Team Icon Brammo releases shots of team livery ahead of 2013 racing season

On Monday, Team Icon Brammo released images of the new livery (designed by Icon) that Steve Atlas and Eric Bostrom will be wearing during the 2013 season.  The information release includes detailed pictures of not just the Empulse R, but the Empulse TTX, and shows both bikes in action dicing it up with gas bikes at the Thunderhill Raceway.   However, the Shelina Moreda fans may become disappointed because even though she spent a lot of time testing the Empulse RR and TTX over the winter, she is not listed as a Team Icon Brammo team member.

Here's the static view:-

Steve Atlas' 2013 Empulse RR

Eric Bostroms' 2013 Empulse RR

The two designs are named:  ‘Sauvetage’ (Atlas) and ‘Big Game’ (Bostrom).  We see below that Brian Wisman calls the design Cheetah and Zebra.

For the 2012 season, Team Icon Brammo's bikes had what they're calling the “Stack” livery.  Can you tell that the main business of team sponsor, ICON, is designing gear for motorcycle riders?

Steve Atlas

Eric Bostrom

Eric Bostrom on the Empulse TTX

Eric Bostrom, Empulse TTX again

Eric Bostrom, Empulse TTX

Steve Atlas - Empulse RR

Eric Bostrom - Empulse RR

Line-up

Brian Wismann, Director of Product Development for Brammo said; “The Brammo racing team is stoked to be working with Icon again this season as a primary sponsor for the Empulse RR bikes that will be campaigned by Eric Bostrom and Steve Atlas in the FIM/TTXGP electric motorcycle racing series and in the AFM race series. Icon was a great partner in 2012 and their willingness to “push the limits” in design, aesthetics, and functionality of the gear they develop has made them a perfect fit for Brammo and the pioneering spirit of driving EV technology forward on the racetrack. We got a ton of positive feedback on the “Stack” graphic that debuted on Steve’s World Championship winning Empulse RR in 2012, and can’t wait to see what people think of the 2013 Zebra and Cheetah! “

The press release was all about what the bikes look like, and light on technical details. It does confirm that Steve Atlas and Eric Bostrom will race with Team Icon Brammo in 2013.  We've been watching Brammo post galleries every couple weeks of testing at Thunderhill, and noted that Atlas was in none of those galleries while Shelina Moreda was in every one.  We've suggested before not to read too much into Atlas' absence at the testing events, and perhaps we shouldn't read too much into Moreda's absence from the team roster.

The technical details are that the fairing design is not just different graphics, but "improved" presumably meaning a bit more aerodynamic.  That and the bikes will have increased power and energy capacity.  But we expected the latter, and we're anxiously looking forward to see what 2013 will bring from Brammo.  During 2012 the Brammo Boys were hitting 170 miles per hour in race conditions at Daytona.

Brammo has posted a teaser photo of the Brammo Empulse TTX

This teaser picture was posted by Brammo on Facebook showing a part of the Empulse TTX.

It is based on Empulse R (as expected) so all the positive experience Empulse R owners are giving will be carrying over to the TTX.

The Empulse TTX was announced in July 2011, the weekend of the e-Power/TTXGP race at Laguna Seca.  Essentially the deal is Brammo is building some of the Empulse's to TTXGP race specifications. Then an interested team purchases the bike, along with one year of entry fees to TTXGP races.  See
Brammo and TTXGP announce strategic partnership around the Empulse race bike
This should put the Empulse TTX in the group which was called eSuperStock during the 2012 season. That award group was made up of electric motorcycles in production quantities over 25 units sold.  By the time the season starts Brammo will have delivered 25 Empulse R's, I'd imagine.

We should expect Empulse TTX details to be announced shortly because teams need to start lining up their bikes for the 2013 season.

For reference, here's a picture of a regular Empulse R that was also just posted by Brammo on Facebook

This image is of an Empulse TTX posted in December by Brammo on Facebook

Brammo testing Empulse R/RR/TTX at Thunderhill with Bostrom and Moreda

Virginia Tech isn't the only TTXGP team getting ready for the 2013 season.  Today, Brammo was at Thunderhill for a private track-day with Shelina Moreda and Eric Bostrom.  Let's try to not read too much into Steve Atlas not being there, okay?  They had at the track Empulse R's, Empulse RR's and Empulse TTX's.  Further, it's clear that Moreda is getting prepped to race with Team Icon Brammo in the 2013 season.  There had been rumors she would race with the team in 2012 but that ended up not happening.

