During the unveiling at the Suzuka circuit of the all-original Mugen Shinden - the brand new electric racer that will take part in the next TT Zero under the flag of the famous Honda tuner - it has been officially announced that the rider that will try to take it to victory on the Isle of Man will be no-less than 17 times TT winner John McGuinness, making it clear - if there were any doubts left - that Honda is indeed involved in the project.

McGuinness has shown some interest in participating to the TT Zero since Micheal Rutter and Mark Miller got really close to the 100 mph (160 km/h) average last year on the MotoCzysz, proving that this kind of bike can actually deliver some serious performance. The announcement will obviously bring more visibility to the TT Zero and to the electric motorcycle business as a whole, paving the way for the other important manufacturers that sooner or later will have to get involved with it.

After the jump you can see a recent interview with McGuinness during which the man admits his commitment to the project (which was shot a few days ago when the legendary rider went to visit his local football team, Morecambe FC) as well as the first official specs of the Mugen Shinden , which means ‘electricity of God’ in Japanese. Since the final goal is to become the first electric vehicle to get around the TT track with an average speed of more than 100 mph, there’s no doubt that Mugen has secured itself the right man for the job, but will the machine be able to live up to the expectations? Given that Honda is definitely well into it, we would say a straight ‘yes, definitely’.

View Mugen Shinden photo gallery

Continue reading: John McGuinness to race at the TT Zero with the Mugen Shinden

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The second Isle of Man TT Zero practice takes place today before the official race scheduled for Wednesday, June 9th. The first practice on Saturday was an exciting event, with MotoCzysz looking to create some seriously fast competition before it ran out of battery charge before the finish, leaving team Agni Racing to complete the fastest lap.

There are ten bikes involved in this year’s TT Zero: Ecolve from London, Agni Racing who have two bikes, University teams Brunel and Kingston, MotoCzysz from America, Isle of Man based ManTTx Racing, Austria’s HTBLAUVA – XX Project, SERT (Swedish Electric Racing Team) and Germany’s Peace E Rider.

The spy shot above shows the MotoCzysz E1pc bike that’s racing and before it ran out of battery charge due to over-enthusiasm with the throttle on the part of the rider, it was producing some impressive figures. Quotes from the guys at MotoCzysz on the Isle of Man: “Another calibration test tomorrow and another Q session on Monday- spirits very HIGH here tonight!!!” Wednesday is going to be an exciting race for the electric bikes at the 2010 TT.

Source | IoMTT and A&R

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A Mavizen bike will appear at the 2010 TT Zero event, despite Isle of Man organisers setting up this rival event after shunning the TTXGP, founded by Azhar Hussain, owner of Mavizen. The TT Zero was established by FIM and Isle of Man as a rival to the TTXGP series and it was originally reported that Hussain would think twice about selling Mavizen bikes to run in the competitor event.

Carbon fibre manufacturer 666 Road Racing has announced that it wants to use a Mavizen electric bike in the Isle of Man TT Zero race, making it the first to purchase a Mavizen bike for use other than in the TTXGP series. The company makes the carbon tray that holds the electrical components of the Mavizen bike. Riding for 666 will be Keith Amor who won two podium spots at the 2009 TT, and who recently split with the JMF/Millsport team, leaving him without a spot at this year’s race. The Mavizen bike used will have a KTM chassis, Mavizen electric parts and 666 components.

Source | Asphalt and Rubber

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