Zero Motorcycles throws hat into TTXGP road racing ring

Although it sat out the inaugural TTXGP race this summer past (hey, they were busy making a bunch of new models, what do you want from them already?) Zero Motorcycles has announced they will enter the 2010 fray starting with the first race weekend at Infineon May 14-16. The bike that the California company will run is said to take its design cues from the Zero S (pictured above) and use the same Z-Force powertrain technology along with a new Z-Force Air Induction system that will help cool the motor.

As with many companies involved in motorsport, Zero hopes to use the competitive series to help drive its product innovation. They hint that the new cooling setup, for instance, will provide for higher performance on up-coming production models. The company is also lining up some strategic partners for the effort and expects to make some announcements shortly. While Zero Motorcycles has recently shown itself to be a potent competitor off-road, when the green flag finally starts waving next year they can expect to face a tough field, including a pair of entries from last year's winning Agni Motors team as well as machines from Brammo, MotoCzysz, Mission Motors, Electric Motorsport, and newcomers Swigz,com Racing (and others). Hit the jump for both the official press release and a bit of bonus clip of TTXGP founder Azhar Hussain trying out the Zero S last summer.

[Source: Zero Motorcycles]

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PRESS RELEASE


Zero Motorcycles to Compete in the TTXGP 2010 Electric Motorcycle championships

-- Zero Motorcycles to Field its First Street Racing Team in 2010 --

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (December 1, 2009) – Zero Motorcycles announced today the creation of its first street racing team and its plans to enter the upcoming 2010 TTXGP electric motorcycle series. Zero has indicated that its race-ready motorcycle will be using the same Z-Force powertrain technology that is currently used in its production electric motorcycles. Few additional details have been released on the development of Zero's race bike, but it has been hinted that many of the design cues will come from the production Zero S street motorcycle.

TTXGP is the world's first zero carbon and zero emissions motorcycle race series. The inaugural TTXGP race took place on the historic Isle of Man TT course in June 2009 and will return again in June 2010 with the addition of a new race class. The first TTXGP race in the 2010 season will be the TTXGP North America Championships at Infineon in Sonoma, California on May 14 - 16.

"Electric motorcycles are powerful, exciting and available now. There is no race that highlights electric motorcycle technology more than the TTXGP and we are excited to support their efforts with our own racing team," said Gene Banman, CEO of Zero Motorcycles. "We have identified a series of strategic partners for this program and will be making announcements shortly about their involvement."

Zero Motorcycles is not a stranger to competitive racing. Recently, Zero Motorcycles took first place in a sanctioned motocross race (finishing third overall in points for the series), in France hosted by the French Federation of Motorcycles. The Zero MX beat out more than 200 450cc gas motorcycles in fierce competition.

Zero's Z-Force technology includes its patent pending Z-Force power pack which is capable of delivering a tremendous amount of energy from a highly compact and lightweight system. It also includes a newly announced Z-Force Air Induction system that allows Zero to fully leverage their power pack's capabilities by dispersing excess motor heat. This development also paves the way for Zero to increase performance in upcoming models.

"We've spent four years developing the Z-Force electric power train technology for high performance dirt and street riding. We're excited to take it to the track and compete. We expect to gain valuable information through the competition of our motorcycles and plan to apply that knowledge to the development of future products," added Neal Saiki, Zero Motorcycles Founder and CTO.

Zero Motorcycles is the next step in motorcycle evolution and represents the ultimate electric motorcycle technology. Unencumbered by conventional thinking about how they design, manufacture and sell high performance electric motorcycles, they are on a mission to turn heads and revolutionize their industry by combining the best aspects of a traditional motorcycle with today's most advanced technology. The result is an electric motorcycle line that's insanely fast and environmentally friendly.

You can find out more about Zero Motorcycles' entire family of products at http://www.zeromotorcycles.com.

For media information, please contact Ashley Garing, DRIVEN Media Communications www.drivenontheweb.com, 951-461-2429 or media@zeromotorcycles.com.

TTXGP information: www.egrandprix.com

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