White Motorcycle Concepts and Pininfarina reveal joint venture design
By Ben Purvis
The work of White Motorcycle Concepts in the United Kingdom caught the world's attention in 2021 with the WMC250EV electric land speed record challenger - demonstrating an extreme interpretation of the company's idea for a through-bike air duct that allows a hugely reduced frontal area and drag coefficient without compromising the riding position.
Since then WMC has turned its attention to a three-wheeled scooter that shows the system's effectiveness at low speed, and a concept developed with Zero to incorporate the idea into the Zero SR/S electric sports bike. However, its latest collaboration in is with Italian automotive legend Pininfarina - to explore how the duct can be made attractive as well as effective.
The essential idea of the through-bike duct is to rearrange components in the bike to clear space for air to pass directly from the high-pressure area in the nose to the low-pressure zone at the back. Wind tunnel and computer testing has shown substantial potential improvements in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, with even the version of the duct used on the WMC-modified Zero SR/S achieving a 10% reduction in drag - despite the need to maintain the standard bike's chassis and other main parts as well as most of the external styling.
WMC's work has attracted the attention of Pininfarina, the legendary design house that's inextricably connected to Ferrari in most minds but also has its own R&D and production facilities, including a wind tunnel with its own place in motorcycling history - it was used in the 1970s to sculpt the shape of the BMW R100 RS, the world's first full-faired production bike.
As a result, Pininfarina's designers have sketched out a pair of bikes with WMC's patented duct layout, with the designs presented at an event marking Pininfarina's 95th anniversary and the company's connection with motorcycles, dubbed 'Design and Performance In Motion - Shaping Two-Wheeled Aerodynamics.'
The machines share the same central core, a composite version of the WMC duct that doubles as the main frame structure. At the front there are four air intakes, with the duct split around the forks and steering head, combining into one channel that exits under the seat. Below it hangs an powertrain that's described as a small-capacity combustion engine with forced induction, paired to an electric hybrid system to maximise efficiency.
Pininfarina's designs show one version of the bike as a naked roadster, the other as a part-faired version with a more aerodynamic front mudguard and an extensive bellypan that unusually encloses more of the rear than the front.
Robert White, CEO and founder of White Motorcycle Concepts, said: "It has been a true pleasure collaborating with Pininfarina on these initial imaginings of how our patented duct could be incorporated into a new motorcycle design with a compact forced induction hybrid powertrain. I am particularly proud of how we have managed to make the duct both a structural and style feature on a faired and naked concept.
"The duct concept has always been about improving efficiency no matter the fuel source, but this collaboration has taken this to the next level showing how the duct can provide functional performance as well as be an aesthetic feature for future motorcycles."
