page_title: Chip Yates
section_title: Electric motorcycle racing career
hierarchical_section_title: Chip Yates / Early life and career / Electric motorcycle racing career
caption_attribution_description: English: Chip Yates at Bonneville Salt Flats in September 2011
context_page_description: Chip Yates is an American inventor and electrical vehicle pioneer best known for risky record-setting feats in electric vehicles of his own design. He designed and built the record-breaking SWIGZ electric motorcycle, which in 2011 he rode over 200 MPH to 8 official world land speed records, 4 AMA National Championship Records, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record, and the Guinness Book of World Records title of “World’s Fastest Electric Motorcycle”. Dubbed "the world’s most powerful electric superbike", the motorcycle is now on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum's exhibit 'Electric Revolution', curated by Paul d'Orleans.
  Yates' stated mission is "to prove that electric vehicles don't have to be slow and boring", and to follow this pursuit Yates next designed and built an all-electric airplane based on a modified Burt Rutan Long-EZ in which he has set five official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale world records and two Guinness World Records.
context_section_description: While unable to race due to his broken pelvis, Yates recruited two volunteer aerospace engineers, Ben Ingram and Robert Ussery, to develop an electric racing motorcycle capable of meeting his goal of equaling gasoline-powered motorcycle laptimes. Yates announced plans to ride the hand-built prototype in the newly formed TTXGP and FIM e-Power electric motorcycle race series. To accomplish gasoline performance parity, Yates and his team developed and filed patents on several new electric vehicle technologies including a kinetic energy recovery system ("KERS") designed to capture braking energy from the front wheel of the motorcycle. The first KERS patent "8,761,984 Front Wheel Energy Recovery System" issued on June 24, 2014 with two more KERS patents still pending (12/897,534 and 14/305,534). The team also created technology to ensure an electric vehicle reaches its intended destination as pending patent "13/538,107 Vehicle Control Systems and Methods."
  Although the electric motorcycle was completed in time to race the 2011 electric motorcycle schedule, the TTXGP and FIM e-Power series both adopted a new-for-2011 maximum weight rule that effectively excluded Yates’ motorcycle from competition based on a lower maximum allowable weight. In response, Yates entered his electric motorcycle in a WERA (Western Eastern Roadracing Association) gasoline roadrace event on January 9, 2011 at Auto Club Speedway in both the Heavyweight Twins Superbike (HWTSB) class, and the Heavyweight Twins Superstock (HWTSS) class. Due to the unproven nature of the electric motorcycle, Yates was required to start both races from the back of the grid. During the races, Yates rode past numerous gasoline-powered superbikes to finish 2nd place in HWTSS, and 3rd place in HWTSB with a top speed on the straightaway of 158 MPH. The act of beating gasoline motorcycles with a self-built electric motorcycle to two podium results was hailed by some members of the motorcycle and mainstream media as historically significant.
  In February, 2011, Yates returned to Auto Club Speedway and announced his intention to set a professional level laptime fast enough to qualify the electric prototype motorcycle for an AMA Pro Daytona SportBike series event despite its claimed 585 pound curb weight. Yates’ best laptime from the gas versus electric race the month prior was 1:39.0, which would require a 3.12 second improvement to get down to an AMA qualifying laptime of 1:35.88.  Yates was unable to close the gap, ending the test effort with a best laptime of 1:37.308 and top speed on the straightaway of 163.7 MPH, an improvement of 1.692 seconds over his previous best time, but still 1.428 seconds short of his AMA goal.
  After the Auto Club Speedway gasoline versus electric race and AMA gasoline superbike laptime attempts, Yates entered the electric motorcycle in the Mojave Mile Shootout competition on April 10, 2011, setting an unofficial land speed world record of 190.6 MPH. He then entered the 89th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in June 26, 2011, setting the record for the most powerful motorcycle (240 horsepower) of any kind to enter the race in its 89-year history, and setting the official outright record for the fastest electric motorcycle to complete the hill climb, beating the previous record holder's time by over four minutes.
  The final act of Yates’ electric superbike campaign took place at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the Utah desert at the BUB FIM / AMA Speed Trials August 27-September 1, 2011. During the event, Yates and his team overcame a broken chain, high speed instability and a 150 MPH crash into a mile marker signpost to set eight official FIM World Landspeed Records, four AMA National Championship Records, and the Guinness World Records title of "World’s Fastest Electric Motorcycle".
caption: Yates and the electric motorcycle at Bonneville
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