On Facebook, Moreda posted this picture

Her comment was: "Wow. Thank You Brammo & Thank You Eric Bostrom!! This is one of the coolest days I've had at the track! Private trackday, testing the newest technologies in racing, got to ride my TTX for the first time, Learning from E-Boz!! It doesn't get much better than this. #Pumped"

The important takeaway is "My TTX" .. indicating that Moreda will be riding an Empulse TTX during the 2013 season, rather than an Empulse RR.

Brammo has posted a few pictures as well

"Track test at Thunderhill: Empulse, Empulse R, Empulse RR, Empulse TTX - with Shelina & EBoz Stay tuned for more photos..."

"Brian preps TTX for the track"  Okay, if we could see past Brian's body we could see something about what the Empulse TTX is made of.  The only thing I gather from this is that the frame on the TTX is different than on the RR.

"Eric heads out for some RR testing."

"Brian takes the RR for a spin."

"Sun going down on a cool winter day at Thunderhill."  This is either an Empulse R or TTX

The Empulse TTX plan still on track for the 2013 TTXGP season

In a preview to this weekend's TTXGP race the Infineon Raceway staff sent out an interview with Brammo looking forward to this weekends TTXGP 2012 Season opening race.  Buried among the chatter about the bikes, Brian Wisman was asked about the Empulse TTX which had been announced last summer.  In the announcements over the upcoming Empulse R unveiling, mention of the Empulse TTX was missing, leading one to wonder if that had fallen by the wayside.

Happy were we to see this buried in the interview:-

You announced last year the fact you were going into partnership with TTXGP to produce a race-ready bike for future teams; the Empulse TTX. How have these plans progressed, and when can future racers take possession of one?  BW: The Empulse TTX will be based on our production Empulse and Empulse R platform which will be launched to the public on May 8. The bike has been developed with the goal of having a solid platform upon which a privateer or professional race team can cost-effectively build a contender for the TTXGP series. We will begin testing this summer and it seems likely that an interested racer could take possession in early 2013.

And this as well:-

Brammo is a leader in the electric vehicle industry and has a team that has raced with TTXGP since 2009. How do you see these technologies developing and what on-track improvements can we expect in the next five-10 years?  BW: Even having been involved from the initial “drop of the flag,” we have been very impressed with the pace of development in the electric motorcycle space on all sides of technology. For the near future, I think we can expect to see the power levels continuing to climb to the near 200hp level and the bike weights continue to drop well into the sub-450 pound range. Of course, this level of motor performance will be useless without the battery power and endurance needed to make use of it, so we can expect improvements to specific power and capacity as well. At the moment, the bikes are circulating around the tracks on pace with a well-sorted SuperSport class race bike, but I think it will not be long before they are competitive with the professional SuperBikes.

To remind us of the intention for the Empulse TTX.  It is slated for availability during the 2013 season.  Brammo and TTXGP's partnership bundles with an Empulse TTX purchase the entry fees for a team to participate in all races in a continent-level TTXGP series.

Brammo teases Empulse electric motorcycle details, previewing what might be the Empulse RR bike for the 2013 TTXGP

Brammo first unveiled the Empulse in July 2010, at the time of that years Laguna Seca FIM e-Power race.  The bike was originally going to be on sale in 2011, but due to a design change Brammo decided to push back Empulse production to begin in 2012.  In 2011, in time for the joint TTXGP/e-Power Laguna Seca race, Brammo and TTXGP announced the Empulse TTX would be available for the 2013 TTXGP season.  But, of course, Brammo has to first start delivering the Empulse.  The company sent out an announcement last week saying the official unveiling of the production ready Empulse would be held on May 8, in Los Angeles.

In the meantime Brammo posted the following video teasing the unveiling.  We should assume the bike being teased is a consumer model, and that the TTX model will have an even higher top speed.