Rob Barber's AGNI posts 26:42.39 Lap...

Yesterday saw the first official practice sessions for the competitors in the TTXGP, the first "carbon free" motorcycle race. Up to twenty electrically powered bikes will compete in a one lap "demonstration race" round the gruelling 37 mile TT mountain course on Friday.

Ten of the fourteen teams to start yesterday's session completed a lap and recorded a time, with Rob Barber of the Agni team fastest with a time of 26 minutes 41.39 seconds and an average speed of 84.819mph. The top speed of his bike recorded on the Sulby straight was 102mph.

Second placed Dan Keen (ManTTX) took 32 minutes to lap the course, just ahead of Chris Petty (Barefoot Motors) and Thomas Montano (Mission) lapping in 33 minutes, Thomas Schoenfelder (XXL) in 34 minutes, Roy Richardson (Brammo) and Mark Buckley (Brammo) in 35 minutes and Chris Heath (Electro MotorrSports) lapping in 36 minutes.

Paddock rumours indicate that some teams may have been holding back a little (or "sandbagging") in order to be sure of completing a lap and recording a time on their first official competitive outing. The biggest challenge for competitors will be balancing the power consumed by going fast against the power needed to finish the lap.

Team Agni's bike is a converted 2007 Suzuki GSXR 600 fitted with two Agni 95 reinforced motors and a Kokam lithiumpolymer battery of 63 cells totalling around 16 kilowatt-hours of energy. According to the team, this will give an impressive 40 to 50 horsepower averaged over the length of the race.

TTXGP First Qualifying

10) Paul Dobbs (HTBlauva) 41m53.00 54.050 mph

TTXGP website: www.ttxgp.com (includes irritating audio)

Rob Barber's Team Agni TTXG Race Bike

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