Electric Motion riders Matthew Alpe (British importer at Inch Perfect Trials) and current e-trial world champion Gaël Chatagno wanted to demonstrate the enormous potential of their Epure electric motorcycles during the SSDT 2022. Their Epure were perfectly prepared for the various difficulties of the race, propelled by their Technical Director under the wise advice of Marc Colomer. With 2 motorcycles in the race and after six days with the same 2 motorcycles on the finish line, in perfect condition and without problems, Electric Motion has proven that its technology is certainly not inferior to traditional motorcycles in these difficult conditions.
EM’s goal was to break into the top 20. Gael finished in 19th place and won the ‘top 50’ award, for your information Matthew finished in the top third of the standings.
Gael won:
- the prize for the first non-Englishman, therefore the best Frenchman of the event
- the first prize in the category “up to 200cm3”
- the 3rd ranking of the best “new comer”
Gael: “It was a great week and this legendary race was a great experience! I have heard of it since I was very young. It’s like a dream come true: 6 long days, with interzones sometimes at more than 180 km/day in the middle of the mythical Scottish moors (large wet fields). For the whole team, it’s like a small dream come true, seeing our work compete in a real natural environment like Scotland and its streams. The bike ran perfectly. Didier prepared the bike perfectly for this extreme race. Zero problem, we arrived on time every day whether it was me or Matthew Alpe, as well as his entire Inch Perfect Trials team who put me in the best conditions, to end the days as easily as possible, joining the race without worrying about logistics.
A great week with a few days where things got a little tough like Thursday with lots of rain and a very long and difficult interzone. We have achieved our objective, that is to say to finish in the top 20 (19th), best foreign driver (and therefore 1st in France). I was also rewarded for my 1st place in the “up to 200 cm3” category, and also top 3 in the newcomers category.
Both bikes ran perfectly, Matthew’s too. Using the PRB “R” was very important for recharging the battery on descents. When I was tired, I let the bike run at torque without holding the clutch. This is a great advantage with its motor skills, without being afraid of stalling.
It was great teamwork, Matthew had experience in this race that I could learn from, he finished in the first third and that’s a great result. In terms of batteries, we had fairly tight logistics because we had to systematically recharge the batteries as soon as our assistance picked them up at the “petrol” supply point.