Ultraviolette F99 Racing Concept Sets New Drag Run Record At Valley Run 2024

Ultraviolette’s aim of building the ‘Fastest Indian’ came to fruition as the performance electric bike startup’s F99 Racing Concept obliterated the field at the Valley Run 2024. With multiple-times national champion, Abhishek Vasudev, in the hot seat, the F99 set a quarter mile time of 10.712 seconds, which is nearly on par with the times international middleweight motorcycles set.

Unlike the previous concept shown initially at Auto Expo 2023, the race bike was dramatically different. The former looked more or less similar to the F77 Mach 2 sans the necessary road-legal bits and a striking colour scheme. The bike that turned up to the Valley Run 2024 looked lean, dripping of carbon fibre and with only one goal in mind: claim the title of ‘The Fastest Indian.’ 

Interestingly, Bajaj had used the tagline for the Pulsar 220 nearly a decade ago, when the Pulsar was the king of Indian motorcycles. Now, with the arrival of the likes of the KTM 390 Duke, the Royal Enfield 650s and the Aprilia RS 457, the Pulsar has become a bystander of sorts. Ultraviolette only sought to claim the title after Rajiv Bajaj had thrown a small jibe the electric bike maker’s way, with respect to UV’s double digit sales numbers. 

And while it is a super incredible achievement that Ultraviolette was able to set such a blistering time, some context needs to be set. The latest version of the F99 is generating 90 kW (120 horses) with a kerb weight of just 180 kilos. That is nearly thrice the power rating of the 390 Duke while being 3 kilos heavier. Carbon fibre battery pack and liquid-cooled powertrain are just the tip of the high end componentry that one could find on the bike, not to mention fancy stuff from Pirelli, Brembo and Ohlins. 

So, yes, the F99 is the ‘Fastest Indian’ and yes, we are mighty impressed with what Ultraviolette achieved. However, the Pulsar 220 was a road-legal bike. The F99 isn’t. The F77 itself is quite an expensive proposition, so one can imagine the price if Ultraviolette ever made it available for sale. Hence, while this battle of e-David vs ICE Goliath was won by the former, we aren’t exactly sure that Goliath would be too bothered by it. After all, it is the only one to be eating ‘OATS’ for breakfast.