Another 2018 Isle of Man TT solo race, another record broken.Piloting the team Mugen electric motorcycle, Michael Rutter claimed his sixth TT victory after a record-breaking one-lap SES TT Zero race.
Rutter set a new lap record of 121.824 mph (18:34.956), smashing 23-time TT winner John McGuinness’s 2015 lap record by over 20 seconds.Mugen’s Michael Rutter at 2018 SES TT Zero raceJoining Rutter on the 2018 SES TT Zero podium were University of Nottingham’s Daley Matheson (119.294mph / 18:58.600) and Rutter’s Mugen teammate Lee Johnston (105.566mph / 21:26.668).“It was drummed into me all week that the team wanted to break the lap record so it’s been a hard week with only one practice lap,” Michael Rutter said.“I had a sleepless night last night. Every time you go out on the course you pick up something new, or try something different and Mugen pulled it all out today. I wasn’t hanging around and it was quite scary in places.”Following is from the official IOM TT report:Rutter was away first from Glencrutchery Road and was first to Glen Helen, over five seconds ahead of his teammate Lee Johnston with the University of Nottingham’s Daley Matheson less than a second further back in third.James Cowton (Brunel University), Ian Lougher (Team Mirai), Shaun Anderson (Brammo) and Adam Child (Moto Corsa) also made the first checkpoint to Glen Helen but there was already a gap of almost a minute from the leading three riders.Lougher was reported as a retirement shortly after but at the front of the pack Michael Rutter was having no such problems and had extended his lead to six seconds by Ballaugh which he maintained at Ramsey.However, behind him Lee Johnson was experiencing problems and the Northern Ireland rider was actually reported as stopped at the Bungalow with a chain issue and two helpful spectators held his bike while Johnston carried out on the spot repairs.This left Daley Matheson to move up into second by the Bungalow and gave Rutter a dominant lead of over twenty seconds at the front of the field.Rutter duly came home in a new lap record of 121.824 (18:34.956) breaking John McGuinness’s 2015 lap record by over twenty seconds in the process. Matheson maintained his second place in a highly credible 119.294/ 18:58.600 with Lee Johnston (105.566/ 21:26.668) taking the final podium place. James Cowton, Adam Child and Shaun Anderson also completed laps.
Honda CRF-E2 Electric + Dale Schmidtchen and the $50M V-Rod
byMotos and Friends by Ultimate Motorcycle
Hello everyone and welcome to Ultimate Motorcycling’s podcast, Motos and Friends. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s episode is brought to you by Yamaha YZF-R7. The R7 lives up to its legendary name, as a high-performance supersport machine. Check it out at at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com.
In this week’s first segment, Editor Don Williams and I chat about electric bikes and the electric bike revolution that is likely the future of motorcycling. Actually this episode is specifically about Honda’s new CRF-E2… an electric dirt-bike for kids. We asked our tester, 8-year old Avery Bart to put the E2 through its paces and according to Don, she loved it. Honda has stated that the company goal is for 50% of its sales to be electric by 2030—an ambitious goal for sure, and the CRF-E2 is the first step in that direction.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my Aussie motorcycle industry friends—Dale Schmidtchen. Dale has worked for most of the major moto factories globally during his career, and his take on his CF Moto ADV bike is interesting. Beyond that, one his many projects is currently helping to sell the world’s most expensive motorcycle—a Harley V-Rod worth around 50 million dollars. Yes, that’s 50 million with an ‘M’.
Dale also owned a race team in the 1990s and helped bring several well-known Aussie racers to the world stage. He’s a very modest, matter-of-fact guy, but I always really enjoy chatting with him; I hope you enjoy listening.
Incidentally, if you’ve got around fifty mill burning a hole in your pocket and you fancy owning the so-called ‘Mona Lisa of motorbikes’—contact us at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we’ll put you in touch with Dale.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!