The 2014 TT had some great moments. In the UK the coverage was as good as ever via ITV4. An hour was dedicated every evening. You can look up results and see how close one race in particular was.

I want to discuss the SES TT Zero race. It gave John McGuinness his 21^st TT victory. The electric race at the TT is still in its infancy. The great element this year was the actual step forward that seemed to take place. There was one main team, Team Mugen Shinden. They had invested a large sum of money in the project and spent many hours developing the components. It resulted in them winning the Motul team award for excellence.
 

The team fielded two riders, McGuinness and Bruce Anstey, both saying that it was a truly fantastic experience. The bike was produced by M-Tec Co Ltd and is named Shinden San after the Japanese God of electricity. The specs were impressive; the maximum output was 100KW (that is equal to about 135hp). The bike has 220Nm of torque and weighs 240Kg. Now these figures are incredibly impressive for an electric machine and made good use of the data from last year contributing to a light, smaller and more aerodynamically enhanced bike with incredible ingenuity. The pace to which the electric bikes have increased in such a small space of time puts traditional bikes to shame. I am by no means saying that it is time to put our much loved combustion engines to bed, but compared to the first steps of modern motorbikes, these electric machines are being designed at warp speed. Look at the graphs below to see where the process is at this present moment in time. Where will we be in 10 years time?
 

The race showed the finest results. The TT course is 37.5 miles in length and is a grueling test of man and machine. The Shinden San had its work cut out but it tackled the event with gusto. Going from a few troubles when testing both riders set blistering times in the TT Zero race itself. John McGuinness, even though his wrist was injured, won the race with an average speed of 117.366. This was, for me, the best lap record of the week and a new electric lap record. It was the first sub 20-minute lap by an electric bike, just astonishing. Bruce’s lap was just as impressive at an average speed of 115.048. The future is bright for this new era bike sport. Take a look at the video below that shows John’s record-breaking lap. You cannot help but be impressed as the boost kicks in and that oil cooled, 3 phase motor wines like the bikes in the classic movie Tron. Love it or hate it….TT Zero is here to stay.