proud of everything that has been achieved in clean emission racing at the TT and will work closely with the industry and with manufacturers without the pressure and focus of delivering a race format to build on the success to date.”
Alongside the TT, electric bikes over the last ten years have also popped up at events including Oliver’s Mount, the Southern 100 and Imatranajo.
Are EV’s the future for racing on public roads? In my opinion right now the answer is no.
Until various factors improve, including cost, availability, weight of batteries, fire safety, I don’t foresee an all electric future.
This viewpoint is not held by a lot of fellow bike racing reporters, specific racers, certain organising bodies.
We all have a viewpoint in what the next stage of racing will be, could it be hydrogen powered, bio-fuel powered, geothermal even solar.
Maybe that big word petrol may still have a role, a mystery still to be fully solved, a genius is needed to solve this like Tesla, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Berners Lee, Hawking.
Words by Stevie Rial #dontletfearcontrolyou
