TEN MINUTES WITH… COLIN WHITTAMORE
DIRECTOR AND CEO OF MUGEN EURO
FB: How do things work with development, does a lot change from year to year, and is reliability an issue?
CW: “It’s funny, there’s always a fair bit going on, but last year we actually made the least amount of changes as we didn’t get to truly show our potential in 2017. The biggest changes are aerodynamics, partly to reduce drag, but also for controlling the battery temperature with the air flow. We’ve learnt a lot over the past few years, which changes a lot. Even stuff like preparation. As an example, the batteries are now pre-chilled before the race, whereas four years ago they were heated. Now we have the motor and invertor contained and controlled by a liquid cooling system as well as the management system, which is vital in getting across the line.”
FB: What targets do you set yourselves? CW: “Wetryandsetthebarhigh.Weusea different map for practice so we don’t put batteries under too much stress till race day, and it worked last year, cracking the 120mph barrier. To be honest, winning the race is secondary and we set our own targets, which has now moved on to purely looking at the times. To start with, it was to complete a racing lap, and now that’s moved on to progressing closer and closer to the other classes. I mean, the lap record two years ago that John (McPint) did was on a slow map! Of course, there’s been a few issues as it's prototype racing and we’re doing what no one has done before – making a 250kg electric bike go round the toughest course in the world at decent speeds. It makes it interesting, though, and next year we’ll have to up the pace again.”
FB: How important are the riders?
CW: “Massively, as we’ve always loved using Bruce and John. When we first started with a 100mph lap, the riders were better than the bike so it wasn’t an issue. Now we’re at 120mph and beyond, we need someone with class. It was a big blow losing John and Bruce in the same week last year, but we’d already planned to run three bikes with Lee anyway. Of course, we were unhappy not to have John and Bruce, but Rutter was top of the list as a replacement. We have a philosophy that both riders get equal machinery as well to make things fair. Maybe they have different strategies, but they share everything as well. The only difference is rider preference.”
FB: With petrol bikes being starved, electric bikes are developing. Will they cross?
CW: “Yes definitely, although the question that no one can answer is when. What we’ve seen in the seven years we’ve been at the TT is that there’s been a huge change in the perception from the public. In 2012, people wouldn’t even look at our bike as they thought it was the devil, whereas now it’s completely different. Hopefully, we’ve helped to raise the profile of electric bikes as we’ve already seen a huge shift in the automotive sector alone, so two wheels won’t take long either.”
FB: Can you utilise that tech from cars? CW: “Yes and no. It’s the control systems that are the most complicated things. Each of the solutions end up as an electric motor, which are the same whether they’re in a Porsche or in a boat. It’s mostly how you feed it, so we have a simple drivetrain with almost no moving parts. It’s near enough impossible to wear down and it’s also easily serviceable.”
FB: What do you think of MotoE?
CW: I think it’s a great idea and will make a great championship. There’s been some people try before, but you end up with a big disparity between the front and back of the grid, which turns people off. This is why we think going to one make is a really good approach, just like Formula E for cars. I think MotoE will help to spread the idea of electric bikes, change some minds and prepare people for the inevitable future.”
FB: So what’s the deal with riding one of these things? Sell it to us!
CW: “I’ll use what McGuinness tells us as an example. The style is massively different, and on some corners on the TT course he was nearly 20mph faster at the apex on the Mugen than on the Superbike. They always say it handles incredibly, no matter what. This is because point and shoot just doesn’t work for the electric era, and corner speed is where you’ll gain all your time. The riders that are most successful are actually the ones that have ridden two strokes! It’s kind of funny really as everyone misses the glory days of two strokes, yet it’s almost going full circle as the electric bikes almost mimic them. Oh, and the power is instantly on tap, as you don’t have to wait for the motor to spin up.”
FB: How many hours go into creating the Shinden?
CW: “Not as many as you think. We are never permanently on it.
Although we come to the TT mob handed, we all have real other jobs.
We’re an internally funded project with no output, to educate the Mugen staff on the electric powertrain.”
FB: What is the advantage of doing this, then?
CW: “To prepare for the future. Mugen as a brand look to train and educate the existing employees, so when the electric time comes we’ll be ready, so we can branch out. This will help us mainly with our biggest client, which is Honda. We aren’t owned by them, and the Mugen project isn’t a Honda project, but it is woven very closely with Honda. The brand was created by the son of Soichiro Honda [founder of Honda Motor Company]. Honda and Mugen consider each other family.”
FB: So are there plans to create an electric machine with Honda?
CW: “We already have a spin-off programme in conjunction with Honda, which is an electric motocross bike. We’ve designed the concept, and we’re in the process of creating a prototype. The TT programme has equipped us incredibly for creating production bits, and if the motocross bike passes everything, hopefully Honda will put it into production. As far as a Honda electric sports bike goes, I couldn’t possibly comment…”
Now, if you’ve never heard of Mugen, they are a Japanese tuning company who are incredibly cosy with the Honda brand. If you piece two and two together, they aren’t ploughing all this time, development and cash into creating a saucy electric race bike for fun.
There is a purpose, with rumour telling us that the big H is buckling up for the electronic future, under Mugen camouflage. With rumours that Ducati also have an electric machine coming in the not-soto distant future, we have gear up for every eventuality.
Okay, between us, I’ve never been on the electric hype. I like the sound, smell and feel of perfect harmony way too much when you get when strapped on top of internal combustion. Besides, aren’t electric motors just like big, over-glorified vibrators? Well, thankfully they really aren’t.
When Dangerous sent me over to the TT last year, talking electric was at the very back of my mind. Yet, sitting down with the brains behind Mugen was one of my highlights; getting talking to, and under the skin of a real high performance prototype, and indeed an insight into the future of two wheels.
The good news is, it’s going to be a long time until this is the norm, and by that time there’s absolutely no doubt that these machines will be awesome, with some reliability, range and a bit less lard.
All they need is a two-stroke air freshener and a V4 speaker soundtrack, and we’ll be good to go…