Hi Mike,Originally Posted by Mike Edwards
Glad to see you contributing; I'm sorry if I missed anything that might have been added to the Man TTX bike, I'm really only going on what I can see/find out from people in the paddock and it's hard to get around everyone. Please do share any major updates and make this thread as comprehensive a resource as possible!
All the best,
Simon
Ultimate Motorcycling just posted this article about the TT Zero: http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/...100mph-barrier
Bit harsh John! You have to keep this in perspective. The TTZero is a tiny part of the TT which actually has a hugely disproportionate amount of money and time devoted to it by the race organisers. The Manx taxpayer (of which I'm one) forks out over £150,000 to stage the TTZero which is broadcast live on Manx Radio (also tax payer subsidised), live on the internet, televised, included in the official DVDs and potentially seen in person by the 40,000 visiting fans. There is also the £10,000 100mph prize, a university prize, and the fact that the IOM govt. bought the TTXGP winning bike which they hawk around various 'cleantech' events to drum up business.
It is not the remit of the race organisers to be journalists, they are there to host the event, but do of course provide a press office with interpreters and free access to the paddock etc for interviews. (by the way, the 'Ultimate Motorcycle' article is a word for word cut and paste from the TT homepage)
I think if you actually tried to find detailed information about any of the ICE teams involved you would reap the same limited return. It aint favouritism.
Whilst I understand your 'casual fans' and 'people who have built their own electric bike' audience comments, they aren't the ones that 'sustain events like this'.
The ones that sustain events like this are the ones that actually come and spend money, and the highly professional teams that engineer purpose built bikes for the world's fastest most punishing road race. It's not a game nor a charity!
Anyway, one thing we agree on 'thanks for the excellent coverage Simon! Please keep it coming.'
Rob
moon liked this post
Thanks for all the info Simon, it is really great, and very much appreciated.
I agree with magicsmoke, the IOM TT organization is holding up their part to support the less than 10 teams that are competing in the TTZero event, it is really up to us to show our support and interest to the journalists that are providing information on the event. That will prompt them to continue or start to provide the information we all want.
-ryan
Simon! Thank you man!!! Killer job keeping us in the loop! Your posts here are priceless. :-)
Your awesome run-down on things was exactly what I couldn't find in scouring the various motorcycle news sites that just had a dab of surface fluff.
From your info, it seems like with a bit of refined energy management, this race could be anyones! That's awesome news and very exciting! I'm stoaked!
I loved the Cycle Analyst on the dash of the other Japanese bike, that will make my good buddy Justin (he created and makes the cycle analyst) really happy to see. :-)
Also, in respect to the bike running out of juice prematurely, I don't know what cell you're using, and if it's LiFePO4 you've got no useful overcharge ability, but if by chance you've done the through over-charge safety testing and evaluation on the cells behavior when overcharged, and the pack was LiCo, LiMn, LiNiMnCo, going from say 4.2v to 4.35v/cell can hold another ~10-15% energy in many cells, which could translate to another perhaps 2-4miles of race distance if needed. I'm not advising you to overcharge your pack... just saying that some cells do store substantial additional energy between 4.2v to 4.35v at the cost of a few dozen cycles off their life...
If you haven't thoroughly tested the cell's overcharge properties, you shouldn't even think about playing that game though, not that I'm advocating playing it in the first place, just presenting a bit of info.
So true....while most of us would have a hard time risking say a $4000 pack on our street bike, racing is a whole different beast. Taking a chance that a $20-30k race pack may not make it a whole year would be acceptable.
moon liked this post
The view from our homestay in Port Erin this morning
Misty with drizzle, due to clear up mid-morning. The road is currently soaking but that doesn't mean we won't run if the rain stops for a few hours. Forecast shows tomorrow as being very wet...
Ahh, the Manx summer.
Anyway, I live just around the corner from your homestay so with the race being postponed until this evening, if there's any last minute bits I can help with e.g. hooking you up with engineers / electronics / transport etc. don't hesitate to PM me.
Good luck!
Rob
Please don't apologise. You seem to be the only person actually taking the time to tell us what is going on over there and I'm very interested in how everything is going. Last year I got more info from the MIT blog than any other source so this year there is an even bigger vacuum.
We spent six months designing out bike and well over six months trying to find the necessary funds to build it. We haven't given up yet even though Mugen are closing the gap on our design I still think we are ahead but how long that will last remains to be seen.
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