Mavizen has unveiled their TTX02 electric race bike today at SEMA, and unlike the Suzuki based frame and running gear of the TT01 prototype,    the TTX02 will have a KTM sourced RC8 chassis surrounding the Agni powerplants.  The bike should see a top speed (in stock configuration) of 130 mph.

Mavizen is the technical arm of the TTXGP and the new FIM sanctioned race series that has sprung from it.   It plans on offering a limited number of TTX02’s to potential EV racing privateers, which will give them a bike that they can develop without taking the huge financial risk of starting a high-level racing effort from scratch.   According to Azhar Hussain, TTXGP founder and entrepreneure

“The limitted production bike, the Mavizen TTX02, gives potential participants a chance to acquire a bike that they can develop themselves to make it competitive and unique to them. Racing is brutal but at least with the Mavizen TTX02, the racers can start with a proven platform. Mavizen is about growing the grid by being an enabler by those who want to take part.”

Hussain went on to describe the bike as a “laptop on wheels”, in reference to the fact that each machine comes with dedicated IP access, on-board web server, and connectivity to a wifi network.    He said that this signals the company's approach to electric motorcycles via a consumer electronics perspective.  “we are living in a click culture and connectivity is the key, across the board. Our approach was to find how we could make a laptop go racing. We think electric vehicles have more in common with consumer electronics than traditional automotive.”

"By building on the open standards of the internet and the PC, we unlock the creativity and lower the costs of innovation for teams, enthusiasts and riders. TTX02 is a development platform that invites the potential for success previously seen in electronic hardware and software, into the automotive industry. We need to pick up the pace of innovation and make it real fast..."

Frankly, while there is obviously some utility in having a race machine that can accept programming of on-board electronics, or broadcast telemetry from the bike, this sort of general conflation of a physical vehicle with the internet is a bit hard to swallow, not to say deluded.

The internet is a handy way to exchange information and connect to lots of other people.  A racing bike is a physical object that must be physically altered and improved in order to go faster.  It might be a happier and more pleasant world if these two things were really just different aspects of the same thing and we could win Grand Prix races by having really good web connectivity for our on-board browsers, but unfortunately that's not the way the world works.

But this apparent lunacy aside, the TT02 is a race proven design derived from the Agni motors TTGXP winner, and it's easy to see that making it easier and less expensive for privateer teams to become involved with serious EV racing  is bound to draw many more people into the fray and generate tremendous interest, which almost has to help spur innovation in the technology.

[SOURCE:Asphalt&Rubber]