The SR/F at the Race Track

The SR/F at the Race Track

This past weekend, all the AHRMA folks came to town for the annual round at Willow Springs International Raceway. Although we have not developed any new race bikes over the past year, we took this opportunity to take out one of our trusty 2016 Zero SR Race Bikes with Jeff Clark piloting our machine.

Also known as the Corsa Motoclassica, this race event in LA's backyard, generally attracts many rare and beautiful vintage machines and a fun crowd. Unfortunately, the next round of racing, which would normally have been held at Sonoma Raceway was canceled, and most of the East Coasters who would usually have joined us, decided to forego the round as they did not want to make the trip out West for only one race weekend. Last year we had ten bikes on the Electric Motorcycle Race Grid, but this year we only had three! Hopefully next year will lure them out with more races on the West Coast.

Kenyon Kluge on his 2020 Zero SR/F at AHRMA's "Formula Lightning" at Willow Springs Int'l Raceway.

Lucky for us, all was not lost as we still got to see a good show. Kenyon Kluge, the Zero Motorcycles' Director of Electrical Engineering and former AMA and AFM Racer, joined us with his 2020 Zero SR/F! This was our first opportunity to see the latest from Zero Motorcycles on the track and as expected it did not disappoint. Kenyon was running nearly 3 seconds faster per lap on his almost stock SR/F, (with race tires and minor suspension tweaks), than he was on the highly modified race Zero SR that he was riding last year! With a little more effort on race setup, there’s no doubt that he will be able to knock off a couple of more seconds.

Jeff is a talented rider, but has nowhere near the experience of Kenyon, and would usually trail Kenyon on matched bikes. Willow Springs is a fast track and a fast bike will be able to take advantage of the high speed course. On his faster bike, Kenyon had no trouble widening the gap on Jeff, lap after lap. With Kenyon in a solid first place, Jeff secured second place, both of them lapping Richard Hillman in third place on his Brammo Empulse.

Hollywood Electrics Racer Jeff Clark on the H.E. Custom Zero SR with Fairing, coming out of the Omega at Willow Springs after AHRAM "Formula Lightning" Race on April 27, 2019.

Although many of us will not be seeing the three digit top speed of the SR/F on our daily rides around town, Kenyon has demonstrated firsthand the potential of this bike to perform in its stock setup. I am excited by the Bosch Motorcycle Stability Control with traction control that allows the rider to confidently harness the full torque potential of this bike. Keep in mind that the 140 ft-lbs of torque on the SR/F is 20% greater than 116 ft-lbs of torque on the 2019 SR. Zero has so vastly improved the cornering ABS that it will allow for panic stops at full lean, without crashing. The telemetry in the Zero Motorcycle NextGen Mobile App (Android/iOS) can record your rides, and proved useful, especially at the track where one could analyze where they needed to work to make up time. Best of all, the new platform appears more confidence inspiring than ever for any level of rider, even beginners!

Our SR/F Demo is arriving this week and we are excited to show it off. Be sure to Sign-Up for a Test Ride!

Enjoy the ride,
Harlan




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