TTXGP sets first Mountain Course times
The full results from today's first TTXGP Mountain Course laps have come in and they're...underwhelming. It doesn't appear that all the teams ran, made it a full lap or even got out of whatever the EV equivalent of first gear is. It's probably not fair to compare these times to John McGuinness's new outright lap record of 130.442mph or even the 600cc Supersport record of 125.161mph, especially since this is all the bikes' first outing on the actual track. Still we hope to see some considerably more impressive times come Friday's race.Update: according to Mission president Edward West, both MotoCzysz and eROCKIT failed to complete the qualifying lap. They'll have another chance today to qualify for the race. A video follows the jump.
1) Rob Barber (AGNI) 26m41.39 84.819mph (Sulby 102Mph)
2) Dan Kneen (ManTTX) 32m01.81 70.677mph
3) Chris Petty (Barefoot Motors) 33m35.09 67.405mph
4) Thomas Montano (Mission) 33m45.98 67.043mph
5) Thomas Schoenfelder (XXL) 34m07.44 66.341mph
6) Roy Richardson (Brammo) 35m47.76 63.242mph
7) Mark Buckley (Brammo) 35m52.11 63.114mph
8) Chris Heath (ElectroMotorSports) 36m26.47 62.122mph
9) George Spence (Kingston) 40m44.77 55.559mph
10) Paul Dobbs (HTBlauva) 41m53.00 54.050mph
TTXGP
Wes Siler. June 10, 2009 — Permalink
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I suppose just keep in mind that these electric motorcycles are still in their infancy.
The racing probably won't be too spectacular to watch.
Sigh.
perhaps Brammo might do better if they converted their obscenely expensive toys to electric wheel chairs for the grotesquely obese
..i told you so :-)
If tou look back at stats, the fastest electric is lower midfield in 750cc class in 1971.
Midfield in the 500cc class in 1971.
Beats the the 250cc in 1971.
For a first try with untested tech... Try to build a combustion engine and no reference books, no prior tech, no info, from scratch - and go as fast.
I bet next year, they will be into the late 70's, early 80's speeds - on an electric...
That in itself is bloody amazing.
G
Well, to my mind, it's only natural that the results would be underwhelming. But, there's great hope on these bikes, and there's no way that any initial IOMTT times would dampen my enthusiasm.
After all, remember what happened with the DARPA grand challenge the first year it run? All the automated cars/motorcycle crashed and DNF. Everybody was laughing back then.
But next year, a robotic vehicle made it through the finish line! And then they moved the challenge to an urban setting!!!
So, I am patient, and sure about the good results. They just may take some time to come. But they will come. For sure. :-)
At least they tried.
i'm putting my money on these guys http://www.ttxgp.com/index_nav.php?page=team_agni ..working with a proven platform and focusing on the engine/battery system is the way to go for an infant technology
i think they have set their expectations a bit high.the first race should have been organised on a dedicated track .that's a tough circuit to say the least and organising a race with unproven technology on the TT course is like sending astronauts on the first sputnik rocket..they are messing with racers lives here..
Actually, with a top speed of 102mph, an 84mph lap is not bad at all. By comparison Geoff Duke came in 2nd in 1949 in the Junior Manx at a speed avg. of 81.2. His bike probably didn't go much over 110 I'm thinking, it was a "garden gate" with crap brakes and tires by todays' standards. I'm wondering if the power goes down as the battery discharges?
The DARPA analogy is apt- they should have billed this as science project / contest, not a race. Or maybe they did and I'm just not paying attention.
Congratulations to all the teams that made it! I noticed Motocyzsz doesn't show on that list of finishers. It sounds like the skeptics are pretty upset that their predictions of no finishers and 20 mph lap speeds are quickly falling by the wayside.
I'm quite satisfied with that 102mph time for AGNI, especially considering that this was the first time around for any of the teams. Now lets see what the rest of the teams bring in (read: Motoczysz).
Well how many people were going balls out on the practice? It may not be as exact an indicator.
Yeah, I'm sure everyone was riding very conservatively, making sure they qualify and getting used to the bikes.
...riding conservatively ...yup 'cause that's the way to demonstrate the ability of your hardware and win TT's
I'm not sure who's being sarcastic. It isn't clear- was this qualifying or just practice? It sounded like practice before qualy, a warmup.
As I understand it, all the bikes need to complete a lap in practice to qualify for the race, so it's kinda both.
I'm surprised that many bikes actually finished the lap. For the amount of time and type of technology involved, having 10 bikes qualify is amazing.
criticism of any results of this "race" is naive, childish, and foolish.
...EV power is not the only way forward, but it definitely has a solid place among various alternatives
I think the DARPA automated vehicle comparison is a little off. That was a test of artificial intelligence interfacing with sensors. Basically, it was a software test.
This is a test of hardware, since we can assume the riders (i.e. the software) are already pros. Therefore, a better comparison is with the early stages of any new method of powering vehicles. How many Mongols got their heads kicked in before the first horse was ridden? How many early steam engines exploded? How many early ICEs seized?
Luddites who hope for battery fires on this race are just like those of every technological era.
Very cool watching these bikes silently leave the starting line.
I wonder what is up with EVO Design Solutions' bike? Peter Williams (Classic Bike UK, '73 F750TT winner, engineer) is involved with them. I can't imagine all the work and anticipation; good luck to all these teams.
They're having a few issues with finishing the bike on time, we're trying to find out more and will bring you an update when we do.
Good point modelasian. We have over 130 years of combustion engine development. Electric motors have been around a long time too, but this is one of the earliest examples of people racing electric motorbikes. It's great to see this happening. And let's not forget - the TT course is a pretty wild, dangerous road race - if you are riding a largely untested bike, even at "only" 102 mph, you're still pretty brave. People always scoff at the guy who finishes last in the Tour de France, forgetting that the guy has still cycled around 3000km in 3 weeks.
Telekom you are so right, lets forget the crap about electric vs combustion for a moment. Any racer, "even" the last place finisher in any bike race, powered or unpowered, has more skills and cojones than those who stand idly by and criticize. And the latter includes all those cretins who confuse track day bravado with the real thing.
the silence is deafening