Ducati’s Carlin Dunne wasn’t the only rider setting a record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday; electric motorcycle developer Chip Yates set a new record for battery bikes at 12:50.094.
Of course, that time is well behind Dunne’s new overall bike record time, 11:11.32. But Yates’s new mark beats the old electric bike record by four minutes – he didn’t just break the old record of 16:55.849, set by HM Electrocat in 2010, he smashed it.
Yates and the SWIGZ COM Pro Racing Team could have theoretically set an even better time – he claims his electric superbike is the most powerful motorcycle to ever race Pikes Peak in its 89-year-history. He certainly didn’t have the fuel-air mixture problems at altitude that have plagued other bikes of the past. But, his superbike wasn’t designed with the track’s dirt section in mind, and Yates lost a fair bit of time through these portions. The dirt section will be paved next year, though, so we can likely expect Yates to set a new record again in 2012.
Yates kindly videotaped his record-setting run and put it on YouTube for the world to see. Watch it below.
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