Isle of Man TT ends with a whisper (the TTXGP) and a scream (the Senior)

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ISLE OF MAN -- For days, traditional gas-powered sport bikes ridden by John McGuinness and other top road racers sped along the track for the 2009 Isle of Man TT -- breaking records, bottoming out their suspensions and wrestling their wobbling front ends into line as they navigated lap after lap of the notorious 37.73-mile course at don’t-even-have-to-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speeds approaching 200 mph. So when the electric bikes started wheeling through the gate on the inaugural run of the world’s first zero-emissions motorcycle road race, the energy was more subdued. There were no whirling helicopters and the crowds were polite, rather than yelling -- a mood that matched the superbikes, which were quiet and comparatively slow on takeoff -- the thrills of petroleum-induced smells, sounds and speeds replaced with the milder excitement of possibility.

When an electric version of the TT was given the green light 10 months ago, it was embraced by the Isle of Man’s chief minister as embodying the island’s ‘spirit of adventure’ and by organizers of the legendarily dangerous 102-year-old race as a ‘glimpse into the future.’ Where the future stands right now: at a top speed of 106 miles per hour -- the maximum reached by an India-Anglo outfit called Team Agni, which won the TTXGP Friday with its lithium-polymer-battery, 80-horsepower X01 bike built from the rolling chassis of a GSX-R750.

Going into the TTXGP, it was American manufacturers Mission Motors (a San Francisco company that plans to build a 150-mph, 150-mile-range electric motorcycle) and Brammo (an Ashland, Ore., firm that will soon be selling its Enertia electric motorcycles at Best Buy) that were favored to win. Each company has spent years and poured millions of dollars into developing bikes from scratch. Brammo came in third overall, Mission fourth, having been trumped by a couple of guys who started jury-rigging their ride two months ago in a shed in London’s outskirts. The cost of the Agni X01 was about $30,000, according to Arvind Rabadia, a former newspaper deliveryman who worked with longstanding motor developer Cedric Lynch to build the winning bike.

‘It works,’ said Rob Barber, the TT racer who helmed the Agni X01 for the TTXGP in addition to racing in other TT events throughout the week. ‘It feels like home as soon as you ride it.’

How the electric bike compared to his usual internal-combustion Suzuki GSX-R1000: ‘Better, more peaceful. You can concentrate more because your eyes aren’t bleeding,’ said Barber, who placed 12th in the final TT race of the week immediately following the TTXGP -- the Senior TT -- during which he attained an average lap speed of 120.255 mph versus the 87.434 mph average he achieved on board the Agni.

Another of the day’s TTXGP racers wasn’t so lucky. John Crellin, who placed eighth out of nine teams in the electric GP for the Indian Tork team, was killed just a couple hours later while racing in the Senior TT -- becoming the 224th racer to lose his life on the course since 1911.

Team Agni was one of 60 entrants from 15 countries initially registered to compete when the race was announced. Sixteen showed up on the island last week; just nine finished the actual competition -- the final one being the Brunel X from a London-based university team, which wheeled over the line pushed by foot, 19 minutes after the previous finisher and smack dab in the middle of the podium celebration for the TTXGP winners as they were dousing each other with champagne.

For full TTXP results and race footage, visit www.ttxgp.com.

Related story: TTXGP premieres at Isle of Man

See related photo gallery here.

-- Susan Carpenter