New Electric Motorcycle World Land Speed Record
Founded
by Jacques Gardette in 1995, French manufacturer Voxan achieved an
international profile with its 1997 production prototype 72-degree 996
cc Roadster. A limited edition run of 50 production examples in 1999
were followed by a Café Racer and a Scrambler before a change in
ownership in 2002.
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| The Voxan team making the number four for the 408 km/h (254 mph) maximum speed reached. |
The
following years saw production restart in 2003 with further iterations
such as the Street Scrambler and Black Magic, but although the bikes
were popular and 'on point' for the era (indeed Voxan had 23 dealers in
Europe by 2005), a 2007 IPO on the Euronext exchange failed to give the
business a solid financial foundation, and by the end of the decade it
was facing compulsory liquidation.
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| Designed by Sacha Lakic and unveiled as a pre-production concept in 2013, with 50 Kw, 203 bhp and 200 Nm torque up to 10,500 rpm, at the time the Voxan Wattman would have been the most powerful production electric motorcycle ever built. |
In 2010 the Voxan brand was bought by Monaco based Venturi Automotive, a top-end auto maker who had been aiming at the GT market. In 2010 Venturi decided instead to start to build a position in the EV market - subsequent projects have included a Formula E team and an extreme condition Antarctica-capable electric vehicle.
In 2013 Venturi showed a pre-production protype design of The Wattman, a 50kw/203 bhp electric motorcycle that, at the time, was believed to be destined to become the most powerful all-electric motorcycle yet built.
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| Gildo Pastor, President of the Venturi Group: “It is twenty years since I bought the Venturi Group, and ten years since I bought the Voxan brand. Thanks to the hard work and positive mental attitudes shown by Max and my teams, we proved ourselves up to the challenge. The Venturi Group can now claim to have created the fastest ever electric vehicles on two and four wheels (Venturi VBB-3, FIA record: 549 km/h - 341 mph), but also in the four-wheel fuel cell category (Venturi VBB-2, FIA record: 487 km/h - 303 mph). On each project, we have worked openly with major companies to share with them our expertise in the field of ground-breaking technologies, and in doing so contributed to improving ecomobility." |
The bike didn't enter production, and since then the Voxan brand has been dormant, but hit the headlines in 2020 with an audacious electric motorcycle world land speed record attempt in the capable hands of former MotoGP racer and two-time World SuperBike Champion Max Biaggi (Italy).
Instead of being able to claim the honor of being the most powerful production electric motorcycle in the world, the latest version to carry the Voxan Wattman branding is an electric semi-streamliner that smashed the prior 329.085 km/h world speed record for electric motorcycles set by Ryuji Tsuruta on a Mobitec EV-02A (in the category "one-wheel drive, partially streamlined electric motorcycles weighing less than 300 kg").
Biaggi's time was 366.94 km/h (228.05 mph) - the requisite average of two opposite direction standing start runs set within the FIM mandated two hours, the record speed being the average of the two speeds recorded over the two runs.
Powered by a 270 kW (367 CH) motor, the on-board systems showed that the Wattman peaked at a top speed of 372 km/h (231 mph).
Given the relatively short track (3.5 km/2.17 miles), reaching such an impressive top speed has encouraged Voxan to set its sights even higher. When it makes its next attempts on a longer course, the team now has serious designs on an average speed in the region of 400 km/h (249 mph).
Voxan told AMD Magazine: "Today, focus is primarily on setting new speed records, so there are currently no plans to sell a production Voxan Wattman in the near future, but the subject is always under consideration. Maybe we'll make a limited series production model at a later date."
