Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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from doing 218 mph at the Bonneville Speed Trials in 2011. It later went on to become the only electric motorcycle to take the outright victory at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2013 in the hands of the late Carlin Dunne. It was the first electric motorcycle to win the overall motorcycle category and formed the basis for the WTF. The WTF moniker partly comes from a time during one of the many dyno runs Richard and the team carried out, when the racer had so much power that it would pull wheelies on the dyno at 170 mph, even when strapped down hard. It so wor- ried the dyno operator, he yelled out, "What The F***!" I'll leave you to fill in the asterisks. In reality, WTF also stands for Richard building the World's True Fastest (WTF) motorcycle. Both monikers are true. That's because the WTF can boast upwards of 600 (and no, that's not a typo) horsepower at full power. It has five levels of power, starting at 200 horse- power and going up to 300, 400, 500 and 600. Now, 600 horse- power may sound a lot—and it unquestionably is—but it's use- less on the salt. You can only use as much horsepower as the tire can handle without spin- ning, because if you're spinning, you're not driving, and you're not going forward. The WTF thus had a bit of a legacy to live up to as we ap- proached the salt for the first time. We had a week to attempt to break the AMA record of 203.361 mph (and then push it as far as we could) in the 300 kg racing now? Yes. The basic design of this bike comes from that. The LS-218 was named because we brought it to Bonneville, and it ran 218 mph at the end of the measured mile. We took it to Pikes Peak and won with Carlin Dunne, raced it in the FIM road racing series, and were invited by the FIM to bring it to Le Mans. The idea was to use the battery pack as the main stressed member of the chassis. The fork mounts to the front of the battery pack, the motor mounts to the back, the swingarm mounts to the motor, and the rear shock mounts to the motor/subframe assembly. Each element of the bike is a stressed member while also serving another function. That allowed us to get the weight much lower than other electric bikes that had anywhere near that level of performance. Explain the nuts and bolts of this bike. How does it all work in terms that normal people can understand? The motor technology continued to develop, and the battery technology continued to develop, so that became the basis of this bike. The new bike uses axial- flux motors, like those used in Koenigsegg hybrid supercars. An axial-flux motor is the most advanced type of motor in terms of efficiency and power density. We found two basic designs that could work in the motorcycle within a similar footprint to our LS-218 motor, so we sandwiched them together. We have two motors on a common shaft. Each motor can handle almost 490 amps at 800 volts, and this battery pack is 750 volts. So, it's one battery and two motors? Mission control for the WTF is a little on the cramped side but not too bad once you're in it. (Above) All the carbon-fiber bodywork was created and cast in house at Lightning. (Below) It's pretty rare that you see a back-end like this one! VOLUME 63 ISSUE 37 SEPTEMBER 15, 2026 P115