SUNDAY! Laguna Seca 2012

[Gavin]

Shelina Moreda with the Brammo Girls. 

I was the one holding the sun reflector on the bike and girls...tough work

I felt bad when we where taking Eric Bostrom's photo shoot as I was basically, and not intentionally, torturing him with the sunlight.

Gavin

[Gavin]

Uh oh... he's sitting on Shelina's bike, trying to make you jealous, Empulsebuyer:

Say whaaat... its working.

Gavin, did you get the inside scoop on when these fine machines will hit production? Get some sleep then spill the beans.

What the hell happened to this post? hmmm. Well its back i guess, what evs. (First post showed up as an edited post and was placed before I actually posted it.)

So the word I heard was... In production now, deliveries next month...so right in time for somebody heading to Miller? 

Gavin

[Shinysideup]

5'11 1/2 inches...6 foot in shoes

Gavin

That's great! I'm 6'1" and like to sit a bit more upright (due to my ripe age and broken-up hands), so with the Empulse R's bars being back a bit, I'll be dialed in! Sweet ! Thanks for all the pics.

[860]

I'm 6 foot even, so this looks perfect for what I want!  Thanks!

[EmpulseRider]

5'11 1/2 inches...6 foot in shoes

Gavin

Exact same height as me... though i just tell people 6 foot because it sounds better

Probably going to go with clip-ons, not sure... I dont mind leaning over a bit.

Awesome news about the Empulse! Thanks!

[FreepZ]

Thanks, Gavin, for the excellent reporting.

So the word I heard was... In production now, deliveries next month...so right in time for somebody heading to Miller? 

A more precise date would have been awesome, but at least we know that it's definitely going to start next month, and not September. So on the next 30 days or so, I hope we'll start seeing the user reviews. :-)

I did spend basically the whole time working...

Can you call it working when you're having that much fun?
"Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life." - Confucius

[Gavin]

Lots of work, but great fun. And the people are so nice. Everyone, even the riders and engineers working on the race bikes, will stop and talk with you.

At the end Adrian thanked me for all the work and told me he thought I would stay the whole time in the  Hospitallity tent...I was, "was that an option? Dang, I didn't know that."  

But truthfully I wouldn't have it enjoy that nearly as much.

I told Adrian he should start Brammo's version of "Dude Ranch" where they sell trips to races where you "work" for Brammo.


P


Shelina running the gears

[Gavin]

5'11 1/2 inches...6 foot in shoes

Gavin

Exact same height as me... though i just tell people 6 foot because it sounds better

Probably going to go with clip-ons, not sure... I dont mind leaning over a bit.

Awesome news about the Empulse! Thanks!

Good thing we are all the same height here at the BrammoForum

And yes, I usually say 6 foot also...just easier and is true if I'm wearing shoes...

G

[protomech]

We've got 3 years of race data for Laguna Seca.

FIM ePower / TTXGP Laguna Seca 2010 (sadly no details, but see QP)
FIM ePower / TTXGP Laguna Seca 2011
FIM ePower / TTXGP Laguna Seca 2012

Unfortunately I can't find more detailed information for the 2010 race. The 2010 and 2012 races were both 9 laps in length (32.49 km = 20.2 miles); the 2011 race was reduced in length to 8 laps (28.88 km = 17.9 miles). Race laptimes typically will be somewhat slower for a 9 lap race than an 8 lap.

Lightning, Münch, and Ely Schless are the only racers who have competed all three years. (Brammo attended in 2010 but did not compete). Notably these teams have also used the same riders for all three years. Münch, Lightning, and Brammo have all fielded a second bike and rider this year at Laguna.


Qualifying and Race Laptimes

Lightning posted a qualifying time of 1'45.769 in 2010, 1'37.505 in 2011, and 1'33.860 in 2012.
Michael Barned turned in a best lap of 1'37.417 in 2011 and a 1'35.319 in 2012.

Münch posted a qualifying time of 1'52.505 in 2010, 1'42.051 in 2011, and 1'38.951 in 2012.
Matthias Himmelman's best race laptimes improved from 1'40.442 in 2011 to 1'37.246 in 2012.

Ely Schless posted a qualifying time of 2'04.987 in 2010, 2'00.012 in 2011, and 1'57.990 in 2012.
Race laptimes improved from 1'58.086 in 2011 to 1'56.013 in 2012.

Brammo posted a qualifying time of 1'42.127 in 2011, and 1'37.171 in 2012 (Eric Bostrom).
Steve Atlas improved on his 1'40.644 2011 fast lap to 1'35.625 in 2012.


Steve Rapp retains the records

Steve Rapp and Mission Motors still hold the circuit record for best qualifying lap and best race lap, at 1'31.376 and 1'33.194 respectively. Lightning, Brammo, and Münch are all closing in but none was able to surpass either record this year.


Production bikes show up and race

Zero Motorcycles showed up with two bikes, turning in a best qualifying time of 2'00.057 (Ted Rich) and a best laptime of 2'02.118 (Kenyon Kluge). In 2010 Kenyon Kluge qualified on a faired 2010 Zero S at 2'11.648.

If a 2012 S was able to race in 2010, it would have qualified in position #7 of 13 bikes, and its total race time would put it in position #7 of 9 at the finish.

In their paddock, Brammo displayed an Empulse TTX which may race at a later TTXGP this year. I would expect to see around a 7 to 10 second laptime improvement over the Zero bikes.

[Brammofan]

That's a great three-year wrap-up, protomech! 

Here's a photo posted by Brammo of their two bikes:

[FreepZ]

Here's the results in Graph form.

Q - for Qualifying.
R - for best race lap.

Units are seconds.

Note that the graph starts at 90 seconds, not 0, so the differences are exaggerated.

[EmpulseRider]

Damn... Nice work FreepZ!

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

5'11 1/2 inches...6 foot in shoes

Gavin

Exact same height as me... though i just tell people 6 foot because it sounds better

Probably going to go with clip-ons, not sure... I dont mind leaning over a bit.

Awesome news about the Empulse! Thanks!

Good thing we are all the same height here at the BrammoForum

And yes, I usually say 6 foot also...just easier and is true if I'm wearing shoes...

G

+1... maybe it's a weird/cool demographic info that EV makers can use... Make the bikes for 5'11" 1/2 tall men...

However, I must say Selina looks much better on it than you, Gavin.

[Gavin]

yes...yes she does...

I can say that it was the end of the last day and almost nobody was around...and she somehow drew a crowd. If it had been announced that she was doing that, that place would have been mobbed.

If if had been me on the bike running through the gears I would have had just one person come over....and it would have been Brian coming over to smack me on the head and tell me to get the bike over to the truck


Plus she is super nice...and hella energetic.

I was really surprised at how nice so many of the riders and staff were.

Gavin