There are plenty of parameters, but top speed is undoubtedly the de facto trump card and bragging right for any performance-oriented vehicle. So, a couple of months after the Ultraviolette F99 blitzed the quarter mile in a record-breaking 10.712s, it was time to answer the biggest question of them all – just how fast can this thing go?

The science of speed

In case you’re wondering, the F99 is a special project that UV’s R&D department has been working on for over a year with the sole intention of pushing the boundaries of performance. Everything on this bike is new and completely unrelated to the production-spec F77. The F99 moves to high-voltage 400V architecture, which has necessitated the incorporation of liquid cooling. While the standard F77 produces 40hp, this one triples that figure to 120hp. The torque number is even more impressive – 200Nm at the motor, which translates to a massive 972Nm at the rear wheel after the multiplication factor of the gearing!

Developing a new 400V architecture is serious business, and it was a foray into completely uncharted waters for the company. Despite that, they managed to do it in a highly accelerated timeframe, which is all the more impressive when you consider that it’s not just the powertrain that’s brand new. The company also had to build a new trellis frame to house this powertrain, and it is paired to a superbike-style underslung aluminium swingarm. Speaking of superbikes, the F99 uses top-tier Brembo, Öhlins and Marchesini components for its braking, suspension and wheels. Weight has also been kept admirably low at just 180kg, thanks to some clever engineering and copious use of carbon fibre.

The entire F99’s bodywork is done in handcrafted carbon fibre, and the company even used the material for the battery pack’s external casing. Aerodynamics play a big role in the F99’s pursuit of speed, and the bodywork was finalised after over 10 different iterations. The massive intake at the front plays a crucial role in reducing frontal air pressure, and it splits the air into two directions before letting it flow past the left and right side fairings. Besides looking incredibly cool, that intake, combined with the electric motor’s high-pitch vocalisation, creates an awesome sound at high speeds – but more on that later.

Behind the run

Now, a record attempt like this doesn’t just happen; it takes an enormous amount of preparation, testing, and teamwork for it to all come together. The Ultraviolette team themselves were treading new territory as they’d never had the opportunity to test this bike at such high speeds.

With power figures rivalling a supersport motorcycle in a package that weighs less, the F99 is capable of setting a huge top-speed figure. To maximise its chances of doing so, we went to the best venue in the country for such an attempt – the high-speed test track at NATRAX, which is 11km long and perfectly flat along the straights. In fact, the F99 accelerates so hard that we’d only need to use half of the stadium-shaped track to achieve the top speed.

The idea behind the attempt was simple. There would be two riders, the first being multiple national championship-winning racer Abhishek Vasudev, who had already set the quarter-mile record. The second rider would be myself, so I could give you a firsthand experience of what it’s like pushing this bike to the ragged edge. As always, this record would be verified using highly accurate VBox data loggers.

All systems go

With the sole objective of achieving the maximum speed, the rider’s job was straightforward. Squeeze yourself as tight as possible into the motorcycle to maximise the aerodynamic efficiency, hold the accelerator wide open and push as far as you dare to.

So, after the standard pre-flight checks of validating the bike’s complex high-voltage systems, making sure the 10kWh battery was fully charged and that the tyre pressures were just right, we were all set to start. Cameras rolling, VBoxes recording, visor down and here we go!

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. The speed itself wasn’t the worry; it was the fact that I’d be doing this on a track I’d never been to and with a prototype bike that I’d never ridden. At the same time, Ultraviolette’s previous track record also filled me with confidence. Every bike of theirs that I have ridden has felt solid and very well-behaved, including an early prototype of the F77 that I got to experience all the way back in 2019.

Flight mode activated!

And sure enough, every drop of apprehension slipped away as soon as I finished my first familiarisation run. Even though this is a prototype speed demon, the accelerator calibration is beautifully smooth and controllable, so slow-speed U-turns in the pit lane were no problem. But most impressive was just how composed and stable the bike was at any speed. The perfect road surface and incredible line of sight at NATRAX surely helped, but there was absolutely no drama or instability in the chassis, all the way from 0kph to the top speed.

That level of trustworthiness made it easy to keep the accelerator pinned and try to squeeze out every last kph. And what a ride it is when you do that! I never did a full drag launch because the priority was to save maximum juice for the high-speed run, but even so, 0-100kph is violently quick and feels up there with the fastest of superbikes.

What I enjoyed even more was the beautifully strong and linear pull from 100-200kph, and the absence of gearshift interruptions made this a really unique feeling. For an idea of just what this feels like, the VBox data revealed that the F99 took just 6.2 seconds to shoot from 100kph to 200kph. In fact, this bike dispatches the 0-200kph run in sub-10 seconds!

It was only above 230kph that the surge started to ease off, at which point we had to focus on tucking into the motorcycle as much as possible to eke out those last few digits. After multiple runs to compensate for varying track conditions, we achieved a VMax of 258 kilometres per hour, which absolutely shatters the previous top speed by an India-made motorcycle. A new India Book of Records title was well and truly in the bag!

What it means

To give you a sense of perspective on just how impressive this record is, the only way to go faster in any India-made machine is to look up to the skies because, as of now, only planes, rockets and lunar landers go faster than this!

Funnily enough, the F99 even sounds like a low-flying fighter jet, and while the noise it produces is exciting from the saddle, it’s absolutely awe-inspiring from a bystander’s point of view. Not only do you have a high-pitched whooshing roar, but if you’re standing close enough, you’ll even feel the effects of the aerodynamics. Some of the shots for the video involved me riding as close as I safely could to the cameras at a very high speed, and the guys later told me that it literally felt like a slap in the face!

What UV has pulled off here is a hugely creditable achievement. What was particularly impressive to me was just how secure and trustworthy the bike felt. We didn’t have a single moment all day long where safety was a concern. I have known the Ultraviolette team for many years now, and apart from being genuinely nice guys, they are a bunch of diehard enthusiasts who are constantly trying to push the engineering envelope. Case in point: even while we were celebrating this exceptional achievement, they were already discussing the various changes and improvements they wanted to make for the bike to go even faster. You can be rest assured that this is not the last you will hear of the Ultraviolette F99 and that the company has plenty more in store.

At the end of the day, that is the very concept of the F99 platform, and this is far more than just another bike. In fact, it is more of a glimpse into the future. The idea behind this project wasn’t solely about proving a point (which it most certainly has), but it also serves as a superb learning experience for the company in terms of pushing the boundaries of performance when it comes to production EVs.

While you may not be able to walk into an Ultraviolette showroom and buy an F99 right now, the lessons learnt from this machine will surely find their way down to future products from the company. But setting this record – on our 76th Republic Day, no less – has shown that India isn’t just a part of the global EV revolution; we’re at the forefront of it!

Also See: Ultraviolette F99 top speed record video