The 2016 MotoE Series is off to a flying start for the University of Nottingham Electric Superbike Team. On June 8th, the team came third in the Isle of Man TT Zero Race, achieving a podium finish and being given an award for the Best Team  at the TT for 2016.

The team’s rider, Daley Mathison, reached an average lap speed of 99.884mph on the Nottingham electric superbike, UoN-01, a significant gain on 73.156mph achieved last year when the team came sixth.

The team, comprising Dr Miquel Gimeno-Fabra, Dr Marco Degano, PhD student Jonathan Blissett and Professor Pat Wheeler, aims to build on their success of 2015, when they became MotoE Series Champions. Achieving a podium finish at the TT, one of the world’s best known circuits, is a fantastic start to the 2016 season and the team has big plans in place.

Dr Miquel Gimeno-Fabra said: “We were still seen as the underdogs prior to this year’s TT Zero Race, but we have proved our abilities with a podium place. It’s a seriously competitive environment and we’ve achieved fantastic results with only a tenth of the investment of big bike manufacturers racing against us.

“It’s a testament to the hard work and talent of the team coupled with the research expertise we have in this field. We are now race favourites and aim to finish on top of the podium next year.”

The bike is sponsored by MuRata and many others, and 2016 will see the team develop a second bike. Jeremiah Johnson, who rode the University bike in 2014, will be returning to ride alongside Daley.

2016 promises to be an exciting year for the team!

Read our tribute to Daley, who sadly died following a crash while racing for the MADMAX Race Team at the 2019 Isle of Man TT here.

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Blog post written by the UoN E-Racing Team – Marco Degano, Jonathan Blissett, Miquel Gimeno-Fabra and Pat Wheeler.

For the Nottingham Team, the Portimao Race started 24 hours after arriving back from Pembrey, as the team had a long drive to Portugal.

The journey went smoothly and, after three days of driving, they arrived at the track to find an official MacLaren test underway, so no teams were allowed in the complex. This included the team’s Chinese rivals, who were found relaxing in the car park. The team’s first impressions of the Autodrome of Algarve was that it was a purpose-built F1-MotoGP track with excellent facilities, one that would lend itself to a spectacular finale.

After a while the track was opened and the team found the BMW track day organiser, who guided them to their garage. The day closed with the team setting up the garage and making sure that the bike had survived the trip, along with the accompanying Saietta Agni machine brought from Pembrey.

The positives from Pembrey were confirmed on Friday, when the team sent the bike out for a practice with their noisier, petrol-bike cousins – three outings led to no problems and, after observing that the electric bike was lagging behind the petrol bikes on just the main straight, the team changed the gear ratio to give more top speed. This enabled the rider, Daley Mathieson, to keep pace with the petrol bikes.

With the University bike now ready, the team was delighted to be joined by representatives of their main sponsor, Murata, who always seem to bring good fortune. The Saturday started with no surprises and the bike qualified on pole, with a flamboyant Daley soon popping wheelies and leaving black marks on the tarmac! He’d learnt the layout of the track extremely quickly, with some help from his Playstation!

As Portimao was the last round of MotoE, three races were planned. With warmer weather than the bike had experienced previously, the team won the first sprint race, leaving them only one victory short of securing the title. For the first time, the bike hit the thermal limit of the existing controller (which the team added only the night before!) so the torque was automatically reduced marginally to stay within specs. The team’s confidence was bolstered by their data-logging, which confirmed that the thermal protection was working as intended.

With tension rising, the weather conditions were optimal for the first race on Sunday.  Riding on warm tarmac, in cool air, Daley won the race. He set consecutive lap records and almost broke the 2 minute barrier. But, most importantly Daley won the 25 points that arithmetically made the team 2015 European EMoto Champions!

There was no time for immediate celebrations – the team was keen to finish the weekend by winning a longer race and in bad weather, in order to dispel any doubts about the reliability of their machine.

The inclement weather made the final tyre choice tricky, and the team decided to use wet tyres just 10 minutes before the race – some sections of the track were wetter than others and the tarmac temperature had dropped by 15°C. Daley took it easy on the first lap because he had never ridden the bike in wet conditions. This added to the tension as the Saietta Agni bike was closer than usual, having made the same tyre choice as the University team. But, after two laps, Daley’s experience enabled him to handle the bike in the challenging track conditions, thus improving significantly his pace, and allowing him ultimately to lap most of the field. Then it was time for Daley’s biggest burnout, and the celebrations lasted well into the night!

