While Goodwood is a lot shorter than that the ID. R still flourished... accelerating almost frighteningly quickly and posting a time of 43.86 seconds... which was the fastest ever set by an electric vehicle at the festival. So how did that stack up against the petrol pacers? Well, it was only a couple of seconds off the outright record set back in 1999... posted by F1 driver Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren MP4 F1 race car. Astonishing, so yeah, Volkswagen and the other builders all making things with pug-in sockets have apparently discovered the speed of light. It’ s the aspects of longevity and maintenance that I suspect are the issues which still need to be addressed and conquered. An electric car at that pace might handle four laps at Pukekohe but there’ s no way it could be driven from there to Taupo. But hey, one thing at a time I guess. I suspect, though, that the designers will eventually do what some Japanese auto makers did when building models with a sporting touch to them. They created exhaust systems that
would accentuate the sporting sound. Drivers, riders, like a finely tuned sound. So just how the next generation of Harley- Davidson devotees will take to the incoming line of what the Milwaukee chaps are dubbing the‘ LiveWire’ is anyone’ s guess. Probably fair to say that again, time will tell as the longer such examples of motorcycling are out and about the more the embracing process will inevitably increase. While still to be convinced that the fuel that operates the lamp in my den of infamy should take over the stuff I use to run engines and poison tree stumps, I am impressed by the design of the LiveWire. It looks very, very sharp... and very, very European. Yep, I like the look of it. And the sleek looks are unencumbered by what, in many cases today, can be bulky and often ungainly exhausting systems. But I’ d probably bolt a four into one on one side anyway, and install air slots somewhere that created a sharp but subtle howl. Old habits die hard.