TTXGP: Complete wrap-up of first day of qualifying [w/VIDEO]
The first official TTXGP qualifying runs were completed yesterday in a flurry of "firsts" and are now in the record books. Of the 20 bikes listed as participants, only 14 managed to make it to the start gate, and of those, merely 10 completed the 37.72 mile (60.7 km) mountain course. One of the bikes absent on the first day, the innovative EV-0 RR, was still being built, but despite the realization the team now has no chance of winning, hopes to be present for the next qualifying run.
The afternoon clearly belonged to Team Agni, who turned in the quickest time of 26 minutes and 41.39 seconds with an average speed of 84.819 mph (136.5 km/h). Their rider, veteran Rob Barber, coaxed the bike up to 102 mph for the speed gun along the Sulby straight. The most unfortunate TTXGP "first" befell David Madsen-Mygdal as the motor of the eRockit entry beneath him seized up and, after a brief struggle, sent him sprawling at speed across the pavement. Luckily he escaped with a destroyed helmet, minor injuries to an elbow and a bruised hip. He plans to ride again if the bike is repaired in time.
You can listen to 40 minutes of audio from the day here. Hit the jump for the official results as well as video of a newsclip of the race including a bit from the eRockit spill. As a bonus, we also have a video shot by Mission Motor folks of the bikes getting ready behind the start gate and rolling off. Enjoy, and drive safely.
Gallery: Qualifying at TTXGP
[Source: TTXGP / Mission Motors / Motorcycle News]
Photo: creative commons by Frank Schuengel
PRO Class times
Team Agni (Rob Barber): 26:41.39 (84.819 mph lap)
Mission Motors (Thomas Montano): 33:45.98 (67.043 mph)
XXL Racing (Thomas Schoenfelder): 34.07.44 (66.341 mph)
Brammo (Roy Richardson): 35:47.76 (63.242 mph)
Brammo (Mark Buckley): 35:52.11 (63.114 mph)
HTBLAUVA (Paul Dobbs): 41:53.00 (54.050 mph)
Open Class times
ManTTx Racing (Dan Kneen): 32:01.81 (70.677 mph)
Barefoot Motors Racing (Chris Petty): 33:35.09 (67.405 mph)
Electric Motorsport (Chris Heath): 36:26.47 (62.122 mph)
Kingston University (George Spence): 40:44.77 (55.559 mph)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
EVan 5:19PM (6/10/2009)
This race is amazing.
I can't wait for electric racing to become more widespread... if there's one way to push the envelope on technology, this is it.
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Nick P. 6:24PM (6/10/2009)
Where's Motoczysz (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/06/05/motoczysz-releases-pics-of-completed-e1pc-electric-superbike/) ? You can see the bike at the starting line in one of the videos, but I'm not sure what happened. Did they reach the finish line?
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GoodCheer 6:31PM (6/10/2009)
I sure hope so.
I was wondering the same thing.
They did say only 10 of 20 teams finished.
Nick P. 6:57PM (6/10/2009)
For those interested, here's a very good list of participating TTXGP teams with background info and pics of the bikes:
http://evracingnews.com/motorcycles/agni/index.html
Excerpt from team Agni's page:
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For the TTXGP Team Agni is converting a 2007 Suzuki GSXR 600 fitted with two Agni 95 Reinforced motors and Kokam lithium-polymer battery of 63 cells of 70AH each, total about 16 kilowatt-hours of energy. This will give 40 to 50 horsepower averaged over the length of the race, which should be good for a 120MPH top speed.
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FitFan 7:04PM (6/10/2009)
So cool. Wish I were there.
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jpm 9:00PM (6/10/2009)
hooray for this event! those bikes are looking good too. And I can't wait for the years ahead when teams start to improve, bikes get better, batteries get better.... etc. And Honda,Yamaha,Susuki will probably get off their asses and enter the damn race.
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Bill 9:08PM (6/10/2009)
It's great to see this event go forward, but it's certainly early days for electric bikes, to borrow a Brit expression. The Team Agni bike went fast enough to eke out third place... in the 1936 Senior TT (see www.iomtt.com). But they could have won in '35! John McGuiness' average for the '08 Senior TT was 127.186.
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FitFan 4:03AM (6/11/2009)
This was a practice session. Not to suggest that any of the bikes are going to average 127 mph on race day, but this is year one and the paint hasn't dried on some of these bikes.
Racing is the best place to stress test vehicle technologies. I hope this race turns into an annual event.
Bill 3:31PM (6/11/2009)
@FitFan - Absolutely. As I said, it's "early days" for electric bikes. I, too, hope this is an annual event. I was just saying they have a long way to go to catch up with ICE bikes in terms of performance. I just hope there are enough "early adopters" who can afford to keep these companies in business until their products come up in performance and down in price to where they're practical (and fun) transportation for more people.
Nick P. 6:03PM (6/11/2009)
First, they don't have to beat MotoGP to be popular. 150cc and 250cc are just as exciting, yet they are comparably slower.
Second, they don't have to be "in business". I can count at least two technical Universities as participants. As long they can afford to go there and pay the various entering cost, they're OK. It will only get expensive if a few companies decide to spend a lot f money to be #1. Hope they get there soon.
Bill 7:09PM (6/11/2009)
@Nick The latest post on ttxgp.com says that they're hoping to break the 50cc record. That doesn't strike me as a very high bar. Granted, 250 racing is exciting. I'd love to see these bikes provide the performance of 250 _street_ bikes. True, not all of the racers are companies. But I'm thinking in terms of the racing leading to advancement of production electric bikes, rather than focusing on a continuing racing series. I'm far more interested in being able to buy a usable, affordable street bike than in whether the racing draws fans. Perhaps I shouldn't have compared their speeds to Senior TT speeds.
I'm also disappointed that Agni is the only team to break 80 mph average.
Nick P. 7:48AM (6/12/2009)
Someone made a comment on the MotoCzysz forum about them having qualified and being present at the race tomorrow:
http://www.motoczysz.com/club/?p=258#comment-42671
The quality of the reporting will have to improve if they want people to get excited about this race. The best coverage is on the Mission Motors blog with their 2-days old *picture* galleries:
http://ridemission.com/blog/
Man, next year I am volunteering to get this web stuff done right.
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