Standing in a tent on a wet day in the middle of a field last June on the Isle of Man and chatting to Rob Barber about his entry into the TTXGP Isle of Man race, it was hard to envisage the kind of celebrity status that this guy was going to achieve.

Three months later, I'm standing next to him in the UK as he is about to take the latest Agni Motors bike, the Agni X02, for a spin around the Millbrook circuit. Before this though, he has to stop to sign copies of programmes, photographs and apparel.

Rob is a seasoned Isle of Man TT rider and when the chance to get involved in the all new, all singing zero carbon, clean emission race came along, he jumped at the chance of working with Agni to help develop the ultimate rider's performance machine which eventually won the race with a top speed of 102mph and an average of 87.4mph. It also broke the 50cc record which had stood for over 30 years. No wonder he is signing programmes.

One of Rob's advantages over other entrants into the TTXGP was knowing the course: "I know all the pitfalls and advantage points. I know what would work on a bike and what would not, in terms of design but also the right equipment, in terms of tyres, fairings and suspension. Agni has been producing motors for years so I had complete confidence that I had the best there could be.

"The thing about electric bikes is that it's a different way of riding – it's all about using the battery power effectively. The TTXGP was the world's first race of this kind so it was all unchartered territory in terms of how the battery would perform on race day. Practice sessions were a different ball game – it was a question of just getting round in the qualifying time. Race day, however, was about winning."

And winning the TTXGP is taking him on a different road in life. The IT engineer now spends much of his time with Team Agni preparing for the TTXGP Championships in 2010. "The great thing about developing this new technology is it is all about engineers. They are the ones who push the barriers to improve performance, in whatever industry. Motorsport accelerates performance and has spin-offs which affect every day life. In some ways, that's as exciting as pushing a bike to its ultimate limit."