It’s been in the works for months and now it looks like they’re announcing before the exact agreement has been worked out. TTXGP and its copycat FIM e-Power are collaborating on select races for the 2011 season (schedule below). The collaboration (don’t call it a partnership or merger, yet) is one of those painfully common sense things that was sadly made difficult by the egos involved. In fact, Ivar called for just such a merger/partnership in an editorial last August. Why, beyond electric nerd geekery, is this such big news? It means better racing, larger fields, more complete events and more media coverage. It means we’ll be seeing bikes like the MotoCzysz E1pc (we’re confirming this) on the same track at the same time as bikes like the Brammo Empulse RR, Mission R and an as-yet unrevealed bike built by an HFL contributor.



The quick background on the whole  FIM/TTXGP split is that they were planning on working together on a series, something went wrong, FIM stole TTXGP’s rules and there was bad blood. Both race series sucked last year with empty fields, slow bikes and boring racing, but e-Power ended up sucking harder, especially in Europe where starting grids were virtually empty and scooters were on track with proper motorcycles.



The one notable exception was the e-Power round at Laguna MotoGP last year, which saw Michael Czysz come from way behind to eek out an exciting win. Even that race wasn’t promoted properly.



As Ivar stated last August, “In simple terms: FIM have money, power and organisation. TTXGP have enthusiasm and a wider view than just racing – essential to anyone who wants to see the best possible electric street bikes as soon as possible.”



Here’s TTXGP’s 2011 schedule:

TTXGP Euro Championship 2011 calendar is as follows:

18-19.06 Silverstone (GBR)

01-02.07 SPA Francorchamps (BEL)

06-07.08 Assen (NLD)

20-21.08 Donington Park (GBR) TBC

03-04.09 Karlskoga (SWE)

23-24.09 Le Mans (FRA) TBC

TTXGP North America Championship 2011

14-15.05 Infineon Raceway (USA)

16-17.07 Portland International Raceway (USA) (TBC)

Round 3 TBC

13-14.08 VIRginia International Raceway (USA)

eFXC/TTXGP Australian Superbike Championship 2011

29-01.05 Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) TEST

01-03.07 Eastern Creek Raceway (NSW)

02-04.09 Winton Raceway (VIC)

08-09.10 Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) TBC

TTXGP World Final 2011

October TBC

The most tantalizing date on that calendar is actually the TBC between the July 16-17 race in Portland and the August 13-14 dates at VIR. Is there room in there for a Laguna event on July 22-24? The FIM e-Power calendar doesn’t include a single American date.

There’s also virtually no details of how the FIM and TTXGP actually plan to work together. The only mention of it is this paragraph:



“In the spirit of collaboration and with the common goal of promoting electric clean emission racing; The FIM and TTXGP have opened the possibility of holding a selection of joint rounds to allow the teams the best possible stage to promote the sport, the technology and the message to the next generation of motorsport. In addition, further discussions also include the wish to celebrate the conclusion of the 2011 season with a single, unifying final event in October.”

We’re looking into this further.

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