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The world's most insane electric bike race has just been won at 119mph

The world's most insane electric bike race has just been won at 119mph

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You'd be right to think electric racing is still in its infancy, but don't let that lull you into believing it's slow. The famous Isle of Man TT series of bike races is going on this week, and the electric portion of the contest has just concluded with John McGuinness taking the trophy after averaging a blistering 119.3mph around the brutal 37-mile course. The Isle of Man is known for being unforgiving, and many of the first-year teams are happy just to get their riders and bikes around the track without any misfortunes.

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McGuinness' time of 18 minutes and 58 seconds set a new record for electric bikes at the Isle of Man. Mugen teammate Bruce Anstey, who had already secured an earlier victory in the gas-powered Superbike class, was only 4 seconds behind with a time of 19 minutes and 2 seconds. Both riders averaged in excess of 118mph and reached a peak speed of over 162mph. Third place finisher Lee Johnston of race debutants Victory Motorcycles topped out at 144mph with an average speed of 111.6mph. For comparison, Anstey and his nearest Superbike competitors averaged just over 130mph in their non-electric race.

All of these numbers would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, when electric bikes were aiming to just break the 100mph mark. Now, the victorious Team Mugen is going back to the drawing board in pursuit of the obvious next milestone to surpass: 120mph.