MIST Suzuki Racing

MIST Suzuki Stop Smoking For 2012

MIST Suzuki Racing are pleased to announce the team has reached agreement with Azhar Hussain MBE, founder of the TTXGP electric motorcycle championship, to build an electric motorcycle in time for the 2012 championship and to compete in the European, and hopefully the World, championships. Making the switch from the long established fossil fuel powered racing to the emerging world of renewable green energy is a big step but one the team are looking forward to making.

Team owner Mike Edwards said “We’ve long been converts to the benefits of electric motorcycle racing. 2011 was a landmark season with the fastest electric bike qualifying just ten seconds off Jorge Lorenzo’s pole position time in the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. That’s a huge step and I can’t imagine any electric cars getting that close to F1 cars anytime soon. With technology progressing at the current rate we are confident that gap will start to close even further and look forward to building a competitive bike that will help set new benchmarks in electric motorcycle racing. It is tremendously exciting as there are few opportunities outside of the MotoGP race paddock where can you design and build a complete machine from a clean sheet of paper.”.

TTXGP founder Azhar Hussain was equally enthusiastic: “We are incredibly pleased to welcome the MIST Suzuki team to the TTXGP family. They bring with them world class motorsport experience from WSBK and BSB. We believe MIST are a fantastic example of what can be achieved when TTXGP integrates it’s technical support with the passion and motorsport heritage that Mike and his team bring to the next generation of motor sports. Their involvement brings us closer to our goal to have the most competitive and thrilling grid anywhere in the world for clean emission zero carbon racing.”.

MIST bring with them a number of highly experienced technical partners, ranging from chassis design and build expertise to the MotoGP and World SuperBike race paddock, class leading electronics firms looking to develop their top SuperBike products for the electric bike market plus a number of battery and controller experts from other highly experienced electric vehicle manufacturers.

Mike added: “We are holding talks with a production company about making a documentary on the design and development process, showing the project from it’s inception through the build and testing to the first race of the season. We have some world leading electric motor and battery expertise in this country and, when combined with some of the extremely talented motorcycle chassis designers, the goal has to be to use the combined talent of our team and our partners to fly the flag for British engineering and technology on the world stage.”

“We also plan to continue the development of the World Superbike spec. Suzuki we have been building this season and will use it as the benchmark for both the electronics and handling targets for the new project. We may even complete a WSB wild card or two to help publicise the TTXGP entry.”.

For further details please get in touch with the team via the website at www.mistsuzuki.com or email at ‘info@mistsuzuki.com’.

About MIST Suzuki Racing

Team owner Mike Edwards, one of the original founders of the MiniTwins race series, set up MIST Suzuki Racing to provide a path for young riders to reach the top levels of international racing. The path led from points scoring finishes against factory supported teams during their three year tenure as one of the largest British teams in the World SuperBike paddock, to podium finishes, race wins and multiple lap records in the British SuperBike Evo class. The team was accepted to compete in a number of wild card races at World SuperBikes in 2011 but had to postpone their plans until the following year due to issues obtaining the necessary parts in time.

About TTXGP

TTXGP, the eGrandPrix is an international race series providing a high profile platform for the development of electric vehicles. Using motorcycles as a resource effective development platform, TTXGP enables the futuristic technology behind them to be tested in an exciting and challenging way. TTXGP aims to drive low carbon technological innovation forward, to demonstrate that clean-emission transport technologies have matured and can be fun, fast and exciting.

MIST Suzuki to race World SuperBikes in Portugal

MIST Suzuki are pleased to announce their plans to race in the final round of the World SuperBike championship in Portugal next month.

After a year of hard work building their Suzuki SuperBike to the highest possible standard the team are all set to begin testing this month in preparation for their first International SuperBike event.

With over two years experience developing and successfully racing SuperBikes the team are eager to use Portimao as the stepping stone to their 2012 race season. Having previously spent three years competing in the support classes at World SuperBikes the team are well respected in the paddock and are looking forward to showing what a small professional team can achieve on a tight budget.

Team Manager Mike Edwards said “We are delighted to have been offered wild card places at Magny Cours in France and Portimao in Portugal. Due to time constraints we have chosen to focus our attention on the later round in Portugal and are hoping to bring a new title sponsor on board to help with the running costs for the event.”.

“We have had excellent support from Motec Europe, the world leader in the design and manufacture of engine management and data acquisition systems. MIST Suzuki are one of the few top level teams to be supplied with their latest electronics package. It is the same system that took former MotoGP rider John Hopkins to pole position at the Silverstone round of the championship earlier this year so we are feeling quite positive about things.”

He added “We have several projects under development for the 2012 season and hope to make an announcement on those soon. We are keen to push new technology in racing so are very much committed to seeking the widest possible audience to showcase our talents”.

With the bike build nearing completion the team need just a little more help to reach the twenty thousand pound target needed to cover the costs of competing. In return we can offer title sponsorship for the event plus exclusive access to the circuit, team garage and hospitality over the race weekend for selected guests. There is even the opportunity to work alongside the team if the hands on approach appeals.

Anyone in a position to help out can get in touch via the team website at www.mistsuzuki.com or email: mike.edwards@mistsuzuki.com

Addendum (25/10): The best laid plans of mice and men…

In 2010 the team worked with a company to produce a wiring harness suitable for our Evo spec. Suzuki. When we planned our full spec. SuperBike in 2011 we kept them up to date at every stage of our plans. After trying to pin them down for several months we were eventually promised the loom for the end of August. Later than we wanted but still plenty of time for the WSB wild card entries.

As the end of August approached it appeared that delivery was unlikely so we contacted another respected loom making. We were promised a quote and an estimated delivery date but by the end of September we were getting worried as nothing had been forthcoming and the company had gone quiet on us.

We found a third company who came highly recommended for being both capable and reliable but they were unable to guarantee delivery before the Portimao round so, regretfully, we had to withdraw out entry and our dreams for the 2011 season. Roll on 2012.