The Big Question for Tomorrow’s TT Zero Is…

What’s going to be mounted on these protruding brackets? So far the 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc has been lapping the Isle of Man without its full fairing on the motorcycle. If history teaches us anything, the presumption, of course, should be that MotoCzysz has something still up its sleeve before the team takes to the Mountain Course tomorrow for the TT Zero event. Last year it was batteries in the tail-section, this year it would seem to be streamlining the E1pc.

While Michael Czysz has derided the use of a dustbin style fairings in road racing, he has acknowledged that a course like the Isle of Man creates an opportunity for a race team to find some benefits in the design. As such, Czysz wrote three months ago that he would have a dustbin fairing at the ready, should someone else show up with one as well…and that’s exactly what’s happened.

Team Agni showed up to the Isle of Man with two of its TTx01 race bikes, one which mimicked last year’s winning stead, and another that’s been fitted with a dustbin-style fairing (see photo below in the gallery). The streamlined front-end of the Agni has done little to help the team improve on their time around the Mountain Course (last practice they were down 3 MPH from last year’s average speed), but this isn’t too unexpected since the team is not streamlining their tail section, and thus still creating a significant amount of displaced air behind them. This displaced air is effectively sucking the motorcycle rearward, negating the benefits of the forward aerodynamics.

It could be an oversight by Agni, but it’s more likely to be the team not wanting to tip their hand too early in TT Zero. Perhaps the goal is to instead check the front-fairing’s affect on the air-cooling that the Agni motors need so desperately, so they don’t grenade during the race.

For MotoCzysz, the past week has likely been a waiting game. With Agni the team to beat, and likely the only team that can give MotoCzysz a run for their money tomorrow (there’s £10,000 up for grabs that goes to the team that breaks the 100 MPH average speed barrier), the Czysz strategy likely hinges around waiting to see what his competitors have brought to the fight.

Our latest spy reports tell us that the standard Agni bike is in pieces right now, and feverishly being worked on…its prognosis for tomorrow is questionable, which may mean Agni is running their dustbin bike whether they want to or not. This would thus seem to assure that Czysz & Co. will run the same, and puts the 100 MPH well within reach for the team.

Other clues we have for tomorrow’s race is the Kate Moss styled bony ass on the E1pc that we caught last week, courtesy of our Bothan Spies. The good money is that, like the front fairing, the tail section of the 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc hasn’t been mounted to the bike yet, and contains more Czysz trickery. For starters, there appears to be a Czysz-styled power plug on the bottom of tail, and we know the MotoCzysz D-10 motor can take a massive amount of power, making the platform easily scalable.

More power? More aerodynamics? Both? Only time will tell for certain, but what we do know is that Czysz painstakingly designs his projects with an eye for the aesthetic. It’s doubtful he’d leave the seat in a manner that detracts from the bike, as it does now…and then of course there’s the fact that the MotoCzysz crew is here to prove a point, after suffering devastating technical problems last year.

We’ll know more tomorrow as TT Zero hits the Mountain Course at 4:30PM Isle of Man local time.

 

Photos: 1st (Amadeus Photography), 2nd (Isle of Man), 3rd (A&R)

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