Lightning almost strikes at Laguna Seca e-Power electric motorcycle race, instead MotoCzysz sizzles

MotoCzysz, photo by David Herron

---

Related Articles

• Lightning strikes in Canada with Lightning Motors win at 3rd TTXGP race

• Mark Miller of Motoczysz wins 2010 TTZERO, Rob Barber of Agni Motors in 2nd

• Lightning strikes second round of TTXGP 2010 with Lightning Motors win

• With the TTXGP underway, what's happening with the e-Power and TTZERO races?

• Electric motorcycle racing speeding up electric vehicle technology development
• Zero/Agni wins at Infineon after battle royale with Lightning Motors
• TTXGP aiming to transform electric motorcycle racing into a collectively owned sport
• Electric motorcycle racing soap opera between TTXGP and FIM

FIM's electric motorcycle race series, e-Power, arrived this weekend at the famed Laguna Seca raceway accompanied by the MotoGP. The leading contenders were the Lightning Motors bike which has dominated the North American TTXGP series, and the MotoCzysz bike which won this years TT-ZERO race on the Isle of Man. The qualifying and practice rounds leading up to todays race indicated it would be a very close contest between those bikes and some others notably the Crystalyte Europe team. Indeed it was a very close race, which saw Michael Barnes on the Lightning Motors bike leading very powerfully for all but the last 100 feet when Michael Czysz staged a last minute come from behind maneuver to win by a nose.

In the practice on Friday, Czysz was slightly the fastest in the field, while in the qualifying round on Saturday it was Barnes on the Lightning Motors bike which was slightly faster. Close behind was the Crystalyte Europe bike ridden by Thijs de Ridder, and the Munch Racing bike ridden by Matthias Himmelman. Of the twelve teams who came to race, six of whom came from Europe, only 8 were in the starting lineup. The others did not qualify under FIM's rules or in one case, Ely Schless's Proto Moto team, they qualified but equipment failure during qualifying (motors blew up) left them unable to race.

The first lap started off a little slow with the Lightning Motors bike in the lead.  At the start a controller glitch on the MotoCzysz bike meant for a jumbled start, putting Czysz behind the Crystalyte Europe bike.  While he quickly got ahead that put him several seconds behind the Lightning Motors bike.  For several laps the Lightning Motors bike increased its lead, leading by as much as 9.9 secs in lap 4. By lap 7 that lead was a very respectable 8.7 seconds but by lap 8 it eroded to 6.7 seconds, and by the end of the race the Lightning Motors bike was behind by 1.2 seconds. The Crystalyte Europe bike was slightly behind the two leaders for the whole race, finishing 36 seconds back for a 3rd place showing.

In the middle of the pack a real contest was going between three very evenly matched bikes. These were Thomas Betti of Betti Moto, Matthias Himmelman of Munch Racing, and Luciano Betti also of Betti Moto. They were racing at nearly identical speeds, stayed together very well as a group, and even traded places a couple times. Taking up the rear was Michael Hannas riding the Electric Race Bikes machine, and Christian Armendt riding his Epo-Bike. Armendt was almost unable to ride due to a blown motor, but the loan of a motor and controller from other teams allowed him to race albeit very slowly.

Laguna Seca is one of the most challenging race tracks in the world, and the speeds show it.  Michael Czysz had an average speed of 75.5 miles/hr over the race while hitting top speeds above 110 miles/hr.  At the Isle of Man that same bike, with Marc Miller riding, had an average speed of 96 miles/hr and top speed of 135 miles/hr.  Michael Barnes had an average speed of 75.4 miles/hr over the race, while hitting top speeds closer to 120 miles/hr.  At the Mosport race two weeks ago that same bike and rider had an average speed of 91.37 miles/hr.

How was it that the Lightning Motors bike lost when it had such a commanding lead?   Michael Czysz's explanation relied on an initial fumble put him in 3rd behind the Crystalyte bike, which took some time to pass that bike putting him well behind the Lightning Motors bike.  However that does not quite match reality, in that he passed the Crystalyte bike by the end of the first lap and was only 5 seconds behind the Lightning Motors bike at that point.  Instead the numbers show the Lightning Motors began to slow down in lap 6, a nearly imperceptible shortening of the lead, and in lap 8 the lead shrunk quite a bit.  It's very simple, the battery pack ran low.  The discharge behavior on lithium batteries is they are good at dishing out electrons until they're nearly depleted, at which point the power drops off dramatically. The Lightning Motors bike was faster on almost every lap than the MotoCzysz bike, until that last lap. 

Brammo's recently announced Empulse electric motorcycle was going to race but an equipment malfunction converted it into an expensive decorative item in their booth.  Brammo spokespeople were heard to say that they will bring the Empulse to an electric motorcycle race this year.  There is a small number of remaining races to choose from, with the TTXGP race at VIR in August being the only one in North America.

This race is part of the FIM e-Power electric motorcycle race series. There are two electric motorcycle race series, the TTXGP and FIM's e-Power. This weekends race was the first, and only, e-Power race to be held in North America this year, the rest have been in Europe. The six teams who came from Europe had raced in those earlier e-Power races.

This weekends race featured a long awaited clash of the two titans in electric motorcycle racing, the Lightning Motors and Motoczysz bikes. Due to vagaries of the electric motorcycle racing scene they had not met one another on the track, but past performances indicated it would be quite a showdown. We were treated to an awesome race.

UPDATE: Some sentences were tweaked based on a post-publication phone conversation with Michael Czysz.  He provided details about the controller glitch at the start of the race, and commentary about the dramatic falloff in power on the Lightning Motors bike at the end of the race. 

Subscribe via: Facebook, Friend Feed, Twitter, E-Mail