The Isle of Man TT->ke3446 is drawing closer and closer and as expected, companies hoping to make a name for themselves in the event are slowly unveiling their prized creations. We already saw what Team Mugen Racing has planned for the TT Zero Challenge. Now it’s Sarolea’s turn to showcase its own electric motorcycle: the 2015 SP7 electric superbike.

Sarolea recently pulled the covers off of the SP7 at the Autoworld show in Brussels, although details surrounding the machine itself are still being kept under wraps. Yup, leave it to Sarolea to keep us in the dark, leaving us to speculate on what the new SP7 is capable of.

Based on what I’ve seen of the new SP7, it appears that Sarolea didn’t delve too far away from its previous incarnation. The model looks strikingly similar from last year’s version, although I do have to give some points to the company for polishing up the new SP7’s aesthetics to a certain degree. For one, the bike looks cleaner. Second, it looks more svelte than before, suggesting that this bike could be lighter than last year’s version.

That’s a good thing for any race bike, let alone one that will be competing in an event dominated by Team Mugen last year. It’s still too early to say how much better the new SP7 will be, but judging from Sarolea’s fourth-place finish last year, the company has a lot of work to do to keep pace with Team Mugen’s Shinden Yon electric racer.

Considering that last year’s SP7 already packed 180 horsepower and had a top speed of 155.4 mph, Sarolea must have something special underneath those new carbon panels if it hopes to put the equally new Yon in its place.

Continue reading to read more about the 2015 Sarolea SP7 electric bike.

Why it matters

The way Team Mugen dominated last year's Zero TT Challenge was absolutely astounding. Of the six bikes that competed in the race, John McGuinness and Bruce Anstey were really head and shoulders above the competition, finishing first and second with times of 19:17.30 and 19:40.62 minutes, respectively. Finishing third was Rob Barber riding Ohio State University’s RW-2x, but if you look at his time, he was still almost five minutes behind Antsy at 24.12:230 minutes. Only after Barber do we get to Robert Wilson and Team Sarolea Racing, which finished the 37.73-mile course in 24:12.6 minutes.

It’s pretty clear that Sarolea needs the new SP7 to perform much better than its previous incarnation if it hopes to challenge Team Mugen for this year’s title.

The task is no less difficult now because Team Mugen also has a completely new bike - the Shinden Yon - to compete in the race. But Sarolea wouldn’t be competing this year if it didn’t think it has a chance against the reigning champion, would it?

Something tells me that the new SP7 is way more capable than its predecessor. I’ve no inside knowledge on that, but if there’s one thing I can come close to guaranteeing, it’s that Sarolea won’t finish a lap around the Snaffle Mountain course five minutes slower than Team Mugen this time around.

Who knows, the incumbent might even be in for a challenge it isn’t expecting from Sarolea. Don’t sleep on that happening, too.