We’re loving this onboard from Joey Dunlop around the Isle of Man in 1983. But as well as the always amazing images of Joey ‘keeping it lit and between the hedges’, here is the brilliantly cool, calm and understated Ulster tones of yer maun himself.
Stay with this footage for some hilarious repartée between Joey and the journalist as he sits, gobsmacked, while Joey comments on how ‘careful’ you have to be through this or that particular section.
Really inspiring stuff from the man who walked the walk and never bothered to talk the talk too much.
Ok, so we know the TT was a couple of weeks back and that we all know, at least intellectually, how mad TT riders really have to be.
But: we’ve never seen anything that etches out the sublime and lightning quick interaction of bike, body and mind that is needed to thread a competitive lap around the Isle of Man than the footage in the onboard video below.
The lap commentary by onboard rider and record-breaking mentalist Guy Martin sets off the incredible sequence perfectly — and what emerges that the man himself appears amazed that he can actually do the things that is evidenced by the video he shot.
The TT3D film was damn good. But there’s something in the rawness of this footage combined with Guy’s voiceover that transcends that totally.
Talk all through the video is of how calibrated to this sort of high tempo effort the rider’s brain becomes through practice during TT week: and there is a barely disguised and totally refreshing sense of awe at the challenges he has faced.
Whatever you think of the ethical whys and wherefores of the Isle of Man TT, hold tight until 22 April, when the the 3D documentary Closer to the Edge will hit screens all over the UK.
It focuses on self-style maverick Guy Martin and his love of Road Racing — and examines the motivations, action and consequences of some of the most dangerous racing ever taken on by man and machine.
Not having seen the film at time of writing we can’t really comment — but we’ve always been of the opinion that danger is an inherent and wholly understood aspect of motor racing of all kinds.
As long as there are roads and machines, men and women are going to want to race them — no matter what the consequences.
Look out for the movie. It’s bound to be a worthwhile watch.
The 2010 eGrandPrix race season has been announced. It will now culminate with a championship race organized by the European Motorcycle Union at Spain’s Albacete circuit. The date has yet to be announced, but the addition of this championship gives the fledgling electric motorcycle racing organization not only four-race national series in the UK and Italy and three races in North America, but also a headline event at the Isle of Man TT – and now an officially sanctioned European Championship event. It looks, then, that Electric bike racing is a huge element of at least the immediate future. Who knows where it will end up.
Whatever the future hold for the formula: covering the world’s first Grand Prix race event for electric bikes at the 2009 TT did my head in. I learned everything I know about electric motorcycles over three solid days of back to back interviews. The words ‘Lithium Ion’ were never further from my lips than the end of my nose until I boarded the ferry back to Heysham.
Stood on the wall on Glencrutchery Road, as the marshal walked down the line of bikes with the two minute board above his head, it truly felt as if history was being made. Somehow, and very few people really know how, the worlds’ most venerable motorcycle race had squeezed the schedule of its most important day to allow 13 electric bikes to compete in a unique race of their own.
National TV cameras and media from four continents buzzed around the bikes. The procedure was identical to that of the real Senior TT that would line up in the exact same place two hours later.
It was like the Grand National pausing to allow a Donkey Derby.
Competitors ranged from Michael Czysz’s truly astonishing E1PC (top) to Team Tork’s Pune – an Indian University’s project. The latter was a machine so ugly, as one onlooker pointed out, “that you wouldn’t ride to the pastie shop”.
The winner (above) was an anglo-Indian effort from Agni Motors — A GSX 750 with its ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) ripped out and two Agni DC motors, a bunch of Lithium Ion cells, a motor controller and a battery controller motherboard jammed in. The Agni was about as pretty as a toenail, but lapped at 87 MPH.
OK, so 50cc racers lapped the mountain course at 86 MPH as far back as 1966, but it’s still shifting – more than fast enough to kill you at various parts of the 37.73 mile course.
The Indian ambassador to London was even there to see the historic win, helping to give the event a feeling that a shift in power was happening — a shift from ICE to electricity, from Japan to other, emerging economies.
Then, someone plucked the sun out of my new dawn.
The TTXGP was supposed to be about finding an answer to the problems caused by fossil fuel-burning vehicles. As well as electric power, there are after all many different ways of improving on our beloved Internal Combustion. But with the winner’s leathers still sticky with champagne I began to get the feeling that someone had forgotten the point of the race.
When Azhar Hussain, founder of TTXGP, stood up in front of press, teams, locals and politicians and said, “The TTXGP will accept electric vehicles only, so it is easier for spectators and the media to understand the concept,” it felt like a veil had been lifted – or rather a curtain had fallen.
I looked around. Few people had even noticed what he had said. “The people are electro-Nazis”, I thought. They’re not exactly looking for the optimum solution for sustainable motorcycling _ they’re looking to develop a saleable 45 minute race package for Sunday afternoon, with highlights repeated on Monday.
Hussein spoke about animosity from ‘those invested in the status quo’, whilst establishing and investing heavily in a new status quo.
