FIM & TTXGP: JOINT EVENTS IN 2012

After last years struggles between FIM and TTXGP running joint electric motorcycle race events we thought they would not repeat the experiment in 2012.  We are pleasantly pleased and excited to see the following:


Strengthening the collaboration between FIM and TTXGP both parties have once again agreed to combine three rounds of their respective race series2012 FIM e-Power International Championship and the TTXGP World Series 2012.


The joint events will be:

28-29 July       Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (USA) - FIM MotoGP WC
11-12 August   Oschersleben (GER) - FIM Endurance WC
7-8 September Le Mans (FRA) 24 Hours of Le Mans - FIM Endurance WC

With a continuing collaboration in 2012, and looking back at some of the most exciting eRacing in the previous year, this partnership will be a positive step in the growth and promotion of electric clean emission road racing. Holding a selection of joint rounds allows the teams the best possible stage to promote the sport, the technology and the future to the next generation of motorsport.





http://www.fim-live.com/fileadmin/alfresco/FIM_&_TTXGP_joint_events_in_2012.pdf

http://www.egrandprix.com/news.php?id=269

Electric car owners invited to drive the Indianapolis Speedway during evGrandPrix

Have an electric car, and want to drive it around a real race track?  If you live near Indianapolis you can go to the Indianapolis Speedway on Saturday May 12 and take a spin around that famous race track.

The event is named The EV Rally and is sponsored in part by the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA).

Entry fee is $50 and covers "parking, gate entrance, dash plaque and the opportunity to take their “plug in” automobiles on a lap around the famous IMS oval."

For registration, see: http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/indy500/eventinfo/42303/

The event is connected to the running of the "2nd International Collegiate evGrandPrix," a collegiate level racing series using electric go-karts.  See: http://evgrandprix.org/

Fast Track: Electric Car Drivers Invited to Drive Indy 500 Raceway

Electric car owners often enjoy fast access to HOV lanes but on Sunday, May 12 they can experience the excitement of driving their car on the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of its EV Rally. The EV Rally is being co-promoted by the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) and its GoElectricDrive.com consumer education initiative.

Owners and drivers of plug-in electric vehicles can participate in the EV Rally at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by completing a registration form online. The $50 registration fee includes parking, gate entrance, dash plaque and the opportunity to drive around the famous race track. In addition to the EV Rally, the Speedway is also hosting on May 12 a series of Emerging Technology activities including an electric cart race in the Purdue Grand Prix and alternative fuel vehicles ride and drives.

“The EV Rally is a great opportunity to showcase to race fans and the public some of the new plug-in electric cars on American roads,”said EDTA President Brian Wynne. “We encourage electric vehicle owners and drivers to participate in this exciting event and thank the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for its support in promoting emerging technology vehicles.”

About EDTA: The Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) is the preeminent trade association representing battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric drive technologies and infrastructure. EDTA conducts public policy advocacy, education, industry networking, and international conferences. EDTA's membership includes vehicle and equipment manufacturers, energy companies, technology developers, component suppliers, government agencies and others. For more information about EDTA and its members, visit ElectricDrive.org. For information about owning and operating electric vehicles, please visit GoElectricDrive.com.

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.

Jeremiah Johnson to race in TTXGP North America, 2012

Over on Facebook, Jeremiah Johnson (a pro AMA Racer) announced he had applied and been approved to race in the 2012 TTXGP North America season.  Johnson, in addition to being an AMA Pro, has been interested in electric motorcycles for several years.  I met him in 2009 when the TTXGP team came to the Vintage Motorcycle Race at the Mid-Ohio track (just north of Columbus).  At that time he was riding a bike built by Enertrac (see picture below), but he explained the large number of race bike frames in his shop in Florida, that he envisioned rebuilding as electric motorcycles, with the intention to race in the TTXGP.  Unfortunately, the 2010 and 2011 seasons came and went with no appearance by Johnson.  Fortunately this is about to change, it appears.

His recent facebook activity has shown he is in the shop building electric bikes.  His most recent posting says:

It's official, my entry is in to race the whole season of the North American TTXGP Championship.  Only bad part is that there is a race at PIR in Portland that conflicts with the AMA Pro Racings race at Barber in Alabama the same weekend.  I'm probably going to have to skip that PIR race.

He was also able to secure his number, 64, to use in TTXGP.  His choice to skip a race will make it incredibly hard to achieve a high TTXGP points ranking, however.  

Brammo plans to contest entire TTXGP season, including world final

The other day we noted that TTXGP had posted their 2012 North American season schedule, of four races (one location TBD) and plans to hold the TTXGP World Final in Daytona FL.   Over on Facebook, Brammo commented on TTXGP's schedule posting saying this:

We plan to contest every North American Round of TTXGP and the World Final in Daytona. Plus the FIM race at Laguna Seca. More details and announcement of our new sponsor coming soon....

https://www.facebook.com/BrammoInc/posts/169647389816582 

Steve Atlas, riding for Brammo, in the Corckscrew @ Laguna Seca during the FIM e-Power / TTXGP race in July 2011

Brammo may have chosen to wait out the 2012 season and instead focus on the business of building and selling electric motorcycles.  For example, Mission Motors obviously has a top end bike but have repeatedly said that racing isn't their goal, selling motorcycles isn't their goal, instead whatever race participation they do has the goal of a bit of R&D and a bit of attention getting.  On the other hand Lightning Motors has a huge focus on racing, with a longer term goal of selling a line of electric motorcycles riding on the cachet of being the top electric motorcycle race team.  Brammo's goals seem to be somewhere in the middle in that they're committed to selling a line of electric motorcycles, and at the same time are interested in racing and the R&D that occurs on the track.

