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History-making electric motorcycle set for Pikes Peak Hill Climb
TIME: 01:23PM Wednesday March 30,2011
FROM:9news.com   

COLORADO SPRINGS - The 89th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb will include the most powerful motorcycle to enter the historic event in history.

Racer Chip Yates from Aliso Viejo, Calif. will be racing his 240bhp, 365lb/ft electric superbike at Pikes Peak this summer in an Exhibition PowerSport Division showing when America's second-oldest motor sport event gets underway in Colorado Springs. Yates' bike is currently set up for paved tracks, where he made history by placing second in a race against gasoline superbikes earlier this year. His entry on Pikes Peak this summer may also pave the way for bigger things in the future.

         "The SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing Team is ecstatic to have been invited by Pikes Peak International Hill Climb officials to compete in this epic event," Yates said. " The course is almost completely paved, but I will be challenged by several miles of dirt in the middle of the climb and I'll be calling on my previous SCCA Pro Rally driving experience to get safely through the lower grip sections. Our engineers are busy developing new traction control software and mapping that will automatically adapt based on my position on the mountain."

          Chip and his team of engineers will participate in an official Pikes Peak International Hill Climb two-day closed test on June 4-5 in order to begin learning the complicated course and to test chassis setup, tire selection, and control software options.

          Yates and his SWIGZ Racing team achieved the seemingly impossible in January at the Auto Club Speedway in California, with two podium finishes for their electric superbike during its global racing debut, competing against a competitive field of highly-developed gasoline-powered race machines, including Ducati 848s, NCR-Ducatis, Honda RC51s, and Suzuki SV650s.
          Despite only six laps of pre-race testing, the privately owned and developed machine exceeded all expectations in its two race outings. Yates achieved an astonishing third place in the premier WERA Heavyweight Twins Superbike race, starting on the third row of the grid, and going one better in the WERA Heavyweight Twins Superstock race to finish second and post the fastest lap of the race at a 1:39.792. The all-electric machine was recorded at 158 mph on the straight and appeared visibly quicker to spectators, compared to even the 1,000cc Japanese superbikes from the other top WERA superbike classes.

           "We are thrilled to have Chip on the Hill this year with his amazing bike," Hill Climb motorcycle referee Sonny Anderson said. "Our Exhibition PowerSport Division is designed for new technology, and what he brings is exactly that. Our fans are in for something special."

           The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb includes powerful autos, trucks and motorcycles racing up a 12.42-mile, 156-turn course. Traditionally, supermotos or other dirt-capable motorcycles enter the race, with Ducati MultiStradas piloted by Greg Tracy and Gary Trachy winning titles last summer.

            Yates' bike won't be the first electric motorcycle to take part in Pikes Peak, but it will be the first with a serious chance of competing directly with ICE motorcycles. He wants to prove "electric motorcycles don't need to be slow and boring."
But how is a nearly 600-pound road racing bike going to fare on such a technical course? Pretty well, according to Yates. "Two key benefits of our electric power train will really help me climb from 9,390 feet all the way up to the 14,110 foot summit. First, our superbike makes 240 horsepower at sea level and 240 horsepower at 14,110 feet. We do not suffer any power loss due to elevation, while gasoline-powered vehicles will lose around 30% of their power at the top."

           "Secondly, our 365 ft/lbs of torque is available from 0 rpm as soon as I open the throttle - with few straight sections, we don't have to wait for revs to build up in order to blast off the course's 156 turns and tight corners."
In the run up to the Peak's two-day test on June 4th and 5th, the Yates team will be making wide-ranging modifications to the electric superbike.

           Many within the sport have viewed the success of Yates and the SWIGZ team with complete astonishment. "We are a small and entirely self-funded team, and together with a small group of very loyal sponsors, are solely responsible for the development, patenting and building of this superbike," Yates said.

           Yates and his skunk works team of key engineers Ben Ingram and Robert Ussery have quickly developed an industry-leading understanding of electric power train technology and development, and the motorcycle is an absolute showcase of the team's specialist capabilities in extreme electric vehicle consulting as most of it was built in-house including the advanced lithium-ion polymer battery packs.

          The lap times achieved on the bikes first competitive outing validate the team's assertion that its bike is vastly superior in technology and performance to any other electric bike and can demonstrably take the fight to conventional gasoline machines.

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