Another highlight of the Portimao weekend was to see Daley riding a BMW-1000RR, which allowed him to see how favourably the UON-01 electric bike compared. Daley first rode the BMW between the team’s practice sessions and posted a competitive lap time, which was just two seconds faster than his electric time. On day 2 Daley tried the BMW again, this time with the anti-wheelie and traction control systems removed – yet in the race that followed, he won the championship with a fastest lap three seconds faster than the BMW.

A brilliant weekend and a brilliant result – the team are delighted to be 2015 European MotoE Champions and are already making plans for the 2016 season!

Additional photos taken by Bernadette Frankland, used with thanks.

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Blog post written by the UoN E-Racing Team – Marco Degano, Jonathan Blissett, Miquel Gimeno-Fabra and Pat Wheeler.

After a challenging weekend at Cadwell Park, the PEMC Electric Motorbike Team (Marco Degano, Miquel Gimeno-Fabra and Jonathan Blissett) had a number of issues to sort out with the bike before heading off to Pembrey Race Circuit for the next MotoE event. It was disappointing to have two consecutive “Did Not Finish” (DNF) results, which saw the team drop to third in the championship. With this in mind, the team decided to have a full strip down of the bike and, after three days of diagnostics, the problem was traced to bolts missing from the motor resolver. Small changes in the position of this sensor can lead to changes in the performance of the bike – to the extent that the bike can simply stop working all together.

Having identified and fixed the problem, the team decided to have a few practice runs before the next race. With the help of No Limits track days, they headed off to Mallory Park, where the UoN-01 bike was consistently quicker than most petrol bikes. This allowed the team to test many different motor map setups, as well as different levels of engine breaking/regenerative breaking.

After a very successful session at Mallory, everything was double and triple checked again, and the bike was put together ready for racing at Pembrey. At present the rider, Daley Mathieson, can choose 4 different map setups during the race, so that battery levels can be managed better, as well as adapting the bike’s reactions depending on the track or weather conditions. The team made it to Pembrey on Friday afternoon and, as it was too late for them to join a track session, they  focused on preparing the garage and giving the bike and components a final check.

The weekend weather was great and the bike went out on Saturday morning with all the other petrol bikes, taking part in a warm-up session on cold tarmac. The bike was 7th quickest overall, which was expected after such positive test circuits at Mallory Park. The team didn’t need to carry out any changes to the bike before qualifying, apart from mounting fresh rubber and adjusting the rear suspension. Later that afternoon the bike qualified in pole position with a margin of over 5 seconds – a great start, but the team were keen to see Daley make it past the finish line, given the disappointment of Cadwell Park!

With a forecast of rain for the final race event in Portugal next week, it was extremely important to leave Pembrey leading the championship. An added complication the team was mindful of was the nature of the track at Pembrey, which led to a higher battery consumption than normal. However, we’re delighted to report that Daley did an excellent job in both races at Pembrey, riding smoothly and consistently and achieveing 1min 6sec lap – very close to his own lap record. He also lapped many competitiors. Further battles for 3rd and 4th positions between the different Zongshen bikes also meant that the PEMC team’s main rivals scored less points, so UON are now finally leading the championship with a 10 point margin.

The team made it back to Nottingham and one of their first tasks was to take the batteries apart for inspection. They also adjusted the battery management system. After a swap of vans, rebuild of the bike, the team has hit the road for the 3 day drive down to Portimao, Portugal.

It was a brilliant weekend at Pembrey and the team hopes to maintain the momentum for Portimao. They also enjoyed meeting Bernadette, one more member of the Murata family, and would like to thank Murata, Microsemi and all their sponsors for making their participation in MotoE 2015 possible.

Please remember to check out our Facebook page and YouTube channel for some great pictures and race camera action.

Read our tribute to Daley, who sadly died following a crash while racing for the MADMAX Race Team at the 2019 Isle of Man TT here.

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Blog post written by the UoN E-Racing Team – Marco Degano, Jonathan Blissett, Miquel Gimeno-Fabra and Pat Wheeler.

