May 7, 2010

By Cycle Canada

Twelve teams have entered the first-ever TTXGP race to take place in North America at California’s Infineon Raceway on May 16. This is a better turn out than the 5 entries in the first race of the rival FIM e-Power series, but still far fewer than the 20 teams that participated in the fledgling series’ first race at the Isle of Man last June. As expected Brammo, MotoCzysz and Mission are missing from the field of eclectic entrants that run the gamut from a production built Mavizen TTX02 and an as-yet-unseen Zero/Agni collaboration to Brian Richardson’s Electra, a 1966 Norton Atlas conversion (pictured).

Here’s the complete list of entries:

Source: Cycle Canada

by Dirt Rider Staff

History-making electric and gas-powered dirt bike battle – the Energy Crisiscross (ECX) – now has a World Champ in the gate!

ANAHEIM, Calif. (May 6, 2010) – Former MXGP World Champion, MX Nationals overall runner-up and all-around great guy, Sebastien Tortelli, will run one of the ground-breaking Zero Motorcycles at tomorrow’s Energy Crisiscross (ECX), part of the insurmountable action taking place at the 2010 GEICO AMA MiniMotoSX, presented by Monster Energy, at Vegas’ Orleans Arena.

“Having Tortelli and (Damon) Huffman on electric bikes in the same gate for the ECX main event is going to be unreal,” said Mike Karsting, VP of Events for Source Interlink Media. “MX historians will look back on this race as the first time two champions from the gas-powered era threw a leg over two of the industry’s top electric bikes, Zero and Quantya USA, and battled a field of four-strokes. This will truly be a historic event for motocross at the Orleans this Friday night.”

Source: Dirt Rider Magazine

By Chuck Squatriglia

This is Mavizen TTX02 electric motorcycle serial No. 0001. It is ready to race. And it is headed to California.

Azhar Hussain and the guys at Mavizen boxed the bike Wednesday and loaded it onto a plane bound for San Francisco. When it arrives, Jennifer Bromme and her crew at Werkstatt Racing and Repair will have one week to prepare for the first TTXGP electric motorcycle race of the North American season.

The Mavizen TTX02 electric superbike is based on the KTM RC8 streetbike, which sports a chrome-moly trellis frame and top-shelf components from WP, Brembo and Marchesini. It is a serious bit of kit. The rolling chassis are sent to Mavizen, sans engines of course, directly from the KTM factory.

Once they arrive in Britain, they get a pair of Agni 95 electric motors. Each produces 22.5 kilowatts continuous power (about 30 horsepower), 36 kilowatts peak (48.2 horsepower) and 40 pound feet of torque. Customers can choose from among three lithium-ion batteries ranging from 4 kilowatt-hours to 10 kilowatt-hours.

For those of you who might scoff at the bike’s output, bear in mind the TTX02 weighs just 110 kilograms (242 pounds) without the battery.

Source: Wired.com

By Chuck Squatriglia

The coolest thing about the electric motorcycle grand prix is anyone with a bit of skill and determination can make a run for the checkered flag. It doesn’t require a wad of money or bleeding-edge machinery, so even two guys working in their garage in Ohio have a shot at victory.

But they need a little help to get there.

John Wild and Sean Ewing are scrambling to finish their homebuilt electric motorcycle and get it shipped to California in time for the opening race of the TTXGP electric motorcycle grand prix season. The two guys, who call themselves Square Wave Racing, got together three months ago and they’ve built the SWR1 in record time.

Wild is a vintage motorcycle racer and a fabricator who’s built a few choppers. Ewing is an electrical engineer, entrepreneur and student at Ohio State University. They started with 1996 Honda CBR F3, which was a hot bike back in the day. It’s a bit long in the tooth now, but Wild says it was perfect for their application because it’s relatively nimble and it’s got a steel frame. That makes welding a snap.

Source: Wired.com

By Jensen Beeler

Even though the official TTXGP entry list isn’t due to be out until Monday morning, Asphalt & Rubber has been working hard to find out what electric motorcycle manufacturers would be at Infineon for the first round of TTXGP. We already expect Zero to show up on something that doesn’t rhyme with Ravizen, but what about Mission Motors, MotoCzysz, and Brammo? The answer to that question would be: no, no, and maybe…but probably not.

Even though Mission Motors tested their Mission One at Infineon, and signed early in the silly season to ride exclusivily with TTXGP, the San Franciscan company is going to be a no-show at Infineon. Citing their focus on getting the Mission One into production, it looks like we won’t see Mission at many races as the company balances priorities. The good news though is that Mission has tipped us off that they wil be debuting a new race bike later in the season. Mission Motors would neither confirm nor deny that the new race bike would be based off their second-generation street bike, which we’ve dubbed the “Mission Two”. More on this as we get it.

Source: asphaltandrubber.com