There were 22 entrants, 13 starters and eight finishers in the inaugural zero-emissions Isle of Man TT race this June. Electric bike teams came from around the world to pit their battery machines against the famous 37.73-mile road circuit.
Riders had to be fully qualified TT licence holders, but for many of the inventors, mechanics and electrical engineers this was their first time at the TT. It was history in the making and as relevant as any other TT greats such as Honda, Bob McIntyre or Mike Hailwood.
Agni Motor's irrepressible chief executive Arvind Rabadia cheerfully acknowledges that the X01 was a rank outsider in the first Time Trials Xtreme Grand Prix (TTX GP). The team's experienced rider, 29-year-old Robert "Bullet" Barber, advised them to purchase a used Suzuki race frame without an engine to provide a fine-handling basis from which to create an electric racer.
Cedric Lynch, the 53-year-old inventor of the machine's twin 21bhp direct-current motors, has long experience of building race and record-breaking machinery but it was still with a spirit of derring-do, enthusiasm and a budget of about £25,000 that the Agni team lined up at the start.
"The biggest problem was getting the batteries and electric motors into the frame," Lynch says. The twin motors sit on either side of the frame linked by a steel shaft carrying the final-drive sprocket. This was technology of the order of a between-the-wars Fraser Nash, but it was also a fairytale come true.
Manoeuvring around Brookland's rough concrete at low speeds it feels as though there is no suspension movement, but once up to speed the balance feels good, pointing well into turns and inspiring confidence over cracked pavements and potholes.
Perhaps it's the lack of a gearbox and clutch, but I like to think it's the almost total silence that allows you more time to think about and enjoy the ride. After coming first in the electric TT, Barber managed his personal best, 12th position in the senior event, on a conventional petrol machine.
Does electric power make you a better rider? Somehow I doubt it, but noise and vibration are known to be distracting and fatiguing. It's odd to see and not hear a racing bike, but the X01 makes noisy, smelly machines seem rather uncouth.
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