Excluded from TTXGP and ePower series, Swigz Pro Racing will compete against gassers

It's on. After being excluded from the 2011 TTXGP season because of a 100 50-kg reduction in the allowable bike weight, Chip Yates and the Swigz Pro Racing team have recently learned the FIM ePower series has mimicked their rival racing organization's 250 kg (551.2 lb) limit, obstructing an opportunity to compete there.

Now, Yates could compromise and reduce the size of his battery pack by 16 kg (35.27 lb), accept the resulting losses in producible power and race against his electric peers. Or he could just hack out his own path in the motorcycle racing jungle. He has chosen the latter.

Swinging cutting comments like a machete, Chip "On His Shoulder" Yates has announced he is ready to pit his electric superbike against the established gas-powered machines.

Clearly, these championships are more concerned with promoting scooter development, and our bike is so much faster than the electric competition that we feel far more inclined to push our bike's unique technology platform forward in the ultimate competitive environment of gasoline bike racing.

Yates will start on January 9, 2010 at the Auto Club Speedway in California where he will go wheel-to-wheel with bikes like the Ducati 1198 and KTM RC8 in the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Heavyweight Twins Superbike class. Its power-to-weight ratio should put it in the middle of the pack though there is talk of it getting a 20 percent boost in horsepower after that first race.

We won't have to "weight" for the new year to see if the electric monster can walk the walk Chip is talking. Bike and rider will make their track debut for the public and media at Infineon Raceway this coming December 15th. Hit the jump for more details in the official press release.

[Source: Swigz Pro Racing]

PRESS RELEASE

ELECTRIC SUPERBIKE TO TAKE ON WORLD'S FINEST GASOLINE RACING MOTORCYCLES

* World's most powerful and sophisticated electric superbike to make history taking on established gasoline race bikes on January 9, 2010 at Auto Club Speedway in California
* Bike's debut track appearance on December 15, 2010 at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma California for a private test and media day.
* Bike will become the world's most powerful road racing motorcycle, exceeding the power of a MotoGP bike

The world's most powerful and sophisticated electric superbike will make history on January 9, 2010 at the Auto Club Speedway in California, as the first electric bike to go head to head against conventional gasoline powered race bikes in a professionally organized roadrace.

The extraordinary machine, developed by SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing in the USA, is the world's most powerful and technically advanced electric superbike and which by February, 2011, will become the most powerful road racing motorcycle of any kind being actively campaigned.

Chip Yates, the bike's rider and owner of SWIGZ Racing says: "We have to thank WERA Motorcycle Roadracing for inviting us into their series to make history with this news. Our electric motorcycle will compete head on with real racing superbikes such as the Ducati 1198 and KTM RC8 as well as other established manufacturers, and we expect to work hard to show the world that electric technology can achieve laptime parity with gasoline superbikes. We're not going on track to make up the numbers; we're going out to compete in order to raise our game and catch up to these gasoline guys."

The news comes in the light of the bike's recent exclusion from the FIM and TTXGP Championships for electric motorcycles, which has imposed a significantly lower maximum weight limit of 250kgs for the 2011 season. "Our bike weighs in at 266kgs right now", says Yates. "Clearly, these championships are more concerned with promoting scooter development, and our bike is so much faster than the electric competition that we feel far more inclined to push our bike's unique technology platform forward in the ultimate competitive environment of gasoline bike racing."

The SWIGZ Racing machine has a power to weight ratio that is slightly better than 600cc gasoline bikes, and will begin the 2011 season by competing in the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Heavyweight Twins Superbike class where its power to weight ratio puts it in the middle of the field. To be competitive against these heavyweight twin cylinder superbikes going forward, the bike will benefit from a more than 20% increase to its current 194 horsepower after this first race weekend in January.

Yates continues: "Our scheduled power increase will make our electric superbike more powerful than a MotoGP bike and will bring us extremely close to power to weight parity with the best 1,000cc Japanese superbikes. Those two facts are a simply outstanding reflection of the potential in electric power."

Ahead of the WERA Pirelli Sportsman Series race weekend on January 9th, the bike has been invited by Infineon Raceway, a motorsports leader in green performance and sustainability, to be put through its paces at race speeds for the first time ever on December 15th. Chip and the SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing USA team will enjoy the private use of the world-class Infineon road course from 8:30am to 4:30pm and media and the public are welcomed to attend.

SWIGZ Racing will soon announce additional race dates where the electric superbike can be seen competing directly against gasoline bikes in the WERA championship series, that will include Miller Motorsports Park, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and other major venues across the USA.