Tag

Infineon

Browsing

While most of our coverage this past weekend focused on the first electric sportbike race to hit US soil, another first occurred at Infineon Raceway: the first female winner of an AMA Pro Racing event. Elena Myers took the checkered flag on Saturday’s AMA Supersport race, albeit with some help from the man with the red flag. From that finish Myers is being touted as the first woman to win an AMA road race, and already there is talk of an entry point for lady riders into this male dominated sport.

Qualifying ended today at Infineon Raceway, with nearly all the riders improving on their times in the day’s later qualifying session. While all the entrants will get to compete in the race regardless of whether or not they qualify, the two outings for Saturday gave us a preview as to what we can expect on Sunday’s race. As we’ve mentioned before, the Zero/Agni motorcycle looked very strong with Shawn Higbee at the helm.

Also looking confident was the “flying banana” fielded by Lightning Motors. Piloted by Michael Barnes, Barney took the yellow lightning machine around the course at a pace that was just seconds off what Higbee & Co. were lapping. We know the yellow bike has a lot of power on-board, and could give Zero a run for their money if they’ve been sand-bagging it during the practice sessions. Finishing out the top three was Thad Wolff and his stunning Norton, which blended a little bit of old with new with his streamlined retro bike chassis. Click past the jump for photos from qualifying and a full list of results.

TTXGP hit American soil here at Infineon Raceway today, with two zero-emission practice sessions under its belt for the day. Although dubbed an historic moment, today’s big winner probably wasn’t the sport of electric motorcycle racing, despite ZeroAgni put on a strong performance during the practice sessions. At the helm of the ZeroAgni bike was AMA privateer Shawn Higbee, who looked the part on the former Team Agni Isle of Man bike. Higbee was carrying tons of corner speed, and was the only electric sportbike rider to lap the course at near sportbike speed, and to really go the distance lap-wise.

After already confirming that they wouldn’t be in attendance at Infineon this weekend for the TTXGP season opener, Mission Motors has reaffirmed in a company blog post that they will not be racing in Sonoma this weekend, and have also announced that they will not be competing at the Isle of Man’s TT Zero event later this summer. The news is a bit of a disappointment for the electric motorcycling world, as the hopes of having an event where all the major brandscould be on the same track at the same time seems to be slipping from our grasp.

After hearing that Werkstatt Racing and Repair would soon be taking delivery of the first Mavizen to hit US soil, our ears piqued because we were under the impression that Zero Motorcycles must surely have recieved their Mavizens already, after announcing that the team would field two Mavizen bikes in the TTXGP series a while back.

With that apparently not the case, rumors suggested that Zero would be using another non-proprietary chassis at the first round of the TTXGP series at Infineon Raceway. While Zero wasn’t able to comment on their racing plans to us before the weekend, we do have some clues on what the company has up its sleeve from what we know already. More after the jump.

A sort of timely press release for our more laid-back Friday edition, we’ve gotten word that Team Electric Motorsport is looking for a jockey rider for the team’s upcoming TTXGP race at Infineon Raceway being held May 14th-16th. Electric Motorsport isn’t looking for just any rider though, they specify that only racers who are shorter than 5’10” and under 160lbs should apply for the gig as the team has strict power-to-weight ratio concerns.

Want to see what the fastest production electric motorcycle looks like as it power-wheelies and slides the back-end around Infineon Raceway? The folks at Mission Motors thought you might, and put together a promotional video that showcases the (Editor’s Note: Mission Motors President Edward West has commented below that this is a fan video) Mission One doing its thing to an urban beatnik vibe. Grab a cup of your favorite fair trade coffee, put on your hipster skinny jeans, and get ready to see motorcycling through the eyes of the Mission District à la San Francisco in the video after the jump.

Following yesterday’s announcement that Zero Motorcycles will be entering into electric streetbike racing and the TTXGP, comes news that Mission Motors will also be entering the TTXGP series with their LSR setting Mission One sportbike. The first stop of the TTXGP North American Championship is set to be held at Infineon Raceway, which has been the test track of choice for Mission Motors and the Mission One. Press release after the jump.

forest-north-mission-motors

Last month we brought you at Isle of Man. KTUV.com has some video footage of the bike on the track and an interview of Forest North, CEO and founder of Mission Motors where he talks about the Mission One and the future for electric motorcycles. Between video clips of the crew working and a cockpit perspective of the track Forest explains that “electrification is coming” and that electric is the future of motorcycling. He mentions electric motorcycles already have a range that fits how most people ride.

mission-one-motors-infineon-test-1

Only 45 days remain until the start of the TTXGP, and , has been spotted taking laps at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point to CA locals) in California, with pictures to boot.

It looks like most of the original CGI of the digital concept has made it into street form. We’re still not crazy about the nose section, but the rest of the bike looks like a candidate for a TRON re-imagining. There’s no word on lap times or other performance numbers, but it looks like Tom Montano was giving the bike a proper thrashing around the coastal track. 

Source: TTXGP via Autoblog Green