The TTXGP is said to be ‘visionary’, ‘exciting’ and ‘challenging’. But how far does it get us toward an answer to the question: how do we ride bikes fast without producing emissions?
The Lowdown
Anglo-Indian company Agni manufactures DC motors in India that are used mainly to power go-karts for indoor tracks. “We entered the race to promote the motors,” designer Cedric Lynch says. The TTX organizers put Agni in touch with the rider Robert Barber, who recommended converting a Suzuki GSX-R750 to electric power. “He arranged for us to buy this one without its engine. But fitting everything into the space occupied by the internal combustion engine was the biggest challenge.”
The bike runs two DC electric motors. It had to use two because the company doesn’t make a single motor durable enough to take all the power this bike can create. Lynch says, “The two motors are simply coupled with a shaft and then drive the rear wheel with a fixed ratio. It’s a twist-and-go machine.” The false fuel tank covers the bike’s battery-management system.
What’s Next?
During the TTX, Cedric Lynch became the cult figurehead. After all, Agni won the race. Lynch says, “It is possible we could collaborate with a manufacturer to develop electric motorcycles for sale.”
Why It Matters
It won the very first electric TT, by 3 minutes 7 seconds, lapping 10 mph faster than its competitors. In terms of performance, this bike set the standard by which all future electric race motorcycles will be judged.
1. The Isle of Man TT began in 1907, after a law was cleared in 1904 that allowed roads to be closed for the Gordon Bennett car trials.
2. When the race first started practice sessions used to take place in the early morning with regular traffic. Charlie Collier and Rem Fowler were the two winners of the then two-class race (single and double).
3. The BBC started broadcasting the race live after the second world war.
4. The current course is 37.73 miles (six laps) which was adopted in 1920, though the original course (known as St. John’s course) was under half this at 15.6 miles. There was also a course called the Clypse Course for Sidecar, Ultra Lightweight and Lightweight race. It was first used in 1954 and was 10.79 miles long.
5. The TT route is scattered with memorials to the various riders who have been killed or injured during the gruelling race. In 1970 alone 6 riders were killed and in its history it has taken 223 lives.
6) In 1977 the race lost its world championship title, due to safety reasons, though continued as an opportunity for any road race enthusiasts to make their mark, including John Mc Guinness who took 15 wins, Phil “Hizzy” Hislop who took 11 and Phillip McCallen who took 11
7 The ‘King of the Road’, Joey Dunlop OBE MBE is undoubtedly the most decorated rider that the TT has seen, with a total of 26 wins. His first win was in 1977 and he has gained titles such as: “7 Formula 1, 4 Senior, 3 Junior, 5 Lightweight and 5 UltraLightweight Races, plus the 1977 Jubilee Race and the 1980 Classic 1000”. He is also the only rider in history to have 3 hat-tricks to his name– “1985 F1, Senior and Junior, 1988 F1, Senior and Junior and in 2000 the Formula One, Lightweight and Ultra Lightweight.” In 2002 the 26th Milestone was renamed “Joey’s” in his memory.
8 The race was cancelled in 2001 due to a Britain-wide outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease.
9 The fastest ever lap was set by John McGuinness riding a 1000 HM Plant Honda in 2007 in the Senior TT, clocking 17m 21.99s at a speed of 130.354mph. This lap time also lead him to take the fastest race time of 1hr 11m 56.29s. In 2007, the centenary of the event all but 1 category for both lap and race records were shattered.
10 The 2009 race saw John McGuinness destroy his previous lap record in the Senior TT category riding a Honda CBR1000R with a time of 17’12.30 and an average speed of 131.578 mph.
2009 also saw the first zero-emissions race with 15 all-electric bikes.
Whilst calculating the emissions totals for our ongoing roadtrip in Scotland with a Landrover Discovery, we came across a news story about the world’s first fully emissions free superbike GP, which is scheduled for the Isle of Man this summer.
Problem is with electric powered bikes is, of course, the weight of the batteries. Size and heftiness has always made it difficult to make a nimble and aesthetically pleasing machine. Things might be moving on, however.
The bike pictured is the GP entry from Imperial College, London. Sponsored by Valence technologies (the folk who make the batteries), the bike will be ridden by Chris Palmer, three-time overall race winner at the Isle of Man TT. Chris also holds the lap records for the Billown Circuit and Mountain Course for the Ultra-Lightweight TT class.
The bike weighs in at 290kg and has a peak power output of 50hp, with the ability to accelerate from 0-60mph in 4 seconds and go on to a top speed of 100mph. It has an impressive range of up to 150 miles. The electric motors have been mounted towards the rear, with the batteries occupying space previously occupied by the engine and fuel tank, meaning the bike benefits from a lower centre of gravity.
The TTXGP will be integrated into the usual bonkers TT schedule in June, and will probably be giggled at by the hairy arsed greasemonkeys of the internally combusted pursuasion.
But surely, dragging your knee round the Island with nothing but the sound of benign whirring to disturb your flow would appeal to purists of the art of fast biking. Wouldn’t it?
