- Lee Johnston rides a 110.97mph average lap on the Victory electric prototype
- Victory Racing is now the second electric team to ride a 110mph TT lap
- Lee rides a 110.97mph lap in the final practice for the SES TT Zero race
- Guy Martin rides a 108.67mph lap on only his second ride of the bike
Isle of Man: The third and final practice for the SES TT Zero race has boosted Victory Racing’s confidence ahead of the race on Wednesday.
Lee Johnston, clearly buoyed from his first ever TT podium in the Superstock race, rode an 110.97mph lap and reached 144.9mph through Sulby on the Victory electric prototype that’s powered by Brammo battery modules and supported by Parker Racing (the makers of the electric motor).
Guy Martin rode a 108.674mph lap, just 1.3mph shy of also achieving a 110mph lap. His ride was made even more impressive as it was only his second time on the bike.
Lee was thrilled to go beyond the 110mph mark for the first time and said: “It feels good yeah, I’m still just getting used to the bike, feeling a bit more flowing and trying to think about saving the power rather than rolling it on and off. Yeah it feels really good.”
Guy Martin was measured and contemplative after his second ever ride of an electric motorcycle. He said: “Interesting, interesting… yeah, it’s just…it’s just getting your head round what it’s doing. Just the momentum I think…just keeping the momentum up, don’t waste energy by braking late, or by braking at all, don’t even look at the brake lever, just roll off and let the regeneration do the work.”
Regeneration of the battery modules takes place when the riders roll the throttle off. In essence, more electricity in put back into the cells that can be used by the bike later on in the lap. Both Lee and Guy have realised they can post faster lap times by consciously using less brake and allowing the Parker GVM electric motor to ‘engine brake’ to slow themselves down. At the same time, energy is regenerated back in the Brammo battery modules.
Gary Gray, Director Motorcycle Product for Victory Motorcycles said: “We came to the Isle of Man TT to prove ‘American Performance’ and we did that today by posting the two fastest qualifying laps of the day. Lee Johnston rode the fastest lap time ever for an American electric bike at the TT of 110mph and Guy Martin ran the second fastest time of the day at 108mph. We are extremely proud of American ingenuity and our Brammo Power and Parker Racing partners.”
Parker’s US-based strategic account manager, Kevin Holloway is with the team on the Isle of Man and encouraged by the newfound performance of the Parker GVM electric motor installed in the bike. He said: “Parker is very pleased with the progress of the Victory Racing team and Lee Johnston’s lap speed of 110.97mph has achieved one of our goals. Both riders are improving with each lap. The Victory team is very dedicated and professional and Parker is proud to be associated with such a fantastic group.”
For Brian Wismann, Team Manager, going beyond the 110mph mark was the huge boost for the team ahead of tomorrow’s race.
Brian said: “We set a goal and we achieved that goal, so that’s what we’re here to do, and to move the performance on, practice after practice.
“Right now, the smart move would be to play it safe and finish the race given that we reached our goal of 110mph, but hey we’re racers, so we’ll probably take a look at the data from today and see if we can go faster still tomorrow.”
The SES TT Zero race is scheduled for 10:45am local time on Wednesday 10th June.
