Having confirmed our plans to enter the 2012 TTXGP electric motorcycle championship the next step was to raise the necessary money and come up with a range of plans that would ensure maximum coverage for our brand and technology partners.

We came up with a three stage strategy:

- Create an innovative chassis design taking full advantage of the packaging opportunities created by losing the heavy petrol engine.

- Transfer full spec. Motec electronics from the SuperBike to the electric motorcycle to take full advantage of the traction control & launch strategies and allow sophisticated power management strategies to maximise performance.

- Film a television documentary following the design and development stages all the way through to the chequered flag at the end of the first race.

After being so impressed with the work Mario Picariello at www.mariodesign.co.uk did for us in 2011 we have updated our sponsorship brochures for the coming season based on his original designs.

Mario’s A5 booklet looks great and really helps sell what we have to offer. Please feel free to take a look if you think you know somebody that might be interested to help us.

Click here to download a copy.

The big problem with all these types of projects is that nothing is available off the shelf.

I managed to buy the suspension linkage, then I had to get some hardened spacers, then some of those hardened spacers had to be machined. Then I had to find the right length and type of bolts to give enough clearance.

Having the wiring harness made is relatively painless, albeit expensive, but every sensor has to be in position first, so a dozen or so one off brackets have to be designed and made.

When we ran in the BSB Evo class in 2010 we had a wiring harness made but most of the sensors stayed were they were on the stock bike. On this bike everything will move, the battery will be in a new position, the tip over sensor is being replaced by an HRC item, the regulator/rectifier is an aftermarket item, etc.

The bespoke dash bracket we used last year was quite simple, one major connector for the dash and one to allow us to hook up the laptop to connect to the electronics. We found we still had plenty of wires for various sensors, etc. getting in the way. This time the dash bracket will have connectors for the front potentiometer, front brake pressure sensor, etc. and then plenty of internal wiring to give us another big connector to bring everything together and connect it to the main harness.

We are hoping to use a fuel tank that will centralise the weight distribution of the bike. This then needs a different rear subframe, in fact it’s so small you could hardly even call it a subframe. This positions the standard fuel pump a lot further back so we need a new fuel line which, of course, requires that we modify both the end of the pump and the fuel rail that sits on the throttle bodies.

Everything takes time and money.

The biggest challenge when building SuperBike is getting all the new pieces to work well together. Nothing is ever easy, whether it is a small bracket to mount a wheel speed sensor or something major such as a new fuel tank, swing arm or even the wiring loom.

The new shock is a special Ohlins item made specifically for SuperBike use with factory suspension linkages. Of course, it is longer and the reservoir cylinder is facing away to give more clearance. That’s fine except is hits the bottom of the standard subframe but we were planning on changing that anyway.

When we get the new tank we will have to change the top mount to fix the clearance problems. For the moment we have a narrower top mount but we need a longer clevis anyway. The bottom fitment is also non-standard to work with the new linkage.

Even the simple things need special brackets, note the clip on potentiometer mount in this photo:

The actual linkage is reversed compared to normal and although we are using a standard swing arm for the moment it has been modified to have quick release wheels and the linkage mount has also been modified. This gives us an option of a variety of mounting brackets that can be bolted on.

The settings we have should work well which should be a good interim step until we get the money to have a bespoke swing arm made. We have had this tested and found the torsional stiffness is where we want it to be but the lateral stiffness is way too stiff for the optimum edge grip. As usual every little problem can be solved with money…

The axle mounts and adjusters have simply been cut off and new blocks welded in. This allows us to run a longer wheelbases than with the stock swing arm but also has some other benefits.

Here you can see the adjuster block with one of the other secrets. The wheels have captive spacers and the blocks have small supports underneath so you can just drop the wheel in to place and it is held without the axle. In fact, it is totally self supporting and the axle can just be slid through with one hand when required.

