Venturi sets series of records

A pioneer in the field of electric vehicles, Monegasque group Venturi has participated in the Formula E world championship since it was launched in 2014. The group’s Voxan Wattman is now the fastest electric motorbike in the world!

When he purchased the car manufacturer Venturi Automobiles in 2000, Monegasque businessman Gildo Pallanca Pastor decided to refocus the brand on electric vehicles, terminating production of internal combustion models.

As a result of this strategic focus and the expertise that it had accumulated in electric vehicles, in 2014 Venturi entered Formula E and lined up its fully electric single-seater cars on the starting grid for the early e-Prix races.

To take the lead against big guns like Renault who compete in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, the small Monegasque team made some internal changes in 2018.

At the head of Venturi now stands a woman, former racing driver and Williams test driver, Susie Wolff. The wife of Toto Wolff, the iconic CEO of the Mercedes team, is both a shareholder and Team Principal of the Venturi Formula E Team.

Another major change destined to boost the performance of Venturi racing came in 2019: for the sixth electric motorsports racing season, the team joined forces with Mercedes-Benz EQ and adopted the German giant’s powertrain (as well as its cooling system, rear suspension, onboard electronics, etc.).

The team also changed its name in November 2019, becoming ROKiT Venturi Racing, since the telecommunications company is now the team’s title sponsor.

In late November 2021, Venturi broke 21 world speed records, this time on an electric motorbike! On the Space Florida strip at the Kennedy Space Center (United States), the six-time motorcycle world champion Max Biaggi and his Voxan Wattman secured the prestigious speed record in the “partially streamlined electric motorcycle over 300 kg” category, notching up a speed of 455.737 km/h (283.182 mph). The Wattman’s speedometer reached a top instantaneous speed of 470.257 km/h (292.204 mph). With these achievements, Max Biaggi and his bike bettered their performance in 2020, when they broke 11 world records on the runway at France’s Châteauroux airport.

With streamlined bodywork and a permanent magnet motor providing 367 horsepower, the Voxan Wattman is unique in that it was largely designed using digital technology.