‘Lotus’ TTXGP bike: Mick Grant out, Ilmor forks in

The electric racer based on former Lotus engineer Peter William’s carbon monocoque design won’t now be ridden by seven-times TT winner Mick Grant, but will feature MotoGP-spec forks from the Ilmor X3.

Grant’s license to race the TT course was revoked after objections the seven-times winner wouldn’t have enough practise laps under his belt to qualify. “It’s a huge victory for the few against the many” says EV-0 RR project leader Rick Simpson.

“Thousands would have loved to see Mick race the island again.” Mick Says bluntly: “I wish the ACU had more backbone.”

But despair turned to optimism in the EV-0 RR camp when they secured the use of top-spec forks from the ill-fated 800cc Ilmor X3 MotoGP bike.

The loan of the forks by Mark Murphy of GP Motorsports, owner of Ilmor’s X3 assets, is heaven-sent according to Simpson: “We intended to run the ‘funny front end’ from Steve Linsdell’s ex-TT GTS1000.

“But slotting in these Ilmor forks is slashing development time.” No bad thing when the race is as soon as 12 June…