While Goodwood is a lot shorter than that
the ID.R still flourished... accelerating almost
frighteningly quickly and posting a time of 43.86
seconds... which was the fastest ever set by an
electric vehicle at the festival.
So how did that stack up against the petrol
pacers?
Well, it was only a couple of seconds off the
outright record set back in 1999... posted by
F1 driver Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren MP4 F1
race car.
Astonishing, so yeah, Volkswagen and the other
builders all making things with pug-in sockets
have apparently discovered the speed of light.
It’s the aspects of longevity and maintenance
that I suspect are the issues which still need to be
addressed and conquered.
An electric car at that pace might handle four
laps at Pukekohe but there’s no way it could be
driven from there to Taupo.
But hey, one thing at a time I guess.
I suspect, though, that the designers will
eventually do what some Japanese auto makers
did when building models with a sporting touch
to them. They created exhaust systems that
would accentuate the sporting sound. Drivers,
riders, like a finely tuned sound.
So just how the next generation of Harley-
Davidson devotees will take to the incoming line
of what the Milwaukee chaps are dubbing the
‘LiveWire’ is anyone’s guess.
Probably fair to say that again, time will tell as
the longer such examples of motorcycling are
out and about the more the embracing process
will inevitably increase.
While still to be convinced that the fuel that
operates the lamp in my den of infamy should
take over the stuff I use to run engines and
poison tree stumps, I am impressed by the
design of the LiveWire.
It looks very, very sharp... and very, very
European.
Yep, I like the look of it. And the sleek looks are
unencumbered by what, in many cases today,
can be bulky and often ungainly exhausting
systems.
But I’d probably bolt a four into one on one side
anyway, and install air slots somewhere that
created a sharp but subtle howl.
Old habits die hard.