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

TT Zero logo courtesy Isle of Man Tourism Bureau

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After a rain delay yesterday due to weather on the Isle of Man, this years Isle of Man zero emissions motorcycle race (TT ZERO) was held today. Mark Miller, riding the Motoczysz E1PC bike won the race leading last years winner, Rob Barber riding the Agni Racing Z1, by a 2 minute margin. In 3rd was James McBride riding the ManTTX bike and in 4thJennifer Tinmouth riding the Agni Racing Z2 bike.

 The race started with Rob Barber on the Agni Z1 bike leading, followed by Jenny Tinmouth on the Agni Z2 bike, and Mark Miller on the Motoczysz bike. By the Glen Helen trap Mark Miller had moved to 2nd and was 10 secs behind Rob Barber's bike. But by the Ballaugh trap the Motoczysx bike was ahead of the Agni Z1 bike by 5 secs. At the Sulby speed trap the Motoczysz bike was clocked at 135.3 mph, the Man TTX bike at 107.2 mph, the Agni Z1 bike at 104.2 mph, and the Agni Z2 bike at 98.1 mph. One of the prizes for the TT Zero would go to the first motorcycle to break a 100 miles/hr lap speed, and by the Ramsey and Bungalow traps two bikes (Motoczysz and Agni Z1) were on track to beat that lap speed. By the Cronk ny Mona trap however their lap speed had dropped below 100 mph. The final results were as follows and some commentary captured from Twitter is listed below. Of the 8 bikes which set out only 5 finished, demonstrating how tough the TT Mountain Course is (in the 2009 TTXGP 16 bikes set out with only 9 finishing).

 NOTE: Times provided from live.iomtt.com and not yet the official results

One of the big questions surrounding motorcycle racing (electric or otherwise) has been streamlining for better aerodynamics.  Streamlining was banned by the FIM in 1957 from motorcycle racing and some (notably Craig Vetter, organizer of races in the early 1980's competing for high fuel efficiency) have decried the lack of streamlining on race motorcycles.  Streamlining improves the aerodynamics of a motorcycle and theoretically will increase speed or fuel efficiency.  The TTXGP 2009 race rules allowed for aerodynamic improvements (like streamlining) among other possibilities.  While no bikes in the 2009 TTXGP race used streamlining, the rule was still there when FIM and TT Zero borrowed TTXGP's rule book for their own race series.    This made it possible a streamlined bike would race in the 2010 TT Zero.  A March 2010 blog post by Michael Czysz made a case against streamlining and the dustbin fairing, saying "Dustbin fairings (true to the definition) add unnecessary risk for a racer competing on the IOM."  He followed it up with another blog post discussing the aerodynamics and the ways where it has been proved to be helpful, and pointing out dustbin fairings are inherently unstable.   Regardless of all that Agni Racing did use a dustbin fairing on their Z1 bike ridden by Rob Barber.  The fairing did not play a "secret weapon" role allowing his bike to win the race.

The top four finishers all finished faster than last years 2009 TTXGP win by Rob Barber, demonstrating the electric vehicle technology advances being made in the name of winning races.

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