MotoE is an official European Championship for electric motorcycle racers, teams from the across the globe, battle each other in five rounds within Europe for the privilege to call themselves the MotoE European Cup Champions. It has been supported by the IET Automotive & Road Transport Systems TPN for several years as it raises awareness of electric motorcycles and the profile of the IET and TPN. Also, all members of the Technical Panel are IET members.
On recent completion of the 2016 season, the Technical Panel had a difficult time choosing a winner for the IET ARTS TPN prize and had to split the prize between two universities.
The team from Nottingham University were awarded a prize for Innovation as they consistently improved lap times across every round in the season, taking track records with them at every race. They pushed their bikes to seek out gains wherever possible. They employed their own software on the control systems, being the only team to do this during the season. They not only beat every other academic team but also all the professional teams as well. The technical team thought they were a deserved winner of the series and the award as they were in a different league to their competitors.
The Zero team from Bath University were awarded the Best in Class prize. The technical team felt that Bath demonstrated the spirit of racing, team work and learning best of all. Against odds being heavily stacked against them the core team persevered building their bike for every race weekend, experiencing setbacks at nearly every round, taking lessons learnt from the track, taking the entire bike apart and rebuilding their bike at almost rounds, often with a keen and curious audience. The team took tenacity to another level, never giving up, always looking for ways to improve upon their personal performance, inspiring many along the way. Always open and welcoming to anyone new to the paddock, they more often than not had an audience when they worked and never failed to offer up an explanation of what they were doing and why no matter who asked. Whenever another team needed a hand, be it logistics or tools, they were always ready to offer support. When another team’s entire opening weekend went up in smoke, they happily adopted willing team members to extend first hand valuable experience to their paddock rivals. Sharing the learning experience and gaining alternative perspectives themselves.
Comment from Pat Wheeler, Technical team member:
“In terms of technology the 2016 season has been one of consolidation and development rather than dynamic change. The University of Nottingham team entered two bikes and have been the dominant team in terms of speed and race position with their well-engineered, powerful electric superbikes beginning to show their full, record breaking potential.
The University of Bath team have shown fantastic spirit and determination during the season as they develop their bike and complete races, certainly worthy winners of the best team in terms of team spirit and achievement. The Chinese Zongshen team proved at the end of the season that their bike with an AC motor has the speed to match the University of Nottingham team, but will it have the reliability and stamina to compete at this level in 2017? The series continues to be a great proving ground for new technology and I know all the teams relish the prospect of a larger field with continued improvements in the speed as well as lap times in 2017."
Congratulations to both teams. The University of Nottingham team bike will be showcased alongside the Electric Formula Student car from University of Surrey at our Electrification in Motorsports Seminar on 2 February 2017. We’ve an excellent group of speakers lined up for the seminar from companies such as Williams Advanced Engineering, Prodrive, Formula E Team Techeetah, Integral Power Trains, University of Nottingham etc., so if you’re working/researching/studying in this area and want to learn more and see how to register please click here.