Can we participate with an electric motorcycle? Mr. Papi thinks about it for a while then replies: “Yes, Electric serves as a bridge between our history and your future!” Here’s how it works. Il Ciocco, September 22nd. A gentleman calls and, quietly but in a state of evident excitement says: “You gotta admit the pairs with electric motorcycles to the 12 Hours too! ” He pauses. At the other end of the line there is a certain embarrassment. Is it a question or a statement? “You have to do us the favour of letting our electric off-road motorcycles run too.” Ah, there we go. Now, of course, this isn’t a “yes or no” question because you already have a copious background of “Q&As”. Of course, electric motorcycles are no longer a “white fly” in the general panorama of motorcycling. It’s definitely unprecedented, however, that in a competition of enduro, in pairs, and moreover vintage, or with very precise historical and contextual references, you get an unconventional question that is just as precise”. Mr. Papi, the Mr. Daniele Papi, creator of the first 12 Hours and Enduro in Pairs, and proposer of the current Enduro Vintage edition takes his time and postpones the response to a subsequent interview. He would have liked to answer “Yes!” straight away, but there is a certain taste when the stimulus for a reflection arrives that takes the windward and should be savoured. From a strictly regulatory point of view, electric motorcycles could not participate in the key event because they are not vintage, they are modern proposals, indeed of momentum projected into the future. Yes, but we have opened the doors to off-quota (minimum) and competitive off-license (maximum), establishing the Gentlemen Drivers class. Well, the electric bikes will be able to have their place in the Vintage Enduro of the 12 Hours in Pairs And this is the decision. |
While calling back the gentleman from before, Mr. Papi reflects again, at breakneck speed. The pieces of this mosaic of thoughts fall into the mind like river pebbles transported by the current. “Hello, it’s me… Electric Motorcycles will be admitted to the 12 Hours. But let me talk, I have to explain. I want to make it clear that this is not a concession, much less a personal favour. The starting motion was dictated by my sympathy toward electric mobility, but then I realized we had a great opportunity. With the 12 Hours, we preserve and bring back a piece of history that needs to be protected. By admitting electric motorcycles we allow the bikes of the past to carry the message of the same passion for your motorcycles of the future.
Everyone is happy and sure to have made a good decision that is also in line with the promotions that the institutions, with FIM being the first, are doing for this new mobility concept. That’s the good news. The less good, but inevitable news, is that the deadline for registrations is fast approaching. Indeed, it is not certain that, for a matter of respect for environmental balances, there is no need to say stop from one moment to the next, in advance.
After all, the penultimate weekend of October is not far off!