And the same things from the other side…

More little ‘nice to haves’. There are the bespoke oil cooler brackets. They bolt on as usual but have lightweight HEL oil lines between them. You can also see the oil pressure sensor mounted on one block and the oil temperature sensor on the other.

After a brief hiatus working on other things we finally managed to get back to the engine. First step was to rebuild the freshly ported and skimmed head with the Yoshimura Cotters & Retainers.

Somewhere in our pile of parts is the original see of Cotters purchased for the project but, not being able to find them, we had to buy another set to allow things to progress.

Having double checked the cam timing on the Yoshi cams it was time to shim the head properly, or at least take an initial best guess at it, and fit the cams that we had cut to our profile a couple of years ago. As we never got around to using them at the time we had to press the Yoshimura cam wheels on and then get them timed up to an initial spec. to see how they would perform.

Of course once we had the timing set we had to go back and re-shim everything to give the correct clearances. An engine builders work is never done.

In this modern age it is a constant surprise that we have to resort to the old school method of cam timing. Even with a dial gauge accurate to the nearest one hundredth of a millimetre we still rely on a big degreeing wheel to measure the crank position.

Our 2011 electronics have finally arrived. The latest specification Motec M170 ECU and the SDL3 Dash. It’s the same ECU that HM Plant and Samsung Crescent Suzuki have been using in British SuperBike in addition to the Parkalgar Honda World SuperSport team. In fact there are probably less than a dozen in existence and we will be running the most recent firmware with some bespoke functionality to meet our needs.

When we had the first Suzuki GSXR1000K9 flown in early when it was released back in 2009 there were no cams available. We had these cams cut by Piper Cams for our first season in the British SuperBike Cup.

We managed to purchase a set of Yoshimura ST-R Type R cam shafts before the 2009 season started so we started the season using those and never got around to testing these.

As the Piper Cams variants are more aggressive than the Yoshimura ones we plan on starting the season with them and perhaps having some more cut for the next step.

These have also been Super Finished to match the rest of the key engine parts…

We decided early on to not complicate matters by chasing horsepower, at the end of the day we don’t have the budget to install fancy rods and pistons so we are sticking with standard items. This will limited the rev. limit, initially to 14k rpm. [Edit: Actually that's not completely true but we've chosen to spend the money on some pretty sophisticated electronics which should maximise the usability of the power we have].

Sure we could have spent some of the money differently but we decided to go for a strong engine up to 14k rather than miss out on some of the fundamental improvements just to get a bit more peak. The goal is the flattest curve possible with plenty of punch out of the corners.

Better to have everything at 90% than some things at 100% but others only at 80%. Once the bike is up and running we will have a better idea about the performance we have and can allocate any additional budget accordingly.

The build has continued so here are a few more pics. with the Sigma slipper clutch and Yoshimura generator, well, the flywheel at least, installed.

Also managed to weigh some of the parts today:

Yoshimura flywheel: 290g
Standard flywheel: 811g
Weight Saving: 64.2%

Yoshimura generator windings, including case: 1127g
Standard generator windings, including case: 1258g
Weight Saving: 10.4%

Sigma clutch (without plates): 1150g
Standard clutch (without plates): 1550g
Weight Saving: 25.8%

Without lightening the crank we have saved 934g of rotating mass plus the reduced drag from the revised generator windings.

Yoshimura Retainers (16): 77g
Standard Retainers (16): 90g
Weight Saving: 14.5%

The work on our engine has begun.

Early stages but balanced crank and balanced standard rods plus Yoshimura Kit ‘B’ gearbox all treated to ‘SuperFinishing’ surface treatment.

Have also got a Yoshimura Kit Generator, Sigma Slipper Clutch, Yoshimura ST-R Type-R cams and Yoshimura Cotters & Retainers waiting to go in. Almost forgot the Hybrid Ceramic gearbox bearings.

Also got another set of cams to our own spec. that are more aggressive than the Yoshimura version ones we are happy with the rest of the motor.

Machined head to maximise compression and skimmed block to optimise squish.

