It is a victory just to participate in the first ever EGrandPrix. Team MorrisMotorcycles.com is a small crowd sourced team, started by Morris Packer. And only two weeks before the start we had not everything set for the race. Now we have raced the first round - finishing 7th!
The TTXGP - EGrand Prix premiere this weekend was a great success for team Morris Motorcycles!
Despite some throttle control software problems we finished 7th in this the world's first ever series for electric road racing! Thanks to team boss Morris Packer and all our supporters in the web community - our dream is now true!
Short resume: Only two weeks before the race everything was not set for the race, the bike was not ready, nor the budget. But in the last minute Morris called and said GO! And I was ON!
The team arrived late Friday afternoon to the Snetterton race track. We could see some of the E-teams installed in the paddock, but still the Mavizen bikes had not arrived. I borrowed a push bike from another rider and cycled two laps around the race track to learn the layout. That saved me some laps on the first practice session.
Saturday morning, after a traditional English breakfast at the lovely B&B we stayed in, we were finally to see the bike and Mavizen team. Of course the bike is still in a very testing prototype mode, but I could ride it on the first training session. Very strange feeling to power on but hearing nothing... except for the wheezing sound of the chain. Talking of power, controlling the throttle was a major problem. From zero to full gas it was only a millimeter turn on the throttle - the bike was absolutely wild. On a normal bike I could have fixed this "hardware problem" easily, but on this bike it is a "software problem". This means we need some computer programming to solve the problem.
Next session we tried to limit top power, and also connect the battery heat indicators due to the 35 C heat - but now the bike was not happy at all and only ran a couple of seconds at the time. Almost unrideable. Luckily I managed to qualify already in the first session, so now we could concentrate on fixing the battery and power control - which all is down to software.
Sunday morning warm up the bike was back to normal, this means I now still had only 1 mm throttle range, but the battery wasn't shutting off at least. So we were ready for race! And I made a really good start from 9th position. But then the faster and smoother bikes passed and I was down to 8th. I was trying to conserve battery for the 10 laps, because I didn't know exactly how long it would last in the heat. After a while I passed another rider and was up to 7th, a place I kept to the finish.
Mission accomplished: raced the first ever round of the TTXGP - despite running on a totally prototype not tested bike. This was a true success! And we are qualified to continue in the championship. Congratulations to winner Jim Lovell and impressive hugs to top lady Jenny Tinmouth finishing 2nd.
BIG THANKS to team boss/founder Morris Packer for inviting me to ride in your time. And also hugs and love to all supporters/sponsors in this crowd sourced team - believing in this crazy idea. Also thanks to Mavizen crew really helping out. And thanks to organisers who created the event. Last but not least thanks to Henrik for being mechanic.