Electric motorcycle racing is still in its infancy, but the alternative energy bikes are starting to get a lot of people to talk. These quiet motorcycles may not roar around the the track like their petrol counterparts, but Steve Rapp and the Mission Motors team showed that electric motorcycles aren't too far off of the pace.
Steve Rapp and his Mission R motorcycle clocked a 1'31.3 laptime around the Laguna Seca track. To put that in perspective, Rapp's time was just a second slower than Benny Solis' qualifying time in the AMA Supersport series, three seconds slower than Jason DiSalvo's pole position time for the Daytona Sportbikes, and 7 seconds behind Josh Hayes' in the AMA Superbike series.
Rapp's 1'31.3 time, which was a new record at Laguna Seca, was also just 10.1 seconds behind Jorge Lorenzo's M1, which is one of the fastest road racing motorcycles in the world.
Here are a few more stats from Edward West, Founder/President of Mission Motors and Team Principal:
- This qualifying time would have placed the Mission R fifth on the weekend's AMA Pro Supersport grid, and is just 10 seconds off of the MotoGP Pole
- Our average race lap times were ten seconds faster than last year's fastest times
- Piloted by Steve Rapp, the Mission R finished the eight-lap race in 12'40.6, 39.9 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
But possibly the most impressive thing about Rapp and Mission's performance, was that they dropped 10 seconds off of their lap time in just one month. On June 26th, 2011, Rapp set a new record at the Refuel Time Trials at Laguna Seca with a 1'43.7 laptime. In less than a month, Rapp dropped 12 seconds.
Electric motorcycles are rapidly catching up to the pace. When the TTXGP hits the track next, I'd be surprised if the times didn't improve yet again.
You can see photos of the Rapp and the Mission R here.
