Toao
02-22-2011, 01:43 PM
I saw this today, and thought at least one of you would like it.
He makes history, fast, on electric motorcycle
LAGUNA HILLS – They pushed it out the garage door and gasped.
Chip Yates' 585-pound, electric monster had awoken.
It was the culmination of 13 months of design, fabrication, welding, spending, spending and ... spending.
"Honestly, none of us knew what we were doing when this started," says Yates, 39, of Laguna Niguel, a former toy inventor and aerospace engineer. "We were outsiders. None of us were real motorcyclists."
It was Dec. 12, 2010. In three days, Yates was scheduled to test drive his electric motorcycle at Infineon Raceway, hitting speeds of 120 mph.
There was just one glitch. It had never even gone 10 mph.
Yates had designed a 194-horsepower superbike capable, in theory, of beating a gas-powered superbike – something the world had never seen.
He drained his savings, dropping $25,000 on an electric motor and $37,000 on lithium-ion polymer batteries. A total of $200,000.
He'd also convinced two aerospace engineers – guys who by day designed unmanned military helicopters – to program his onboard computers which rivaled the computing power of the Saturn V rocket that went to the moon.
But it didn't even have a seat yet. So Yates stood on the foot pegs outside his garage door and lightly touched the throttle.
A soft whir.
"Oh man, this is happening," thought electrical engineer Robert Ussery, watching. "It's alive!"
In three days, it would see a track for the first time. In about three weeks, on Jan. 9, it would enter a race against gas-powered superbikes.
And try to make history.
RACER
In the mid-1990s, Yates invented more than 30 toys, including the "Fliplash," which was designed to excel at one thing better than any other toy car.
Crash.
"It's a flip-over car," he says. "A little, motorized car. When it hits something, it flips over and keeps going. It's unstoppable."
Unstoppable pretty much describes Yates, too.
He is fast-talking, funny; self-promoting, too, but in an entertaining way. A born entrepreneur.
"People think I'm sponsored by this rich beverage bottle company," he says, grabbing a fancy "Swigz," water bottle, for which his race team is named. "No. It's just me."
He invented the dual-chambered beverage bottle (so you can drink water AND Gatorade while cycling) while earning his master's degree in entrepreneurship at USC.
Throughout the 90s, Yates tried lots of things. Mall security. Ambulance driver. Police academy. He bought a 750-cc Kawasaki Ninja in 1993. Rode it on weekends for a year. And sold it.
Then he never rode again until 2007 when he bought a $1,500 Suzuki race bike as a restoration project.
On back, however, was a curious bumper sticker.
FRANKENSTEIN
It was for "Fastrack Riders," which teaches motorcycle riders how to race.
Yates called.
His first class was in January, 2007. His first race was in April. And his first broken collarbone was in January, 2008. But he was hooked.
By year's end, he turned pro. And by May, 2009, he was racing in the FIM World Superbike Championship in Salt Lake City, against the world's elite.
"I went out on a bike I built in my garage," he says. "My third professional race ever."
How did he improve so fast? Reading.
"I sorta became obsessed," he says. "I bought all these books. I read them over and over."
He also watched DVDs. And he hired trainers to videotape his riding to study.
Still, he had no interest in electric motorcycles until August, 2009. That's when he broke his pelvis during a Kansas race, sidelining him for the season.
Yates-the-racer, Yates-the-inventor and Yates-the-entrepreneur saw an opportunity in this brand new sport he was reading about: electric-motorcycle racing.
"It was all small money," he says. "No big manufacturers. Just work late, use your creativity and you have a chance to win."
He called some friends at Boeing. Aerospace engineers.
Soon, there was activity in an unmarked bay of a Laguna Hills industrial park. No sign over the door. No advertising. No way to know they were building a modern-day Frankenstein.
HISTORY
Here's his problem in a nutshell.
"It could flip over and kill me," says Yates.
That why he needs the computing power of a Saturn V and know-how of aerospace engineers: To tame the instant torque of an electric motor.
Here's another problem: 200 pounds of batteries on back. After running eight laps at Infineon Raceway on Dec. 12, he redesigned the bike to hold one-third of the batteries up front. Then waited for race day.
"I not only felt the risk of technical problems or crashing," he says, "but I also felt the eyes of the world watching."
Several motorcycle magazines began writing about him. TV wanted interviews. The BBC. Everyone waited to see if he could keep up with gas-powered superbikes in a WERA nationwide race series.
"Historic," says Evelyne Clarke, president of WERA Motorcycle Roadracing. "It was the first time in our 37-year history that we had an electric bike compete against gas-powered bikes."
In the WERA Heavyweight Twins Superbike Expert division, he took third among seven bikes. Then, in the WERA Heavyweight Twins Superstock Expert division, he placed second among seven bikes, hitting 158 mph.
In the second race, he also logged the fastest lap time of any bike.
"It's a big deal," says Wired.com's auto technology writer Chuck Squatriglia, who wrote after the race: Chip Yates has made racing history ... It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this.
Since then, Yates has upped his power from 194 hp to 240 hp and hit 163.7 mph on the track.
Sure, he likes the attention. He's an entrepreneur. But he has another goal too.
"We're showing the world," he says, "that electric vehicles don't have to be slow and boring."