Work has already begun on the 2011 SuperBike. The team has already taken delivery of a brand new Suzuki GSXR1000 and will shortly be receiving the first full specification Motec M170 ECU to be put in to production.

The engine is currently being prepared with over nine thousand pounds worth of upgrades. Once the various sensors and other electronic components, including Motec SDL3 dash, are in place the bike will be shipped off to have the bespoke wiring loom fitted.

After that there is a long list of specially designed fuel tank to improve the weight distribution of the bike and the hand crafted swing arm that will be carefully modelled on the computer to maximise grip from the lightweight wheels.

As you can imagine none of this work comes cheap and we are constantly searching for new partners to get involved in our campaign as we create a Suzuki SuperBike capable of competing with the best in the World SuperBike championship.

Thanks to the hard work of the very talented Mario Picariello at www.mariodesign.co.uk we have a new sponsorship overview to help sell the team and our plans.

It’s a fantastic A5 booklet in printed form but we have also produced a downloadable PDF version as well. Please feel free to take a look if you think you know somebody that might be interested to help us.

Click here to download a copy.

The team completed six races over three rounds at the start of the season with rider Dave Anthony.

Despite some teething problems with the previously untested Motec electronics at the first round the team are proud of their results and confident that we could have won the championship had our funding not fallen through at the start of the season.

- 6 races
- 3 fastest laps
- 2 race wins
- 3 podium finishes
- 2 lap records

We also finished as top Suzuki four times and led the championship for the majority of the time we were competing.

Roll on 2011.

Due to a change of plans for 2011 we are now looking to sell our GSXR1000K9 SuperBike EVO machine.

Consistently one of the fastest bikes in the EVO class this bike secured several fastest laps and several podiums in the few races we contested at the start of the season. Won both EVO races at Thruxton and have battled regularly with full spec. SuperBikes in the main class.

The bike was bought new from Suzuki at the start of 2009 and raced for five rounds in the SuperBike Privateer Cup championship, including securing a podium finish at Snetterton. For 2010 our unused standard engine was fitted along with all the parts necessary to compete in the EVO class. The bike is more than capable of winning the EVO class in the right hands.

The bike is now available as a ready to go EVO machine, all it needs are the control ECU and dash that can be rented from the series organisers. It can also be supplied with the standard wiring loom and ECU, plus an Interceptor fuelling box, for use in other classes.

In it’s current form the bike cost £37,000 to build and has been maintained to the best level during that time. The engine has just been rebuilt, the forks were serviced at the last round and the shock serviced at the start of the year.

Suzuki GSXR1000K9
Active QA Throttle
Brembo 320mm Front Discs
Brembo Master Cylinder
Brembo Single Pin Monobloc Callipers
Brembo Z4 Brake Pads
GPR Steering Damper
Harris Adjustable Yokes
Harris Clip Ons
HEL Braided Hoses
Sharkskinz Bodywork
HM Quickshifter
Leo Vince Corsa Titanium Full Exhaust System
Lightek Adjustable Rear Sets
Marchesini Magnesium 16.5″ Wheels
MWR Air Filter
Ohlins FGR900 SuperBike Forks
Ohlins TTX Shock
Standard Engine with Yoshimura Head Gasket
Stomp Tank Grips
Valter Moto Quick Release Fuel Cap
Yoshimura ISC Blind Kit
Yoshimura Second Air Blind Kit

Plus:

Two Spare Front Marchesini Magnesium 16.5″ Wheels w/Brembo 320mm Front Discs
Three Spare Rear Marchesini Magnesium 16.5″ Wheels w/Sprocket Carriers

EVO equipment includes:

Engine Oil Pressure Sensor
Front Brake Pressure Sensor
Front & Rear Suspension Potentiometers
Performance Fabrications Dash Mount
Motec Ignition Module (IGN4)
Motec ISC Controller (to permit engine braking adjustment)
SuperBike Evo Loom (suitable for EVO or main SuperBike class).

Available now at £26,995 (incl. vat).