Tork India gearing up for 2012

Small wheels, a rather tiny frame and puny tyres. Tork India’s T001x race machine back in 2009 was a clear give away of the team’s underdog status at the world’s first ever electric motorcycle race held at the Isle of Man TT. No previous racing background neither any experience in race-engineering. The Indian lads landed at the Isle of Man TT in 2009 and their race-machine named T001x in the hands of John Crellin finished third on the podium beating some very established and flourished electric bike-makers. Based around the Yamaha YZF-R15 platform, the Li-on battery-powered T001x made it to third spot thanks to 30Nm of torque and lightweight configuration presenting it with phenomenal torque-to-weight ratio that propelled the bike to 150km/h of top whack.

Enter 2010, encouraged and inspired by the world of racing the Tork India team decided to participate in UK’s first electric motorcycle racing championship, the TTXGP. Not getting carried away with their TT success from previous year, the team stuck to the Yamaha YZF-R15 platform very well understanding that light and powerful electric bike was the key to challenge the might of big rivals employing machinery from the Japanese sportsbikes. Powered by Li-on batteries, for 2010 the T002x machine got a more powerful brushless DC motor from Agni and a host of new equipment that propelled the bike to a top whack of 189km/h. Within the past one year’s learning in electric motorcycle racing, the team gathered enough information to be able to extract 60Nm from the new setup and fine tune it to suit the race layout.

With the added juice it was necessary to get better equipment to handle that extra power and match the improved performance. The team stuck to the Yamaha YZF-R15’s DeltaBox frame but employed new suspension bits for improved dynamics. The stock front-end was swapped for upside down forks while a custom built mono suspension was employed for handling rear-end duties. Through the team’s running at the 2009 Isle of Man TT they realized that the street-brakes on the YZF-R15 were not sufficient for racing purposes and so came an advanced braking setup for the front with larger diameter 320mm disc and a 230mm disc on the rear.

All set for racing in the 2010 TTXGP UK electric motorcycle championship, the team entered the series and bagged the top spot in the very opening round of the championship at the Snetterton circuit. In the hands of young Brit racer, Jim Lovell, the Tork India T002x race machine showed superb performance and trumped the big wigs to take the win at Snetterton. The competition though soon caught up as the season progressed and the Tork India boys struggled a bit to fight against the established and their affluent competition, who swiftly got up to the pace. But the Indian spirit kept fighting and showed strong performance with consistent top five finishes in the championship which awarded them third spot in the Constructors’ standings.

Unmatched zeal for winning and hard work has seen the Tork India team score back to back victories in two seasons and prove its worth at the intensely competitive global electric motorcycle sport against some very big names in the business like Agni, Motoczysz and Electric Hussers. Consisting of Kapil Shelke (Head System Design), Ketan Mhasawade and Nishant Kalbhor, these three youngsters are determined to take the Indian tricolour places and they are doing everything in their might and more to make it happen. But this year, the team has decided to take a hiatus and further develop the race machine, which they haven’t been able to do with all the racing until now.

The expenses and logistics behind entering global motorsport are known to be high and the team is finding it increasingly hard to work on the next generation of their race-machine. Hence, this year the team is not participating in any championship but simply focusing on building an all-new high-spec electric race-bike for the 2012 season. Tork India has already notched up a strong battery sponsor and has disclosed the team’s plans to enter the TTXGP/FIM E-power and the Isle of Man TT (TT Zero) in 2012. The lads have shown promise from day one and are sure that they will be up there with the big names in 2012 season fighting for wins in the both the electric motorcycle race series. We wish them all the best and more race victories. Godspeed!