, and now TTXGP has announced an exciting schedule for North America.
The 2012 North America season has four races, of which three are announced and one is labeled “TBD”. The three announced events are all in the western portion of the country, which is a nod to the fact that the majority of electric motorcycle development in America occurs on the West Coast.
What’s most exciting beyond the four races of the season, is that the TTXGP World Final will be held in North America. In the prior two years of the TTXGP the world final race was held in Europe (first, in Albacete Spain, second in Anglesey Wales) and the vast majority of TTXGP World Final participants were European teams. This despite two full seasons in North America and one season in Australia.
I suspect that the main reason Meunch & CRP were the top teams in both TTXGP World Finals so far was because the top North America teams did not travel to Europe for the World Final.
We should note there was only one American team traveling to the World Final, Werkstatt Racing, who attended the 2010 Final in Albacete. Werkstatt’s effort to both participate in the 2010 TTXGP season, and to attend the world final, is to be applauded, but this team was in the middle of the pack during the 2010 TTXGP North America season. It meant the North America field was not well represented in the World Finals, and in 2011 not only did North America go unrepresented in the World Finals, so to was Australia unrepresented.
An outsider looking at this may question just how “World” the “TTXGP World Finals” are. It seems that I’m going down a rathole here focusing on this issue, so let me say this: What we want out of the TTXGP World Finals is for the result to truly represent the efforts of each of the three TTXGP continent-level series.
Ideally the top teams of each continent-level series goes to the TTXGP World Finals and duking it out for to win the trophy. What we have instead is that the TTXGP World Finals is essentially the extension of the TTXGP Europe series. By holding the 2012 TTXGP World Finals in North America we have the opportunity for the ideal World Finals only if the European and Australian teams are able to come up with the funds to make it to Daytona in October.
Now, let’s turn back to the series which was announced.
In May it’s the AMA Superbike weekend at Infineon again. This will be the third year running for TTXGP to race at that venue. It’s a big event with high visibility with lots of motorcycle racing hanging out to watch the stinky noisy gas bikes race, and it’s way cool that the powers that be allow time in what’s a busy race weekend schedule for the electric bikes to race.
In June it’s the OMRRA EV Festival at Portland International Raceway. PIR was going to be the site of a TTXGP race in 2011, but that got canceled. The Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association appears to be a club racing league, which may mean the weekend won’t have the same high visibility as an AMA race weekend. Looking over the OMRRA website it appears to be a rather active club series. Their website does not mention an “EV Festival” but one supposes this will be rectified in time.
Portland, being the home town of MotoCzysz, may mean, one hopes, that MotoCzysz will participate in this TTXGP race. Everyone, pray that this happens. We really want to see another Lightning / MotoCzysz rematch.
The last announced race is at Miller Motorsports Park over Labor Day Weekend. This is a club racing event featuring both AHRMA (Historical race bikes) as well as sidecar racing.
We of course do not know where the mysterious fourth event will be, there are a world of racing events occurring in July and August at which TTXGP could wangle a spot to hold races. Of course the FIM e-Power series is expected to hold a race during the MotoGP event at Laguna Seca in late July. It’s clear that the FIM/TTXGP attempt to collaborate last year fizzled, and it’s highly unlikely we’ll see any joint FIM/TTXGP events this year, but it’s interesting to see a schedule gap in July which opens the door for the Laguna Seca weekend to again be a joint event.
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For the World Finals the Daytona International Speedway website doesn’t list their events calendar this far out in the future, and we cannot tell what sort of event weekend will be hosting the TTXGP World Finals race. This is of course a world famous racing venue, famous for some of the car races held there.
Press release from: http://www.egrandprix.com/news.php?id=268
TTXGP North America 2012 Schedule
14th February 2012
TTXGP press office
The TTXGP North America 2012 schedule has something for everyone, from major national motorcycle racing weekends to headlining an EV festival the calendar has been designed to offer a broad range appeal to multiple types of audiences in America.
TTXGP is pleased to confirm the following dates and venues for TTXGP North America 2012!
Round 1
MAY 4th – MAY 6th
Infineon Raceway
Infineon has been home to the opening round of TTXGP since inception so we are very pleased to be kicking of the season at one of the greenest tracks in the US. The West Coast Moto Jam weekend is the ultimate 2 wheel fiesta; As well as TTXGP fans will be treated to six AMA Pro Road Racing main events on the road course, Supermoto USA on the karting track and FREE Demo rides in the expanded Motorsports Midway.
Round 2
June 23rd – June 24th
Portland International Raceway
The award winning City of Portland; often been referred to as one of the most environmentally friendly or “green” cities in the world and this summer adds to these credentials when it plays host to the region’s first zero carbon race series. The TTXGP race will be the highlight of an EV bonanza with displays, demos and making up the OMRRA EV Festival.
Round 3
August 31st – September 2nd
Miller Motorsports Park
Returning to this prestigious track with AHRMA, TTXGP is excited to return the famous Miller Motorsports Park. Mixing the old with the new and showcasing the historic with the future; the TTXGP race will be hosted by one of the biggest associations in the world. The association has grown steadily over the years, now with over 4,000 members; the Miller round represents represents one of its largest and busiest weekends.
Miller Motorsports Park is a state-of-the-art road racing facility for automobiles, motorcycles and karts located just 35 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City in Tooele, Utah. It is considered the finest race track of its type in North America
Round 4
TTXGP WORLD FINAL 2012: October 19th – October 21st
Daytona International Raceway
For the first time in TTXGP History, we bring our World Final to the USA. Daytona International Speedway is the home to nine major weekends of racing activity, featuring everything from NASCAR to the Rolex Sports Car Series to the American Motorcyclist Association and the World Karting Association, as well as the booked for more than two solid months each year for testing and development of various race vehicles. As such offers racers and fans a world class venue and the perfect choice for the TTXGP WORLD FINAL 2012.
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