Pics http://www.ocregister.com/articles/yates-289200-race-says.html#article-photos
He makes history, fast, on electric motorcycle
LAGUNA HILLS – They pushed it out the garage door and gasped.
Chip Yates' 585-pound, electric monster had awoken.
It was the culmination of 13 months of design, fabrication, welding, spending, spending and ... spending.
"Honestly, none of us knew what we were doing when this started," says Yates, 39, of Laguna Niguel, a former toy inventor and aerospace engineer. "We were outsiders. None of us were real motorcyclists."
It was Dec. 12, 2010. In three days, Yates was scheduled to test drive his electric motorcycle at Infineon Raceway, hitting speeds of 120 mph.
There was just one glitch. It had never even gone 10 mph.
Yates had designed a 194-horsepower superbike capable, in theory, of beating a gas-powered superbike – something the world had never seen.
He drained his savings, dropping $25,000 on an electric motor and $37,000 on lithium-ion polymer batteries. A total of $200,000.
He'd also convinced two aerospace engineers – guys who by day designed unmanned military helicopters – to program his onboard computers which rivaled the computing power of the Saturn V rocket that went to the moon.
But it didn't even have a seat yet. So Yates stood on the foot pegs outside his garage door and lightly touched the throttle.
A soft whir.
"Oh man, this is happening," thought electrical engineer Robert Ussery, watching. "It's alive!"
In three days, it would see a track for the first time. In about three weeks, on Jan. 9, it would enter a race against gas-powered superbikes.
And try to make history.
RACER
In the mid-1990s, Yates invented more than 30 toys, including the "Fliplash," which was designed to excel at one thing better than any other toy car.
Crash.
"It's a flip-over car," he says. "A little, motorized car. When it hits something, it flips over and keeps going. It's unstoppable."
Unstoppable pretty much describes Yates, too.
He is fast-talking, funny; self-promoting, too, but in an entertaining way. A born entrepreneur.
"People think I'm sponsored by this rich beverage bottle company," he says, grabbing a fancy "Swigz," water bottle, for which his race team is named. "No. It's just me."
He invented the dual-chambered beverage bottle (so you can drink water AND Gatorade while cycling) while earning his master's degree in entrepreneurship at USC.
Throughout the 90s, Yates tried lots of things. Mall security. Ambulance driver. Police academy. He bought a 750-cc Kawasaki Ninja in 1993. Rode it on weekends for a year. And sold it.
Then he never rode again until 2007 when he bought a $1,500 Suzuki race bike as a restoration project.
On back, however, was a curious bumper sticker.
FRANKENSTEIN
It was for "Fastrack Riders," which teaches motorcycle riders how to race.
Yates called.
His first class was in January, 2007. His first race was in April. And his first broken collarbone was in January, 2008. But he was hooked.
By year's end, he turned pro. And by May, 2009, he was racing in the FIM World Superbike Championship in Salt Lake City, against the world's elite.
"I went out on a bike I built in my garage," he says. "My third professional race ever."
How did he improve so fast? Reading.
"I sorta became obsessed," he says. "I bought all these books. I read them over and over."
He also watched DVDs. And he hired trainers to videotape his riding to study.
Still, he had no interest in electric motorcycles until August, 2009. That's when he broke his pelvis during a Kansas race, sidelining him for the season.
Yates-the-racer, Yates-the-inventor and Yates-the-entrepreneur saw an opportunity in this brand new sport he was reading about: electric-motorcycle racing.
"It was all small money," he says. "No big manufacturers. Just work late, use your creativity and you have a chance to win."
He called some friends at Boeing. Aerospace engineers.
Soon, there was activity in an unmarked bay of a Laguna Hills industrial park. No sign over the door. No advertising. No way to know they were building a modern-day Frankenstein.
HISTORY
Here's his problem in a nutshell.
"It could flip over and kill me," says Yates.
That why he needs the computing power of a Saturn V and know-how of aerospace engineers: To tame the instant torque of an electric motor.
Here's another problem: 200 pounds of batteries on back. After running eight laps at Infineon Raceway on Dec. 12, he redesigned the bike to hold one-third of the batteries up front. Then waited for race day.
"I not only felt the risk of technical problems or crashing," he says, "but I also felt the eyes of the world watching."
Several motorcycle magazines began writing about him. TV wanted interviews. The BBC. Everyone waited to see if he could keep up with gas-powered superbikes in a WERA nationwide race series.
"Historic," says Evelyne Clarke, president of WERA Motorcycle Roadracing. "It was the first time in our 37-year history that we had an electric bike compete against gas-powered bikes."
In the WERA Heavyweight Twins Superbike Expert division, he took third among seven bikes. Then, in the WERA Heavyweight Twins Superstock Expert division, he placed second among seven bikes, hitting 158 mph.
In the second race, he also logged the fastest lap time of any bike.
"It's a big deal," says Wired.com's auto technology writer Chuck Squatriglia, who wrote after the race: Chip Yates has made racing history ... It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this.
Since then, Yates has upped his power from 194 hp to 240 hp and hit 163.7 mph on the track.
Sure, he likes the attention. He's an entrepreneur. But he has another goal too.
"We're showing the world," he says, "that electric vehicles don't have to be slow and boring."
Pics http://www.ocregister.com/articles/yates-289200-race-says.html#article-photos