· William Dunlop achieves a 115.431mph lap
· First ever sub-20 minute TT lap for Victory Racing
· Improvements continue
· “I’m ready to race this bike,” says William Dunlop
Victory Racing has charged forward in second practice for the SES TT Zero race with William Dunlop riding a 115.431mph lap.
He was 2.6mph faster than in first practice and just 3.3mph behind John McGuinness who posted the fastest lap time of 19:04.307 (a 118.7mph lap) compared to William’s 19:36.707.
It was also Victory Racing’s first ever sub 20-minute lap of the TT course in a week when rider Michael Dunlop broke the sub 17-minute mark in the Superbike race.
William achieved a top speed of 165mph through Crosby and 158.6mph through the Sulby speed trap. He was the fastest through the Grandstand hitting 146.1mph.
Team Manager, Brian Wismann, said: “I’m glad to be talking about speeds in the teens now, and not only are we in the teens we are now also fully below the 20 minute mark. We were also just one mph behind Bruce Anstey on the Mugen, who posted a 116.29mph lap – we are feeling very competitive.”
Subtle changes to the Victory RR bike for this practice included an improvement to the final drive gearing, a pressure change in the Metzeler RaceTec K2 tyres and a front-end suspension tweak by the team at K-Tech Suspension.
“We examined the data from the first practice and saw that we could improve on our corner speed,” Brian explains. “So this revised setup gave William more stability to run in faster through the corners.”
Performance in the TT Zero comes down to the initial amount of electrical energy that can be stored on-board and then it’s down to the skill of the rider to unleash this power while being mindful of how hard to push it, particularly towards the end of the lap when the dash starts to warn of low battery.
Brian adds: “We’re certainly discovering that trying to achieve just a 1mph increase in average lap speed takes a lot of effort.”
Brian is one of few people in the world who has ridden many electric street and race motorcycles and he says that the Victory RR really does feel fast compared to others he’s ridden and built.
“Riding the Victory RR feels like you’re floating,” he enthuses. “It’s a magic carpet ride, a really fast magic carpet.”
“In my early testing of the bike I’d look down at the speed and see I was at 156mph, but it felt more like 120mph. You really can go fast on this and William says he has the same sensation during the first and second practices.”
William was happy with breaking the 115mph mark and achieving sub 20-minute lap. He stepped off the Victory RR and simply said: “I’m ready to race this bike now.”
The increase in performance this year is down to a new battery and revised electric motor made by Parker. Called the Parker GVM electric motor, it’s cylindrical in shape and sits behind the swingarm’s pivot point. The core of the motor is eight inches (0.2m) in diameter and five inches (0.13m) long and generates 175hp giving around 165hp at the rear wheel.
It is 97% efficient; nearly all of the electrical energy drawn from the Brammo battery is converted in to kinetic energy to drive the chain and sprocket on the rear wheel.
Parker has designed an internal water-cooling system for the GVM motor. It resides within the motor, rather than creating a jacket around it; this way the smaller size achieved means that the motor has a much higher power density. Data from both practices show that the electric motor and the battery are remaining at their optimum temperatures showing that the cooling system that Brammo has developed for the bike is doing its job well – on a day when temperatures at the Isle of Man reached 25°C.
Parker’s US-based strategic account manager, Kevin Holloway, is on the Isle of Man to watch the racing and said: “When I saw William speed back through the Grandstand I knew it had been a fast lap and when I heard he’d broke the 115mph mark I was happy for the team achieving one of its goals. Wednesday is race day and we have more to give.”
The TT Zero race takes place at 16:25 on Wednesday 8th June.
