It wasn’t really a big surprise, but Carlin Dunne made it to the history books last weekend when he won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb aboard an electric motorcycle.
Dunne pulled off the feat aboard a race bike from Lightning; last year, he won the two-wheeler race on a Ducati Multistrada. He didn’t break that time this year – he took 10:00.694 to do the course, which is just under 20 kilometres. The closest gas bike was a Multistrada that was 21 seconds behind.
Dunne reckoned the slow time was partly due to rough pavement at the end of the course.
Canada’s electric entry, the Amarok P1, had a rough time of it. Course veteran Greg Tracy had originally been scheduled to race the bike, but he bailed, and Michael Leon, who took over, ran into bad luck. A fiery crash ahead of him on the course meant he had to re-start.
That re-start meant the bike had to run the course without fully-charged batteries, and the machine ran out of juice close to the end. That’s a lot of tough breaks, but that’s racing. Now that electric bikes have proven their ability to win, we’re betting Michael Uhlarik and Co. are more anxious than ever to return to Colorado and prove their machine has what it takes.
[…] at the IOMTT again last month. He’ll have stiff competition, as always, and now that electric bikes have proven their ability to win the race, he’ll have to hope his raw horsepower can overcome the battery bikes’ ability to […]
[…] doubtful that consumers would ever be able to purchase one. But that seems to have changed; a Pikes Peak win by Carlin Dunne this year ensured they kept their street […]
How does the powers-that-be measure/compare horsepower and torque between electric and a gasoline powered machines, and insure they are comparable ?
It MIGHT be easy to win if you had the equivalent of a 400HP powerplant ?
Just askin’…
Good question. I think they run in separate classes, but I don’t have a wealth of knowledge on Pikes Peak. I actually almost did the course on the Harley when I was down there, but ran out of time and had to run to Minnesota.