If the future of motorcycles is electric, then is this the future of land speed racing for motorcycles? The WMC250EV by White Motorcycle Concepts has been making the rounds on the internet this week, primarily for its big claims and unique design.
Boasting of unparalleled streamlining, Robert White and his team are looking to make waves, first by breaking the land speed record for electric motorcycles in Britain later this year, and then taking on the FIM world record for electric two-wheelers (228.006 mph).
One of the things you will see quoted often in other publications (Bennetts has the most detailed story we’ve seen) is White’s claim that the WMC250EV design, with its massive central tube, slashes aerodynamic drag by 70%.
That comparison though is being made in comparison to the Gen 2 Suzuki Hayabusa, which while admittedly was one of the slipperiest bikes on the market at its debut, is also a 15-year-old design, and more importantly, a production street bike.
White’s claim isn’t exactly apples-to-apples, and a more appropriate comparison to WMC’s claim of a 0.11 drag coefficient, would be to other streamliner designs for two wheels.
To be fair, WMC’s drag figure is still an impressive result, and WMC will need it, if they want the 134hp (100 kW) motorcycle to clear 250 mph. If you are reading the tone of this article correctly – yes, we are a bit skeptical.
However, whether WMC’s “V-Air” design is snake oil or not, the bike has plenty of other interesting ideas.
The front-end is a hub-center design (as is the Voxan land speed bike, we might add), with two motors on the front wheel (20 kW each) and two on the rear wheel (30 kW each).
This allows the WMC to maximize getting its energy down to the ground, while the front motors can also be used for regenerative braking (not particularly useful on an LSR bike, but a good idea for a production street model).
Of course, the hub motors are going to add a fair bit of unsprung and rotational mass to the wheel setup, and one has to wonder how practical the air duct design is for street riders (we can’t see that streamlined tuck being terribly popular in around-town riding).
The modest 15 kWh battery pack is slung low in the bike’s chassis, and only has to power the bike for a couple of minutes, while the rider is high up, above the air ducting, semi-streamlined into the bodywork.
It is worth noting that the MotoCzysz E1pc electric race bike used a similar design, which centered around filling the void behind the motorcycle with air from the front of the bike, to increase aerodynamic efficiency.
Like with MotoCzysz, the ultimate goal here is for WMC to gain more funding. Will the big claims lead to big results? Time will tell.
So far, we have yet to see any indication that the WMC250EV is even a runner (the WMC site is devoid of any in-motion videos or tests beyond the static wind tunnel shots), which isn’t a first when it comes to electric motorcycle companies.
The great thing about land speed racing though is that the proof is in the stopwatch. Stay tuned.
Source: White Motorcycle Concepts
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