"HE SAW THE RED MIST," says the pimply preteen barista, describing some local motorcycle racer I don't know who experienced a phenomenon I've never heard of.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He came to a corner and he saw red—everything just went red, like wearing red sunglasses."

"Yeah?"

"If you see the red mist, you have to pull over and stop and walk away," the kid continues, "but he didn't have a sense for the red mist. He didn't even slow down. He thought he could take the corner at 180 miles an hour." The kid pauses for dramatic effect. "And that's why racers die."

I seriously doubt that a kid too young to drive a tractor understands the visions of a motorcycle racer milliseconds before a high-speed accident, but...hell, yeah! If the red mist proves anything, it's that the races held here on the Isle of Man are the stuff of legend. And soon, they will only be more so. In just a few minutes, this underpopulated hunk of turf in the Irish Sea will host the world's first electric-motorcycle race, the TTXGP.

Starting at intervals, like in a time trial, 13 current-powered two-wheelers will take one lap around the island's historic 37.75-mile road course. The glossy TTXGP brochure claims that the motorcycles can reach top speeds of 150 miles per hour and have ranges of 150 miles. My four-cylinder heart redlines just at the sight of 'em. Ever since my college roommate and I went halfsies on a sputtering cruiser at the start of a New England winter, I've fostered a passionately meta-logical love for any vehicle that can nose-wheelie or accept ape-hanger handlebars. I've owned six motorcycles in a dozen years and crashed everywhere from Mexico to Maine. The only flaw with motorcycles, as far as I can see, is that they're powered by decayed dinosaurs.

Or they were until now.

At 10:30 a.m., a throng of journalists—including reporters for The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, a BBC cameraman, and a Los Angeles–based documentary filmmaker—are called off the starting grid. The grandstand goes quiet. One of the most wicked bikes in the race, the Mission Motors Mission One—created by design guru Yves Béhar and engineers from Google, Ducati, and electric-supercar builder Tesla—is pushed to the starting line. The rider gets a tap on the shoulder of his sponsor-emblazoned leathers, rolls back on the throttle, and launches what's being heralded as "the next generation of motorsports."

And then the Mission One quietly piddles off at grocery-getting speeds. The crowd barely notices.