The weekend of 11-13 September saw the team head off to Cadwell Park, Lincoln, for more racing as part of the MotoE series. It was a challenging but enjoyable few days.

The team set off early on Friday in order to do a few test laps with the rider, Daley Mathieson, and there were some final upgrades made on the bike – the upgrades meant the bike was lighter and the rider would be able to choose different throttle mappings whilst riding.

Initially there were a few issues with the bike, such as the bike being stuck in reverse whilst at full throttle. But these were soon fixed and the team joined a track day for petrol bikes up to 750cc. Friday evening saw the bike record the fastest time on track, despite the usual controler issues.

Daley’s unavailability on Saturday led to the team inviting Talan Skeels-Piggins to ride the bike – Talan is a well known Paralympic medallist whom has set up a racing team for disabled riders, enabling them to compete using adapted bikes. The team was delighted to have Talan involved – as the bike is direct drive and all controls are already on the handlebars, all that was needed was a bit of velcro and Talan was good to go!

Talan went out on the bike in the second qualifying session for the day as the weather conditions were not optimal (extremely wet!) for such test in the morning. He felt increasingly comfortable on the bike, setting the second fastest MotoE lap for the day. Being an extremely experienced rider, Talan was able to provide the team with valuable feedback on how the bike behaved. This test with Talan set a milestone for both electric bike racing and people with mobility issues.

The team also had the pleasure of meeting their main sponsors from Murata on Saturday, who saw the bike racing for the first time.

As the sun went down on Saturday evening, the team decided to have a full bike strip-down to check for electrical and mechanical issues, and to prepare the bike for the actual races on Sunday.

Daley returned on Sunday, and the bike went out again for a few minutes practice with petrol bikes – the bike dominated again, starting from the back and overtaking everyone in the first lap, until the session was cancelled because the two Zongshen bikes collided.

The feedback from Daley was extremely positive – the tweaks the team did on the controller seemed to have worked, so they started the short race with a strong 3 laps at superbike pace, setting the fastest lap for an electric bike in Cadwell Park. Unfortunately, the bike stopped for no apparent reason half-way through the last lap, forcing the team to focus all the afternoon on solving the problem.

As the team knew from the TT, the main challenge is reliability and this time it hit the team badly. They raced against the clock to address the problem and fix it. However the problem was intermittent so a diagnosis was challenging. The team got to a point where the bike seemed to be working again so they closed it and prepared for the last race of the day. However, the issue flared up again after two corners into the warm-up lap, forcing Daley to retire.

Although the bike DNF, the team returned to Nottingham, confident they can resolve the issues of the weekend. There are now only 3 weeks and 2 events until the end of the MotoE season, so the team is aware they need to win to secure the championship.

The team is thankful to Murata for coming to Cadwell and bringing some new gear and they hope that, at least, they enjoyed seeing the bike demonstrating its potential. The team also wants to thank Cummins for providing power at the event, allowing all the teams to charge their bikes in the field.

On to the next event!

Our thanks to Kerry Rawson Photography for the photos.

Read our tribute to Daley, who sadly died following a crash while racing for the MADMAX Race Team at the 2019 Isle of Man TT here.

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Blog post written by the UoN E-Racing Team – Marco Degano, Jonathan Blissett, Miquel Gimeno-Fabra and Pat Wheeler.

After the success of the UON EMoto team in Germany, the team headed off to Anglesey on 15th/16th August to take part in the second race weekend of the MotoE season 2015. And, we’re delighted to say that the bike and team performed brilliantly again!

The team – Miquel Gimeno-Fabra, Marco Degano, Jonathan Blisett, and rider, Daley Mathison Facebook – achieved the outstanding result of making pole position, recording the fastest lap and winning both MotoE Races.

The team report: “Our weekend has been fantastic: after technical issues in race 1 in Germany we gave priority to reliability and due to this we did not encounter the same problems. We had a small hiccup for the free practice that was solved in 10 minutes, and thanks to the great support from the staff at Anglesey we were able to do some laps on a later session. The bike performed superbly, responding to all the changes that we have made. A tribute to our main sponsor Murata and Microsemi was breaking the electric outright lap record whilst only using 60% of out motor’s capabilities. Daley has performed at his best all week-end taking the bike beyond its limits thanks to his spectacular riding style which is much needed for the MotoE fan base.”

