The Voxan Wattman, ridden by Max Biaggi, set a slew of speed records. — Picture courtesy of Venturi via AFP-Relaxnews
The Voxan Wattman, ridden by Max Biaggi, set a slew of speed records. — Picture courtesy of Venturi via AFP-Relaxnews

PARIS, Nov 6 — The Voxan Wattman is now officially the world’s fastest electric motorcycle. Ridden by former champion Max Biaggi, the Monegasque motorbike set no less than 11 new records on the track at France’s Chateauroux airport, momentarily reaching a speed of 408 km/h.

Speed records set by the Voxan Wattman include a new record for the “partially streamlined electric motorcycle over 300 kilos” class, at 366.94 km/h, shaving over 30 km/h off the previous record. In line with International Motorcycling Federation (FIM: Federation internationale motocycliste) rules, this speed was measured from a flying start over one mile in opposite directions, within a period of two hours. It’s therefore an average speed, but the Wattman momentarily hit 408 km/h! The next objective is to aim for an average speed close to 400 km/h.

A non-streamlined naked version of the Voxan Wattman reached an average speed of 349.38 km/h, with a top speed of 372 km/h. The bike’s other records are for speeds reached over a quarter of a mile (around 400m), 1 km and 1.609 km, from flying and standing starts.

For the occasion, the bike was helmed by the Italian rider, Max Biaggi, a former 250cc world champion (from 1994 to 1997) and Superbike world champion (in 2010 and 2012). He has been a Venturi group ambassador since 2018.

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Unveiled at the 2013 Paris Motorcycle Show, the Wattman ultimately failed to find its audience among bikers, and Voxan went into liquidation in 2015. While the manufacturer is no more, Venturi, the brand’s last owner, hopes to revive it through this record attempt. — AFP-Relaxnews