TTXGP: Unofficial Overview of the Official Rules Part 1

With all the excitement over the inaugural Isle of Man TTXGP, the fact that there are actually two races within TTXGP has gotten a little lost. Let’s break it down:

The TTXGP is comprised of two classes: The Professional Class and the Open Class.

Professional Class Summary
- The motorcycle propulsion system may be one of the following
o Electric power supplied by battery or accumulator
o Fuel cell (considered a separate class?)
o Internal Combustion using non-carbon based fuel (i.e. Hydrogen)
o Hybrid using non-carbon based fuel and producing non-toxic emissions

Open Class Summary
- Electric power supplied by battery or accumulator ONLY
- Motorcycle must be made available for sale for a period of 75 minutes following the completion of the race for a price of £20,000 ($33,000 USD). Refusal to sell the motorcycle upon receiving a legitimate bid results in disqualification from the race.
- Intellectual property remains in the possession of the original owner

From the entry lists, it appears that Electric Motorsport is one of the few, if not the only entrant to sign up for the Open Class competition with their Yamaha R1 based R144.

It takes some balls to risk letting your electric racebike get into the hands of your competitors by participating in the Open Class. It’s certain that this class won’t appeal to teams fielding the expensive prototype and one-off machines being built exclusively for the TTXGP. But it is a great opportunity for manufacturers currently building production bikes to show what they’ve got and give their product some well deserved street cred.

The Professional Class should see the most competition and will definitely garner the biggest bragging rights. These motorcycles will be the most expensive and exotic of the lot, containing each team’s most secret ingredients for TT success. It appears most Pro Class competitors are going with the electric power option but the door is open for some interesting choices.

TTXGP Official Rules for other aspects of the machines including dimensions, bodywork, and safety are all the same for both classes. Thus allowing each builder to focus to be on power technology and handling.

Tomorrow we’ll continue with Part 2 and detail what it takes for each team to qualify for TTXGP. Stay tuned!

Source: TTXGP
Photo: Electric Motorsport