2009 International Eco Enduro

The eGrandPrix is not the only electric motorcycle race series the FIM is working with this year. Moto pros Ivan Reedtz-Thott, Soren Clauding and Christian Primby are organizing the 2009 International Eco Enduro that will run in Denmark on December 11 – 13. The purpose of the race is to support and demonstrate environmentally responsible motorsports racing and will happen the same week of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15 ).

The first 2 days will have two 10 to 15 KM stages during the day and 1 at night. The second night stage will exploit the weakness of electric motorcycles as riders will not know the distance to the finish. They will need to conserve battery power for fear of running out of juice. The third day’s stages will take place on a supermoto track in Copenhagen where the organizers hope to have a lot of spectators and press in attendance.

There will be 3 classes to compete in depending on the bikes manufacturer. Quantya motorcycles will run in “Pro I” class, Zero Motorcycles will run in “Pro II” and all other manufacturers, prototypes and homebrews will run in “Proto”.

They did not explain the logic behind separating the riders by manufacturer. I can only guess they do not feel the bikes are evenly matched or the manufacturers want to avoid being compared in race conditions at this time. The last time Quantya and Zero met in a race the Quantya mounted riders pulled a one, two finish over the more powerful Zero X machines. Now Zero has a more track capable Zero MX with better suspension and larger wheels. This most likely turns the tables in Zero’s favor though we have not seen a comparison between the Zero MX and Quantya Track yet.

Many famous riders are “Eco Ambasadors” supporting the race including MX 1 rider Brian Jorgensen, 24 Hours of Le Mans winner John Nielsen, World Supersport Championship rider Robbin Hams and World Solar Challenge founder Hans Tholstrup.

Moteurs, the RTL motorsports weekly TV show will be covering the event. Moteurs co-producer and former MotoGP rider Didier de Radiguès is no stranger to electric motorcycles. He was seen earlier this year riding the Mavizen TTX02 electric race bike as well as the TTX01 prior to the 2009 TTXGP.

Invitations were sent to the world’s top riders to pilot a Quantya clad with graphics supporting the sponsor of their choice in the Pro I class. There are multiple race packages available that allow riders to buy or rent a Quantya to ride in the race. All classes are open to join as long as the rider is FIM licensed.

In the future hopefully we will see all manufacturers run against each other. Though the classes are a little unusual in structure, the stages are varied and should keep the event interesting. In the end it should do a lot to increase the visibility of electric motorsports racing, the riders and manufacturers building them.