The fast track of Falkenbergs Motorbana provided the perfect start to the TTXGP Euro 2012 season!

21st May 2012

TTXGP press office

Himmelman made light work of the season opener and set a blistering race pace that the other racers could only hope to match. (* more photos added)

The German Racer has dominated European electric racing for the past two years with one of the most impressive electric superbikes developed by Muench Racing.  A brand with a rich motorcycle heritage and experience with electric racing since the start of the TTXGP journey in 2009.

Himmelman led from the start. His team mate was unable to join the TTXGP season opener due to contractual conflicts however this hasn't deterred the team to deliver a solid performance on the track. All summer they have been busy developing their production race bike.  This will only help more teams join the grid with a highly competitive machine without the pain and expense of developing a new platform from the ground up. It certainly will provide any smart team with a head start in a championship bid. More on this when we get a chance to catch up with 2010 and 2011 world champions.

Matthias Himmelman on winning the race commented "I loved this track, it is very fast and quick paced. My team were amazing with the setup of the bike we ran the same set up from qualifying apart from changing the front tyre. The bike is heavier than last year due to reconfiguring the battery pack, but I am extremely happy with the handling characteristics. It performed amazingly in the straights. I look forward to more bikes at the next round!"

Interestingly all four of the remaining competitors were running DC Agni motors which although much lighter than their AC counterparts do not have the enormous power offered by their brushless counterparts. We were hoping to see the all new Agni motor fielded by its inventor team Agni Racing, on the track for the first time since it was first mentioned in 2010 but sadly the team pulled out last minute citing last minute technical issues and stating they would be back for round two at Snetterton.

Cedric Lynch in an interview on the TTXGP forum has stated "We have more than one new motor. We have the 111R which is like the 95R but we have found a better insulation material for use between the copper strips. This material has a layer of resin-bonded mica flakes and is much more resistant to breakdown under abuse such as happens in racing, so we have been able to increase the number of copper strips without reducing thickness. This allows the use of higher voltage and also raises the efficiency. We are also working on a larger motor which we hope to have in production soon, and we are hoping to get 25 to 30KW continuously to start with."  Something for us all to look forward to seeing in action and up close. 

The two racers from team Zongshens were battling between themselves for 2^nd and 3^rd place respectively for most of the race.  The team had had a challenging weekend with a crash in the first practice on Friday for no. 59, HoChi Fung. The formidable team from China  were able to carry out repairs in time and put on a great show with each racer putting in an impressive performance.

Tang Yu commented "the track is extremely easy to learn and a fast track, I am very happy with keeping up with my team mate HoChi Fung, who is more experienced at racing. The team made adjustments to the bike since qualifying mainly around the voltage output of the bike and this worked well.  My strategy for the race was to conserve the power at the same time as holding my position" 

His team mate, Ho Chi Fung had a similar plan; "My strategy was to conserve power and hold my position as this is a short fast track. Due to my accident in the practise I wasn’t as confident that the bike would perform to its potential, the team worked very hard to have the bike setup ready for the race, and I am very happy to finish 2^nd. Tang Yu impressed me by closing the gap between us, as I am more experienced in racing I managed to pull away from him. I am happy that we both had a podium finish."
 
A world first! Peter Linden riding the 2010 TTX02 was running a live commentary from within the race to the crowd, who were enjoying the rider experience. He managed to keep up with the Chinese bikes for the whole race, but just couldn’t get close enough to pass them.  His knowledge of the track enabled the bike to be pushed to its limit!

Stefen for Fiver racing has only recently been introduced to electric bike racing and this was his first race, he was plagued with mechanical difficulties with one of his motors that was down on power and as a direct result was lapped. Clearly determined to be back with a working platform to prove himself.