On November 4, the same day that the Mavizen TTX02, the world’s first production electric superbike, was unveiled at the 2009 SEMA event in Las Vegas, TTXGP (Time Trial eXtreme Grand Prix) and Infineon Raceway of Sonoma, CA, announced a joint plan to run the “first-ever zero carbon motorcycle race in the United States.”

According to Infineon Raceway’s site, the TTXGP U.S. Championships will be held May 14-16, 2010, as part of the raceway’s AMA Motorcycle Sonoma Showdown weekend.

The first-ever electric race bike grand prix was held in conjunction with this year’s Isle of Man TT, and organized by TTXGP. The event was hailed a success, and TTXGP founder and producer of the Mavizen, Azhar Hussain, continues to ride the electric wave of support gained in the TT.

With the success of the TTXGP on the Isle of Man, we have shown that zero carbon technology is ready to deliver the thrills and passion for both spectators and riders,  said Hussain.

Steve Page, president and general manager of Infineon Raceway, echoed Hussain’s electric fervor:

When it comes to development of zero carbon motorcycles, Northern California is the center of the industry, so it makes perfect sense that Infineon Raceway should host the first event in this historic new series.

Another motorcycle safety commercial…  This one is original at least.  It was created by The Motor Accident Commission of South Australia, the TV AD utilizes real MotoGP footage and has an appearance by Mick Doohan.

Hit the jump and check it out for yourself.

Unlike with most athletes, motorcycle racers’ faces remain hidden during competition. Except for promotional events or pre- and post-race interviews, the faces of our racing heroes are shielded under protective helmets with tinted visors. You don’t see the same human emotion in their faces like you can when soccer players score a goal or baseball players hit a home run.

But one thing helmets provide is a canvas for racers to express their creativity and personality.

The 2009 MotoGP Championship is almost complete, so we thought we’d take a look at some of the top helmet designs from the season. Here’s our list of the most interesting helmet designs for 2009. Let us know what you think about our choices or suggest ones we missed.

The Star Motorcycles VMax is the most powerful production streetbike in mass production. On October 25, 2009, a few VMax enthusiasts will be tearing up the dragstrip at Sacramento Raceway Park. The event is open to all www.starVmax.com and www.rswarrior.com members.

With a new contract with Ducati in hand, Nicky Hayden returned to his home in Owensboro, Ky., for the MotoGP’s mid-season break. So what has the Kentucky Kid been doing on his time off? Riding his own Ducati 848 Nicky Hayden edition bike, of course!

Check out the clip as Hayden takes his first ride on his namesake 848.

If you missed it the first time around, the National Geographic Channel will be airing the Motorcycle Crash Tech show again tomorrow (Thurs, Sept 24th).

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the remarkable new technologies being used to avoid motorcycle crashes, and prevent injuries or even death when a racer or rider does go down.

Hit the jump to watch the preview.

You’ll realize how cheesy that headline is after watching the pretty rad video that Yamaha has released.

Yamaha’s new motocross bike has taken a radical new approach.  The engine is backwards.

Yamaha’s reason for doing this is to shift the heavy end of the motor more to the center of the motorcycle to make it more agile and responsive.  Slanting the cylinder also made for a straighter pathway for the air intake at the front of the bike.

Of course you can read about many more details and features of Yamaha’s YZ on Motorcycle.com where they just wrote a preview for it this week!  There’s also a bunch of photos to go through if you just don’t feel like doing any reading.

Check out the rest of the post for Yamaha’s official video on the 2010 YZ450F and also why I mention sketching (also, see if you can understand any of the equations that are scribbled down throughout the video)

BMW’s new S1000RR is one of the mostly highly anticipated sportbikes to come along in years. Its four-cylinder motor has a larger bore than anything else in its 1000cc class, plus all the latest racetrack goodies like a slipper clutch, variable-height intake manifolds and traction control.

We’re still a few months away from testing it for ourselves, but we can across this great video that will give you a little insight into how this Beemer howls at top speed. This was shot at the infamous Nordschleife course at Germany’s Nürburgring, a 14-mile road circuit built in the 1920s that is perhaps the grandest and most challenging racetrack ever built.

Check out the S1000RR on the track along with four other videos after the jump.

In the world of motocross, this year’s most highly anticipated machine is Yamaha’s all-new YZ450F. All kinds of crazy rumors about the bike have spread across the internet, and there’s some real doozies out there. In this video from Yamaha, multi-time motocross and supercross champ James Stewart debunks some of the crazier rumors, with special guest appearances by Valentino Rossi, Ben Spies, Colin Edwards, James Toseland, Jorge Lorenzo and TV personality Erin Bates.

What, you mean it’s not powered by a 1.2-gigawatt flux capacitor?

Motorcycle.com will get a chance to see the new YZ this week in a private unveiling, and we’ll unleash full details when the embargo ends on September 8. Stay tuned!

Hit the jump, watch and learn.

Ever wonder what it’s like to drive the world famous Laguna Seca race track?  Apparently the folks at Google were curious and so they sent out one of the Google street view cars onto the track.

For some reason the Google street view doesn’t include a whole lap of the track, just from around turn five to turn 10.  That portion does include the famous Corkscrew but the Google street view car doesn’t seem to capture it, which does make sense to anyone who’s taken the corkscrew before.  One of the things that makes the Corkscrew so challenging is the fact that it’s so steep you don’t even know where the road is until you’re going down it (or, if you’re unlucky, driving down the dirt).  Likely the Google street view camera was filming the sky at that point.

The filming appears to have been done during a practice session at last year’s ALMS race, as you can see the black and yellow GT1 Corvette and one of the Flying Lizzard Motorsports Porsches.  Ride along with the Google street view car at Laguna Seca here:

Google Streetview Drives Laguna Seca