John McGuinness to Defend TT Zero Title With Mugen

Dennis Chung
by Dennis Chung

John McGuinness confirmed he will again compete in the TT Zero electric race, hoping to build on his record-setting time on the Mugen Shinden.

The veteran recorded his 21st Isle of Man TT win (the most of any living racer) by taking the 2014 TT Zero with a new record average lap speed of 117.366 mph. He’ll have the chance to defend his TT Zero title alongside Bruce Anstey who finished second at this year’s race.

The 2015 race will be the fourth for Mugen and McGuinness. Mugen made strides every year improving the Shinden. In 2012, McGuinness recorded an average speed of 102.215 mph, finishing second behind MotoCzysz‘s Michael Rutter. The team improved in 2013 with a speed of 109.527 mph but once again finished behind Rutter and his E1pc. MotoCzysz did not race in this year’s competition, allowing the Mugen duo of McGuinness and Anstey to finish well ahead of the competition.

McGuinness tells MCN he expects Mugen will once again have a new race bike, likely to be called the Mugen Shinden Shi or Yon (Japanese for “4”) if the team continues with its numbering nomenclature.

“I think they’re going to build a new bike. They never stand still, it’s always moving forwards, and they’re predicting some serious lap times – which is scary!” McGuinness tells MCN. “Winning it again this year was cool, something to be proud of, and hopefully we’ll have another good battle with old Brucey boy – I’m sure he’s got some unfinished business there himself after this year!”

[Source: MCN]

Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung

Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.

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