General > Trip Reports
AHRMA Formula Lightning @ Laguna Seca Raceway February 8, 2020
HadesOmega:
I got an email from Energica mentioning there was going to be a Formula Lightning race at Laguna Seca. I wanted to watch some electric motorcycle racing so hop on my KLR650 and head down to watch the races on February 8th. I was thinking of taking the Empulse 139 but Laguna Seca is like 70 miles from my home the Empulse wouldn't make it there on one charge. Even if I did make it there I don't know where I would charge it anyway. So I took my KLR650 since it's my long distance bike.
So friday (7th) was a practice day, then Saturday was a race day, and Sunday was another race day. It's like they had 2 rounds of racing. It was $5 to get into the park and that was all the damage to the wallet :) There were a lot of cool bikes. I went and looked at all the Formula Lightning bikes and chatted with the riders. Everyone was really nice and enjoyed talking about their bike.
Here are some pictures of the Formula Lightning bikes:
This is James Christiansen's Zero SR. I raced him in the Refuel TT.
Peter Nicolosi was racing an Energica Ego. Nice guy I didn't get an video of his bike sadly. He said he has a Brammo Empulse also. It looks pretty much like a stock Ego I wish I had asked him about it.
Fancy charging equipment
I think Peter was saying this is Chris Paz' Ego.
Here it is the first "Brammo" I have seen IRL. This is Richard Illman's Brammo "Lightfighter" Empulse R. It's a kind of Franken Empulse bike. Richard was really nice and gave me a tour of the bike. It's like a cafe racer (or streetfighter I guess) type Empulse racebike. Onboard charger was removed, clip-ons installed, and various other mods to make the bike lighter. He said the motor/geabox assembly was from a Victory Empulse. It had woodcraft rearsets and a GP style shifter. Definitely a very tricked out Empulse. He definitely knows he way around the Empulse.
Richard had another Empulse R, I think this is the one he previously raced. He said it used to belong to Brian Wismann. It has a Ninja 250 fairing.
The Lighterfighter LFR19R was there. It won the Sound of Thunder 1 race also! I got to chat with Brian and Troy about it. Pretty awesome bike. They had a blanket over it to keep the batter pack warm since it was so cold out.
This is Arthur Kowitz' Zero SR. Nice guy he is the one organizing Formula Lightning. He told me he used to own a Victory Empulse TT and he really liked it but something went haywire with it and the dealer took it back and gave him a different bike. He told me his SR is pretty much stock electronics but it has a fairing and a liquid cooled motor. He said on warm days the liquid cooling can keep the motor 100F cooler than without! Looks like it uses ATF oil for the coolant becaues you see red fluid in the lines.
Sorry I forgot to take picture of them but I have video of the 3 SR/Fs. Kenyon Kluge was there tearing it up with the SR/F.
HadesOmega:
Some pictures of the electric bikes from the Corkscrew
Pictures of my ride home. I did pass by Light Fighter Drive on the way home also btw.
HadesOmega:
My VLOGs of the event.
Formula Lightning Paddock Tour
AHRMA National Historic Roadrace Round 1 Paddock Tour 02-07-2020
AHRMA National Historic Roadrace Round 1 Races 6-9 February 8, 2020 (this one has the Lightfighter in it whoopin ICE bike ass)
Formula Lightning February 8, 2020 Round 1 Race VLOG
AHRMA Formula Lightning Round 1 Final VLOG February 8, 2020
Richard230:
Thanks for posting about your visit to Laguna Seca. That was a great report and very informative. :)
Brammofan:
I'm so glad Arthur Kowitz is still pushing for these races. A great guy. Thanks for posting these!
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