Radical aero tech to get Pininfarina treatment for possible production
White Motorcycle Concepts’ recent tie-in with Zero to develop a more aerodynamic version of the US brand’s SR/S sportsbike is being followed up by a tie-in with styling powerhouse Pininfarina. Our world exclusive road test of the prototype (see current issue) is the start of a process that could see the British design put into production with Italian styling.
The patented aerodynamic duct concept, first seen on the WMC250EV land-speed bike of 2021, involves funnelling air through the middle of the bike rather than pushing it all aside, allowing a small frontal area and less drag than a conventional design but without the compromised riding position of a streamliner. WMC points out that there’s often free space inside a bike’s fairing and under its seat. Shifting components around allows those voids to be connected to become a continuous duct – starting at the nose and channelling air straight through to an outlet under the seat. The company calculates its Zero SR/S-based WMCSRS prototype cuts drag by around 10 per cent without significantly altering the external appearance of the bike. This offers the potential for a similar percentage increase in range. A further increase in efficiency was constrained by the existing bike’s frame and mechanical parts. The new collaboration with Pininfarina explores a clean-sheet design.
Pininfarina is one of the oldest names in automotive design – celebrating its 95th anniversary this year – and has been responsible for more Ferraris than any other styling house, as well as dozens of other cars. It’s also an R&D and manufacturing company in its own right, complete with an in-house wind tunnel, opened in 1972, that was used to sculpt the world’s first full-faired production bike, BMW’s R 100 RS of 1976. That tunnel is particularly well suited to bikes, complete with a moving road surface and the ability to alter the lean angle and yaw of bikes during tests – with either a real rider or an instrumented dummy aboard – to get a full appreciation of their aero performance.
The WMC project was announced as part of the Pininfarina’s recent ‘Design and Performance in Motion – Shaping Two-Wheel Aerodynamics’ event. Sketches of two distinct versions were presented, both of which use the same central section, with the aerodynamic duct doubling as the bike’s main structure. Made of composites, its hollow shape is well suited to create a strong structure and, by eliminating the conventional frame, there’s more space to create a straight line for the duct.
Air enters through four front intakes, split to curve around the fork and steering head, then merges into a single under-seat outlet.
WMC says it envisages the bikes using a small, forced-induction combustion engine combined with a hybrid system, and the drawings appear to show a parallel twin.
One design is for a naked roadster, while the other is a semi-faired design with a heavily sculpted front fender and elongated bellypan.
Robert White, CEO and founder of White Motorcycle Concepts, said: “I am particularly proud of how we have managed to make the duct both a structural and style feature on a faired and naked concept.”
