On Track Off Road No.184

More than Europe’s
largest MC store
By Neil Morrison
our lives in the coming years. It’s
believed as many as 60 million
electric powered cars will occupy
the world’s streets by 2040. Enel
X, the series’ title sponsor, estimates
the majority of vehicles
(55%) sold in that year will be
powered by electric, not gasoline.
Beyond that, the majority of evidence
suggests MotoE won’t be
anything other than a fun spectacle.
Showcased at a recent ‘Summit’
conference in Barcelona, the
grid will comprise of 18 identical
Energica Ego Corse prototypes,
machines capable of reaching
165mph. Only ride height, suspension
settings and final gearing can
be altered. Those working behind
the scenes have placed entertainment
among the top priorities.
Provide close, exciting racing, it is
reasoned, and fans will respond
accordingly. Bradley Smith, one of
the class’ leading entries, agrees:
“The lack of noise doesn’t matter;
it’s about the racing. That’s what
the spectacle is and that’s all a
racer wants.”
The annual TT Zero race has been
the highest-profile electric bike
competition to date. But with just
six finishers in the 2018 event,
and budgets varying from the
might of HRC (Mugen) to the student
run ‘University of Bath Zero’
entry, the race was something of
a non-event in terms of spectacle.
Understandable then the general
response to MotoE’s creation has
been lukewarm at best.
By contrast MotoE promises to
be an eight-lap dash that Dorna
hopes will resemble a Red Bull
Rookie freight train – only this
is at the forefront of a new kind
of a new hybrid technology. The
strength of the field - ten nationalities,
seven different grand prix
winners and five former world
champions – and the teams
present (each MotoGP satellite
squad has a presence on the grid)
- should, on appearance levels at
least, merit a level of professionalism
befitting of a world series.
In an ideal world, this should be
as close to ‘regular’ racing as possible.
That’s partly why Nicolas Goubert,
Executive Director of the
new series, was so insistent on
machines having the capacity to
run at full speed over full race
distance. “Riders will have the
same power from the first to the
last lap,” he told attendees at the
recent ‘Summit’. “We don’t want
strategies. We want races to be
the same as normal, and saving
energy is not normal for bike
races.”
No doubt, there’ll be teething issues
to overcome. Energica has
done crash tests. But just how
quickly will action be able to resume
when, inevitably, a bike falls
and becomes gravel-stricken? The
inherent risks of electric shocks
in such situations mean marshals
will be forewarned as to whether
a machine will be retrievable.
Should a light fitted to the bike’s
rear flash green, the machine is
not sufficiently wrecked and can
be collected safely by trackside
personnel. Flash red, however,
and action must stop while a
truck will collect the bike from the
gravel.