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Electric Superbike Set to Exceed Power of a MotoGP Bike

The first electric bike to go head to head against conventional gasoline powered race bikes in a professionally organized road race will debut in January 2011 at the Auto Club Speedway in California. The machine has been developed by SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing in the USA, and is said to be the world’s most powerful and technically advanced electric superbike.

The SWIGZ Racing bike aims to become the most powerful road racing motorcycle of any kind by February 2011.

The machine has a power to weight ratio that is slightly better than 600cc gasoline bikes, and will begin the 2011 season by competing in the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Heavyweight Twins Superbike class where its power to weight ratio places it somewhere in the middle.

To be competitive against these heavyweight twin cylinder superbikes, the bike will benefit from more than 20% increase to its current 194 horsepower after this first race weekend in January.

Ahead of the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Series race weekend on January 9th, the bike will be taken to the Infineon Raceway on December 15th for a private test and media day.

“Our electric motorcycle will compete head on with real racing superbikes such as the Ducati 1198 and KTM RC8 as well as other established manufacturers, and we expect to work hard to show the world that electric technology can achieve laptime parity with gasoline superbikes. We’re not going on track to make up the numbers; we’re going out to compete in order to raise our game and catch up to these gasoline guys,”
stated Chip Yates, the bike’s rider and owner of SWIGZ Racing.

The news comes following the bike’s recent exclusion from the FIM and TTXGP Championships for electric motorcycles, which has imposed a significantly lower maximum weight limit of 250kg (550lbs) for the 2011 season.

“Our bike weighs in at 266kg right now,” added Yates. “Clearly, these championships are more concerned with promoting scooter development, and our bike is so much faster than the electric competition that we feel far more inclined to push our bike’s unique technology platform forward in the ultimate competitive environment of gasoline bike racing.
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