Rob Barber bends the race-winning...
Rob Barber bends the race-winning Agni X01, built from a GSX-R600 chassis, into Creg-ny-Baa curve, with Kate's cottage in the background. Barber's average speed for the single-lap race was 87.4 mph.
Event organizers did their best to lend gravitas to the start of the inaugural TTXGP. This was, after all, history in the making-the world's first clean-emissions, carbon-free international racing competition. Members of the U.K. Parliament and other dignitaries mingled amongst engineers and riders in parc fermé, while journalists from around the globe jostled for the perfect pre-race quote. Then the 5-minute warning sounded, and the racers rolled into position for the traditional staggered TT start in front of the historic Glencrutchery Road grandstand. But even the anticipatory atmosphere and legendary location couldn't save the start from being anti-climactic. "That sounds just like a VCR rewinding," a nearby journalist muttered as the fast qualifier, a Suzuki GSX-R600 converted to electric power, unceremoniously whirred away from the starting line.
So, the TTXGP is not MotoGP-not yet anyway. These first-generation eRacers lack more than a little in terms of sound, style and speed, even compared to the most modest internal-combustion racebikes. Even the organizers seemed damning with faint praise when they loudly-and quite uncharitably, we think-celebrated the fact that Rob Barber's event-winning 87.4-mph lap "shattered" the existing 50cc course record. Compared to John McGuinness's record-breaking, 131.578-mph Senior TT lap, this is hardly the stuff TT legends are made from.
But looked at through another lens, accounting for the present state of electric vehicle technology and the phenomenal challenge the Snaefell Mountain course presents to such a vehicle, Barber's achievement is quite remarkable. Consider that the bike he rode, fielded by the Anglo-Indian partnership Team Agni, carried the energy equivalent of just 1.3 gallons of gasoline. Then imagine how slowly you would have to ride McGuinness's Honda CBR1000RR Superbike to nurse it over the mountain on the same amount of fuel. In that context, the ultra-efficient Agni X01 begins to look very fast.
That's the fundamental difference between electric vehicle racing and traditional, petroleum-based sport. Electric performance is a quest for efficiency-not excess power-making it the perfect pursuit for our post-millennial, conservation-obsessed age. It's a competition that favors geeks over gearheads, and demands deft programming and digital manipulation more than thermodynamic tuning prowess. And it's not going away. Given the fever-pitch interest in electric vehicle technology, earmarked as the chosen savior of the global transportation system, such races will only become more prevalent in the coming years. And the TTXGP was the first.
 Germany's Team XXL finished...  Germany's Team XXL finished second in the Pro category, campaigning a converted, late-nineties Laverda Formula. XXL rider Thomas Schoenfelder finished 3 minutes and 11 seconds behind winner Rob Barber. |  Brammo rider Roy Richardson...  Brammo rider Roy Richardson leads teammate Mark Buckley through Parliament Square in downtown Ramsey. Richardson eventually dropped out due to an overheated controller; Buckley went on to finish third. |  Fast ain't always pretty:...  Fast ain't always pretty: one of the Agni entry's two outboard-mounted, air-cooled electric motors. Duct-tape, spray paint, and dodgy fiberglass work were common themes on many TTXGP racers. |
Brainchild of British entrepreneur and event promoter Azhar Hussain, the zero-emissions event wasn't limited to electric vehicles-though only electric motorcycles showed up. Some 60 teams from 15 countries originally registered, though only 15 teams qualified and just nine bikes completed the full lap. Entries were divided into two classes: Pro (sponsored by Best Buy), featuring sophisticated prototypes with corporate backing; and Open, limited to machines converted or constructed from off-the-shelf components. Machinery ranged from polished, professional entries from EV OEMs like Mission Motors and Brammo to cobby conversions from the lunatic fringe of backyard inventors who took off their tinfoil helmets just long enough to don a proper crash helmet for the race.
The Isle of Man was an inspired, if odd, choice of venue for the FIM-sanctioned race. The TT pedigree lent credibility to the event, though new rules had to be written to accommodate the novel machines. All bikes needed two very conspicuous kill buttons so the safety crew could be absolutely certain the silent, high-voltage motors were disabled before handling, plus a horn that riders were instructed to honk when closing in on course workers under a yellow flag, warning of their silent approach.