True, it really should go without saying, but lightness – the absence of unnecessary weight – is an important quality for a racing motorcycle to possess; the lighter the bike, the faster it can go with less power needed to make it do so. This is a basic truth, and is also why the ruling bodies of racing often enforce minimum weight limits. In the electric motorcycle racing universe, it is more problematic because many of the components used to make them run are heavy – we’re looking at you, batteries. A new entrant into the (newly sanctioned) FIM TTXGP North American Championship, one Michael Uhlarik and his Amarok Consultants’ P1 electric motorcycle, may have just become the new favorite due in large part to the fact that he has managed to make some real progress towards solving this long-standing conundrum.
Amarok is an Inuit word meaning “wolf” according to Uhlarik, and he intends the vehicle he built to match that lithe canine at least in analogical terms of power, handling and a svelte chassis. When you look at the fully race-ready weight of only 325 pounds (~147 kilograms), you begin to get the revolutionary specifications involved with the Amarok. That translates into a 50 pound (~22.7 kilos) savings over the former lightweight in the electric motorcycle category, the Mavizen TTX02 which tips in at 375 pounds (170 kilos).
This supermodel weight falls right in line with MotoGP requirements, and far below the famed SWIGZ.COM Pro Racing Electric Superbike piloted by owner Chip Yates to a new top speed record recently. It achieved an incredible 190.6 MPH, but with an overall weight of 585 pounds (265 kilos) and has now been excluded (controversially) from the TTXGP. Yates’ bike will need all of its 11.5 KWh and KERS to make a 12 lap race in the series, but the Amarok P1 will only require 7.5 KWh.
Taking away some of the extraneous fat also helps reduce the size of the motorcycle allowing for all sorts of aerodynamic potential. Uhlarik used this advantage as much as possible in the design for the Amarok P1’s bodywork and configuration. Creating and building the entire machine from the ground up, as opposed to using an existing production frame design like many competitors, is where much of his gains were made in his battles with electric motorcycle physics.
The key to this is the approach which Uhlarik took towards the P1. As he says, “…I felt that the time was ripe to approach motorcycle design like an aerospace vehicle, and integrate the body, frame and battery into the same structure.” Concentrating the bulk of the mass centrally by integrating the batteries and frame into the bodywork using aircraft fuselage construction as inspiration allows lighter materials to be used for superior strength, lower weight and overall packaging efficiency – plus, your freedom to perfect a wind-cheating shape is virtually unlimited within certain basic limitations and governing regulations.
Both front suspension and swingarm at back are bolted directly to the battery saving more weight and making the whole assembly rather simplistic – good for racing. Something else Uhlarik re-thought with the P1 was placement of the two Agni 95R DC motors which he put high up on the frame. With most electric racers, that model of electric powerplant must be put outside any bodywork to allow for its cooling needs, but the P1 uses ducting built into the faux fuel tank to push huge amounts of air over them for optimum power efficiency.
To look at the Amarok P1, it would not come as a surprise to hear it was built using CAD software at some engineering firm. That is not the case, though, so feel free to get excited when you learn that Amarok Consultants is run out of a 140-year-old garage behind modest home in Quebec, Canada. That Uhlarik may have taken the next step in this ever changing sport of electric motorcycle racing can be debated, but 
the sweet pure-bred purpose-built form of the P1 cannot.
The next evolution of the design concept from Amarok is currently designated the P2, and the design brief for it calls for a 50 pound further weight reduction – that will put the electric motorcycle in the realm of the much loved 250cc Grand Prix level race bike. It’s due next year. Maybe the world as we know it will end in 2012 after all???
I only hope the officials let Yates join in the fun this season. It would be a shame to not see the best of the field get to compete against one another – the series is poorer without him. Make sure to take a close look at the Amarok P1 from Canadian Michael Uhlarik and watch for it in the 2011 season of the TTXGP Formula 75 Championship at a track near you.
