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1300 mile endurance ride on all-electric motorcycles
- Maudes Trophy first awarded 100 years ago
- ACU sanctioned ride set to coincide with FIM Awards in Liverpool
Zero Motorcycles, the world’s leading fully-electric motorcycle brand, is set to challenge for the Auto Cycle Union’s prestigious Maudes Trophy next week, as it attempts to bust preconceptions surrounding electric motorcycles and the UK’s public charging infrastructure.
The Maudes Trophy was first awarded 100 years ago, to Norton Motorcycles, and has been awarded to motorcycle manufacturers for completing observed endurance challenges. Zero’s attempt is the first to be made by an electric vehicle manufacturer and will see a team of six riders guide two Zero DSR/X motorcycles on a near 1300-mile route. The team will include the National Motorcyclists Council’s Craig Carey-Clinch, who will verify the ride on behalf of the ACU. The team will depart Land’s End on Wednesday 29 November and will criss-cross the country, heading to Lowestoft to take in the easternmost point of the country before heading north to Edinburgh and back south to Holyhead on the north Welsh coast. The ride will end in Liverpool, where a presentation will be made ahead of the FIM Awards ceremony.
The challenge will prove a strict test of the riders’ endurance, as well as that of the bikes. Riders will undertake stints of up to two hours, in potentially cold and wet conditions, before stopping to handing over to a colleague and recharge the bikes. Speaking of the challenge Dale Robinson, Zero Motorcycles’ UK Country Manager, explained: “When the opportunity presented itself to take on this challenge we couldn’t say no. It’s going to be really demanding on the riders, but they’re all very motivated to hopefully put their names into the history books. We’re really looking forward to showing what electric motorcycles can do and to break some of those stereotypes which still surround EVs. It feels really fitting that, 100 years after the trophy was first awarded, we make our own attempt with the new generation of fully electric motorcycles.”
Matthew Wear, General Secretary of the Auto Cycle Union said: “This very prestigious trophy has been awarded to many manufacturers and this exciting challenge with electric bikes brings a new and modern twist. The challenge also pushes the development of electric bikes and the impact this has environmentally in a new era of motorcycling. It is great that the National Motorcyclists Council is taking such an interest in this, and that Craig Carey-Clinch the Executive Director is one of the key riders in the challenge.”
Craig Carey-Clinch added: “The history of the Maudes has tracked the history of technical development in motorcycling and this challenge highlights a further evolution in motorcycling technology. The NMC takes a close interest in the decarbonisation debate and how this will affect motorcycling. The Challenge will not just be a test of endurance for the bikes themselves, but also a test of where the UK is in relation to charging infrastructure and whether public authorities are doing enough to support zero emission biking.”
Zero’s Maudes Trophy challenge is being supported by a number of UK partners, including Lexham, Pirelli, Moto Novo, Pidcock Motorcycles, Oakley Motorcycles, J&M Electrobikes, Wheels Motorcycles, Cradley Kawsaki and Magnet Motos.