Electric Motorcycle

Electric motorcycle racing is returning to the Isle of Man again this year, but without the guy who brought it there in the first place. It’s the latest installment in a soap opera that threatens to overshadow the budding sport.

Azhar Hussain and the TTXGP have been booted from the Isle of Man TT, the venue for last year’s inaugural motorcycle green grand prix. By any measure the race was a success, drawing 13 teams and kicking the nascent electric motorcycle movement into high gear. Isle of Man officials worked closely with Hussain to make the race happen, but this year they’re going it alone.

“We have enjoyed a very successful partnership with TTXGP Ltd. and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work last year,” the Hon. Martyn Quayle, minister of tourism and leisure, said in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming many of the electric bike teams and riders back to the Isle of man in 2010 as well as seeing new challengers pitting their wits against the Mountain Course.”

The new race is called TT Zero, and it will be held June 9 during the Isle of Man TT. As an added bonus, Isle of Man officials are promising £10,000 — about $16,024 at today’s exchange rate — to the first team to post a 100-mph lap around the 37.7 mile course. Snagging that purse will require the teams to step up the technology; last year’s winner, Ron Barber (pictured), lapped the course at an average of 87.43 mph. The next fastest team clocked an average of 77.84 mph.

Everyone’s going to have to go at least that fast to keep up with all the drama in a sport that’s barely two years old but already has split into at least two factions.

Hussain launched the TTXGP in July, 2008 with little more than the goal of seeing zero-emissions motorcycles racing on the Isle of Man. Some two dozen teams signed up, 13 made it to the starting grid and 10 finished the race. The race was endorsed by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the sanctioning body of MotoGP and other top-tier racing events.

The FIM knew a good thing when it saw it and started working with Hussain to push electric motorcycle racing onto a much bigger stage. Things were looking rosy until the FIM walked away — and took the TTXGP’s rule book with it — in November and announced the E-Power series, four races slated to begin in May.

We’ve heard from one person involved in the brief marriage that there was a difference in opinion over the rules and structure of the race. Essentially it boiled down to the FIM being very formal and the TTXGP being very loose, arguing that the technology is changing rapidly and shouldn’t be constrained by a lot of rigid rules.

It didn’t seem Hussain was terribly upset the partnership went south. The TTXGP has launched a world championship series that starts in May with races in California, Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy running through September. Last time we talked to him he said 52 teams have expressed interest. He’s also got an electric car race in Paris in June. And his company, Mavizen, is building an electric sportbike.

Still, he’d planned to return to the Isle of Man in June. The Tourist Trophy is one of the most storied races in all of motorsports, and the winding Mountain Course is one hell of a proving ground for motorcycles. Hussain told us as recently as last week the race was a go.

Turns out it is. But he’s not involved.

The Isle of Man Department of Tourism and Leisure is taking over. It isn’t saying why, but it’s worth noting the race is following the FIM rules. So clearly the TT is siding with the FIM in deciding where electric motorcycle racing should go as it matures. We couldn’t get ahold of Hussain, but apparently he got no warning of the split before it was announced Thursday.

“I read the press release at the same time as everybody else,” he told Motorcycle News.

And he told the San Francisco Examiner, “The TTXGP race last year was a huge successes. We’ve put in a lot of effort and hard work to make the 2010 race even better, and are disappointed the Isle of Man TT has decided not to work with us this year. This is the Isle of Man TT’s decision, so you would have to ask them. We’ve done everything we could to make the Isle of Man TTXGP happen.”

“Everything” included agreeing to stage the electric bike race on a Wednesday afternoon, not exactly a time that will draw a lot of spectators.

The great irony here is the only bikes committed to the Isle of Man race thus far are, according to Motorcycle News, Mavizens. Yes, Hussain bikes so far fill the grid, but he isn’t fielding a team and any e-bike can enter. Hussain says he’s building the bikes to democratize the races by giving people access to machinery. He’s trying to make a buck, of course, but that’s what entrepreneurs do. Mission Motors, CRP Racing, Zero Motorcycles and other teams don’t have a problem racing against the series founder’s bikes. And so far they’re committing to the TTXGP and telling the FIM to get stuffed.

So where’s that leave electric motorcycle racing?

“Schizophrenic” comes to mind. We have a electric motorcycle racing series with rules, a slate of races in five countries and a couple of dozen teams interested in racing but no sanctioning body. We’ve got a sanctioning body with rules, a slate of races in three countries but no major teams (that being a relative term in so new a sport) committed. And we’ve the TT telling its one-time partner, “Thanks for the cool new race. Now beat it.”

You’d think a field so new as electric motorcycle racing would be broad enough for everyone to work together to advance the sport instead of their own agendas.

Photo: Isle of Man TT / Mark Walters