Daley, the rider, said the following: “I could not be more happy after producing the goods once again for the team at Nottingham University: qualifying on pole and taking the double victory here at Anglesey, they put the most competitive bike under me and I truly enjoyed it riding it to the limit. Every time I ride this bike it makes me smile and we get more and more out of it.
After finishing the superbike race at Ulster Grand Prix, to riding the electric bike at Anglesey, the performance is getting closer and closer every time.
In free practice on Saturday I enjoyed chasing and beating most of the petrol superbikes. MotoE again put on a fantastic event and I look forward for the next round.”

The team plan on making significant upgrades in preparation for the next race weekend at Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire. They plan on injecting the bike with more power and reducing the weight.

Miq, Marco, Jonathan and Daley would like to thank everyone making their success possible, including the sponsors MuRata and Microsemi. We’re delighted to see the team doing so well and will report back after the race at Cadwell Park.

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Blog post written by the UoN E-Racing Team – Marco Degano, Jonathan Blissett, Miquel Gimeno-Fabra and Pat Wheeler.

The PEMC Electric Bike Team’s success continues in 2015, with another super result at the Nurburgring circuit! The first weekend of August saw the team – Marco Degano, Jonathan Blissett and Miquel Gimeno-Fabra – transport the bike to Nurburgring, Germany, to take part in the first race weekend of the MotoE Season and get the bike ready for their rider – Daley “Daisy” Mathison – to race around the track.

A delay at Calais meant the team had to work hard and pull out all the stops to get the bike race-ready, and also contend with a warm track and temperatures of around 28 degrees.

Unfortunately, some technical gremlins meant that the bike didn’t finish the 5-lap sprint race, but this made the whole team more determined to ready the bike for the main race. And, we’re delighted to say that the bike won it! Daley rode the bike for the 15 minute race, finishing a full 68 seconds ahead of the bike in second place – a very impressive and a brilliant achievement! The team were thrilled to see Daley take a well-deserved top position on the podium.

The full race times (taken from the MotoE website) are:

1. 10 (UoN), Daley “Daisy” Mathison, 6 laps, 15:00.925
2. 21 Zongshen Racing, Chun Kay Kwok, 6 laps, 16:09.355, (+1:08.430)
3. 6 Zongshen Racing, Tsz Yeung Choi, 6 laps, 16:15.674, (+06.319)
4. 77 Darvill Racing, Chris Foster, 6 laps, 16:43.395, (+27.721)

DNS:
18 Vercamoto Mark Miller

More info about the race can be found on the MotoE website.

The team is very grateful to Murata and their sponsors for their support, and to Rupal, for organising the MotoE event so well. They are now working hard to get the bike ready for the first UK race in North Wales on the 15/16 August. They plan to sort out the reliability issues and give the bike a new look, dressing it in custom-made fairings.

A huge well done to the team and to Daley, and we look forward to posting more news about the bike’s performance in a couple of weeks.

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Blog post written by the UoN E-Racing Team – Marco Degano, Jonathan Blissett, Miquel Gimeno-Fabra and Pat Wheeler.

Welcome to the first blog post about the electric motorbike, built by members of the PEMC Research Group!

The PEMC team has been working on the electric bike for some time – 2014 saw the bike compete in the MotoE races, achieving 3^rd place overall in the MotoE Race Series. This year, the team hopes to emulate and build upon that success.

June was a busy month. The team – Miquel Gimeno-Fabra, Marco Degano, and Jonathan Blissett – had a race against time to get the bike ready for the legendary TT Races on the Isle of Man. This meant converting a basic frame and a box of batteries into something road-worthy, and able to take on other competitors.

The team managed to pull it all together and took part in the TT Zero, which was an amazing achievement. The bike, rode by Mike Sweeney, raced against seasoned riders such as Guy Martin, and came a very creditable 6^th overall. You can read about the team’s experience of the TT on the University’s blog: https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/newsroom/2015/06/23/engineers-race-to-isle-of-man-tt-prize/

The team was delighted to be awarded the University-backed Team Award at the TT and the guys are now working on the bike, correcting a few issues that posed a problem at the TT. The first modification they are tackling is to find out where a water leak in the motor is coming from and repair it.

Regular updates about the team’s progress will be posted. And here’s a photo of the team with the TT Award.

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