Over on the TTXGP Matters blog, Richard says someone told him Brammo would be back with a motor that's twice as powerful as last years.  (see http://ttxgpmatters.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/brammo-is-all-in-for-2012-ttxgp-lightning-has-a-dance-partner/)  They should also finally be coming to the track with a bike that has the 6-speed transmission built in (the 2011 bike did not have the transmission).   As Richard says, the 2011 Brammo bike had the range, had the rider, had the suspension and handling, but did not have the oomph to beat Lightning or MotoCzysz.

Stuntbusters: Electric Engine vs. Combustion Engine

The StuntBusters show on SPEEDTV did an attempt to show which is faster - gas or electric.  The event was staged and not terribly like real race conditions.  So we shouldn't read into this anything more than an attempt to entertain and inform people.  And, for sure, it put electric vehicles in front of a bunch of gearheads in a positive light.

In terms of helping to explode the myth that electric vehicles can only be slow boring ugly golf carts, this is pretty good.  In terms of being a rigorous test in real race conditions .. it's not that .. which I wrote about here:  Which is faster, gasoline or electric, and electric race action around the world

Mugen a.k.a. Honda is sending an electric motorcycle to the 2012 SES TT Zero

The Isle of Man TT website reports today that Mugen is sending an electric race motorcycle to this years TT Zero race.  Mugen is more-or-less a factory team for Honda, in that Mugen was formed by members of the Honda family, Mugen's role is to soup up Honda vehicles, but Mugen has never been formally owned by Honda Motors.

This means that Mugen's entry in the TT Zero represents the first foray by a major manufacturer into electric vehicle race competition.

There have been manufacturers participate in previous electric vehicle racing, but every example I can think of has been the small manufacturers.  Well, there is one counter example, and that was a souped up Nissan Leaf that drove in the 2011 Pikes Peak Hill Climb race.

Honda RC-E as unveiled in November 2011

Honda unveiled the RC-E Electric Superbike last fall, so it's worth reviewing that bit of news (see: Honda RC-E Electric Superbike First Look).  It's built on a 250cc class compact bike frame, and using an electric motor from Honda's hybrid cars.  The bike itself looks like the typical superbike, of which Honda is one of the leading manufacturers.  The motor is built as a key component of the frame, as has been done with the top end electric race bikes from Mission Motors, MotoCzysz and Lightning.  It's using Ohlins and Brembo and other typical race bike components.

This move is rich with history.  The TT race has been run for over 100 years, and has been the major proving ground for motorcycles.  Honda itself made its reputation by going to this race year after year, improving every year, until Honda's bikes began to win.  Perhaps Honda intends to do the same thing again?

What's likely is that Mugen is taking the RC-E, souping it up, or helping Honda develop it, and planning to take that bike to the TT Zero race.

What this really means is that MotoCzysz and Lightning will be seeing some deep-pocketed competition on the Snaefell Mountain Course this summer.  Should be exciting.


Honda’s Going Electric-Motorcycle Racing

Mugen confirms team for 2012 SES TT Zero challenge

World famous engine builder Mugen has confirmed that it will be participating in the 2012 SES TT Zero race, which takes place as part of the Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy.

The Japanese company, founded in 1973 by Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder Soichiro, will be campaigning with an all-new original electric motorcycle.

The Mugen outfit has a long history of involvement in motorsport including Formula 1, winning four Grand Prix races between 1992 and 2000 working with teams like Jordan, Prost, Lotus and Ligier.

They also manufactured engines that won the Formula 3000 championship in 1990 and 1991.

Currently Mugen competes in the Japanese GT and Formula Nippon Championships, and were also recently announced as the engine partner to Honda in their forthcoming World Touring Car Championship campaign.

The company has history in motorcycle racing, having previously competed in the Suzuka 8 hour endurance race with Joey Dunlop and Roger Marshall, and World Championship Motocross with Johnny O’Mara.

The SES TT Zero Race takes place over one lap in a time trial format and is restricted to entrants using motorcycles with zero-emission engines that emit no CO2. The Isle of Man Government has offered a £10,000 prize for the first team to break an average speed of 100mph around the 37¾ mile Mountain Course.

Mr Satoshi Katsumata of Team Mugen commented:

“We are keen to use this excellent event to educate and prepare the engineers of the next generation for the use of future technology.”

“We are very excited about adding to the long history of Japanese manufacturers on the Isle of Man.”

The company will shortly confirm the identity of their rider ahead of a planned programme of testing in Japan and the UK.