BUCKEYE CURRENT'S TT TRIUMPH

The Ohio State University reprised its third-place finish in the 2014 TT Zero for all-electric motorcycles, beating some of the pros on the world's toughest race circuit.

WE HUDDLED IN A TIGHT CIRCLE BY THE FINISH LINE, frantically waiting for radio updates on the progress of our team's rider, Rob “Bullet” Barber, who was miles in the distance and closing fast. Our 11-person team of student engineers and support crew from The Ohio State University could hardly breathe as we got the report: Barber was battling for third place-a podium finish-in the TT Zero class for electric racing motorcycles at the 2014 Isle of Man TT.

Barber was aboard our latest racebike, the RW-2.X, designed and built by the OSU College of Engineering team, known as Buckeye Current. We'd brought it over 3600 mi (5700 km) to the Isle of Man, the iconic road-racing mecca in the middle of the Irish Sea. We aimed to prove our engineering and technology against the best electric bikes on the fast and treacherous public road-37.75-mi (60.75 km) per lap-that is the world's most unforgiving race circuit.