British company White Motorcycle Concepts (WMC) has produced a motorcycle like no other, one that puts land speed record holders on edge. This unique 2WD, hydraulically hub-steered electric bike, called the WMC250EV, is designed around a giant hole that runs through the motorbike. The company claims the WMC250EV will be capable of high speeds of over 250 mph (402 km/h) due to a massive 69% reduction in drag.
The WMC250EV prototype was explicitly designed around Rob White. The WMC team laser-scanned White’s body in an extreme racing crouch position and developed the bike’s bodywork to match his contours down to the millimeter.
While several high-end hypercars feature Venturi tunnels, this is the first time we’ve seen something so extreme on a motorcycle. The bike is designed around a cavernous carbon tunnel that knocks a massive hole in the bike’s frontal aerodynamic profile precisely where a headlight would generally sit.
When drivers are going extremely fast, their speed outcome becomes more about aerodynamics than horsepower. That’s because the air turns into a ferocious adversary as drivers move past two- or three-times the highway speed.
The WMC team tested the bike at the Horiba MIRA facility near Hinckley. They found that the concept reduces drag by an impressive 69% compared to “the world-leading motorcycle,” with a drag coefficient of only 0.118. That’s incredible! Even the extraordinary SSC Tuatara, the world’s fastest production car at 282.9 mph (455.3 km/h), manages a drag coefficient of 0.279.
WMC had to cram all the bike’s guts into the space below the tunnel to run that big hole through the middle. That’s not just the battery packs and electric drivetrain, either; the tunnel cuts straight through where the steering head and forks would typically be too.
According to Top Gear, the design uses a double-swingarm suspension system – the rear wheel is chain-driven by two 30 kW electric motors integrated into the swingarm. In addition, the front wheel is hub-steered using a hydraulic system that fully replaces the mechanical connections you would typically find between the handlebars and front axle on a hub-steered bike.
While most hub-steered front wheels are complex units because they need to fit both braking and steering, the WMC250EV adds an extra 20 kW electric motor on each side. This way, the bike is two-wheel-drive and two-wheel regenerative braking. Between that and the remarkable aerodynamic efficiency of the design, White is confident that it could double a regular bike’s range out of a given battery size.
The bike features a 15-kWh battery pack with a peak power of 100 kW (134 horsepower), which is considerably lower than the 270 kW (362 hp) Voxan Wattman on which motorcycle racing world champion Max Biaggi broke eleven records last year. However, White is confident that the advanced aerodynamics of the WMC250EV will more than compensate.
White said:
We’ve produced the most aerodynamically efficient motorcycle in the world. If it’s going to be proven, then the best way to do it is to go as fast as possible. We will be taking a world land speed record.
WMC will attempt to break the world land speed record of electric semi-streamlined motorcycles with a target of 250 mph (402 km/h). The challenge is expected to occur in the Bolivian salt flats in 2022, after an attempt at the British equivalent record later this year.
White plans to break the electric land speed record to prove the technology, then introduce it to the e-bike market. He has already patented the “V-Air” big-hole technology internationally and hopes to bring something similar to the streets eventually.
Rob White talks about the revolutionary big-hole technology in the videos below.
