William Dunlop on Victory RRDuring last year’s Isle of Man TT, Victory entered two of its electric prototypes into the SES TT Zero race. Riding the bikes were Lee Johnston and Guy Martin. The TT sensation Martin was filling in for the injured William Dunlop – the nephew of the late Joey Dunlop who has a record 26 TT wins.Johnston would go onto to earn third on the Victory, marking the first time an American motorcycle finished on the podium at the TT. As for Martin, he would finish fourth.
Victory is now set to take on the 37.73-mile Mountain Course once again; the Polaris-owned manufacturer will return to the SES TT grid once again this year, but this time with only one rider – William Dunlop.
The 30-year-old Northern Irishman has clear ambitions ahead of the 2016 SES TT Zero race, which was won by 23-time TT winner John McGuinness last season (Mugen) – claim the victory aboard the Victory RR electric motorcycle.“I’m very happy that Victory has decided to return to the TT,” said William, who was part of Victory’s inaugural TT Zero race team with Lee Johnston in 2015. “I had a good time on my first ride with the electric bike last year, and I’m looking forward to getting another chance to race as I only got one lap of the course due to my accident in an earlier race. I feel as though there’s some unfinished business to take care of this year in the TT Zero race.”Victory Team manager Brian Wismann has worked closely with Dunlop, briefing him about what to expect from the new Victory RR. The team has also carried out some testing this week at Jurby Airfield ahead of the first TT Zero practice lap on the evening of Friday, June 3.William finished the test saying he’s happy with the bike and he has no problem taking it around the TT course for the first practice. He also said he felt more comfortable on the bike straight away this year, Victory reports.“William is a very talented racer and we are happy to have him back on the Victory Racing team riding our brand new Victory RR,” said Wismann.William adds: “Compared to last year’s Empulse RR the new Victory RR has more battery on-board, which should allow us to go faster. With Mugen and Sarolea also bringing all new bikes this year, it will be interesting to see how all this new technology stacks up against each other. Most of all, I’m looking forward to spending more time on the bike during the TT Zero practice sessions and actually competing in the race.“I haven’t followed the development of electric bikes too closely other than what Victory Motorcycles has been doing to bring a competitive bike to the TT this year. Watching the pace of development for these electric bikes has been impressive for sure, but as a rider, it’s just another motorcycle to race and try to win on – which probably says the most about how far they’ve come.”Gary Gray, Director Motorcycle Product for Victory Motorcycles, said: “Our effort is all around winning and building technology for production. Building a new bike with more battery capacity and a new motor mean we will be faster than last year. It also means we are developing new technologies that will make our production electric motorcycles faster and go farther in the future.”The first practice for the SES TT Zero is scheduled for this Friday and Saturday. Qualifying gets underway at 4:25 p.m. local time Monday, June 6, for the race that is set for 4:25 p.m. Wednesday.
Victory RR Specs
Length/Width/Height (mm): 2089 / 680 / 1218Seat Height (in.): 32Weight (lbs.): 529Front Tire: Metzeler 120/70 R17Rear Tire: Metzeler 200/60 R17Frame: Trellis Steel and Composite MonocoqueMotor: Parker GVM Water-cooled, 3-phase, IPM ACMax Power (HP): 174Max Torque (ft/lbs): 177Battery: Brammo Power Lithium-IonBattery Voltage (Vdc): 370 or more
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This week, in the first segment Editor Don Williams talks to us about the new Kawasaki Versys 650 LT. It’s the middleweight ADV style machine that uses the same 650 parallel twin motor as the Ninja 650, so it’s an excellent performer in a user-friendly, good looking package.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my dearest industry friends—now retired Honda PR executive, Jon Seidel. Jon’s fascinating career spans some 30 years with Big Red, and gave him some great experiences with some incredible machines. I was fortunate enough to be invited on many of the press launches that he organized. His new project is documenting and saving many of the old archives from years gone by—and incidentally, if you have anything that may be of value to the project, please contact us by email at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we’ll pass it all on to Jon.
So on that note, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
“I’m very happy that Victory has decided to return to the TT,” said William, who was part of Victory’s inaugural TT Zero race team with Lee Johnston in 2015. “I had a good time on my first ride with the electric bike last year, and I’m looking forward to getting another chance to race as I only got one lap of the course due to my accident in an earlier race. I feel as though there’s some unfinished business to take care of this year in the TT Zero race.”Victory Team manager Brian Wismann has worked closely with Dunlop, briefing him about what to expect from the new Victory RR. The team has also carried out some testing this week at Jurby Airfield ahead of the first TT Zero practice lap on the evening of Friday, June 3.William finished the test saying he’s happy with the bike and he has no problem taking it around the TT course for the first practice. He also said he felt more comfortable on the bike straight away this year, Victory reports.“William is a very talented racer and we are happy to have him back on the Victory Racing team riding our brand new Victory RR,” said Wismann.William adds: “Compared to last year’s Empulse RR the new Victory RR has more battery on-board, which should allow us to go faster. With Mugen and Sarolea also bringing all new bikes this year, it will be interesting to see how all this new technology stacks up against each other. Most of all, I’m looking forward to spending more time on the bike during the TT Zero practice sessions and actually competing in the race.“I haven’t followed the development of electric bikes too closely other than what Victory Motorcycles has been doing to bring a competitive bike to the TT this year. Watching the pace of development for these electric bikes has been impressive for sure, but as a rider, it’s just another motorcycle to race and try to win on – which probably says the most about how far they’ve come.”Gary Gray, Director Motorcycle Product for Victory Motorcycles, said: “Our effort is all around winning and building technology for production. Building a new bike with more battery capacity and a new motor mean we will be faster than last year. It also means we are developing new technologies that will make our production electric motorcycles faster and go farther in the future.”The first practice for the SES TT Zero is scheduled for this Friday and Saturday. Qualifying gets underway at 4:25 p.m. local time Monday, June 6, for the race that is set for 4:25 p.m. Wednesday.
