Or should that be rocketing  it?  Certainly seemed that way standing on the pit wall watching the electric bikes in action ten days ago, as the 4th series of MotoE Racing got underway at Donington Park.


This is the electric motorcycle racing championship that the ARTS TPN support. Competing over the two days were new teams  Duffy Motorsport  and Electric Superbike Twente We also welcomed University of Nottingham  back after a year’s absence, with a world class electric motorcycle and a new motor.  The Nova team from Delft University 

Duffy Motorsport are a small private team and its excellent that they’ve been able to join the series, as Ryan Duffy has had an ambition to set up his own team for a number of years.  The team’s inaugural race was at the TTZero this year, before they joined up with the MotoE Racing series.  This team exemplify what a small group of dedicated individuals can achieve and we hope that they will pull in more sponsorship so they can develop their bike.  In time, I hope we will have more teams like this on the grid.


Twente have also made some incredible progress, considering that a year ago the team didn’t even exist.  They must have had an amazing project plan and manager, to be able to pull everything together in such a short space of time.  It was good to see such a large team of enthusiastic students on the grid and the number of sponsors they have pulled together, shows they’ve not just got their technology together but also their branding and marketing.  Plus their bike the Liion-GP certainly looked stunning and performed well.


What with all the team members and kit we had to take over two garages at Donington, we were only supposed to have been in just one!  Even then we were a bit squashed so  with 1-2 more teams still to join future rounds, we’re going to need a bigger garage!  Here’s a 360 video view showing how we managed to get everyone into the available space.  


Once again the electric bikes were racing in a mixed series with petrol bikes and all of them left the petrol bikes behind in various positions during the races.  The University of Nottingham bike pulling 250hp went like a rocket off the grid on the Sunday when I was there, there was certainly some jaw dropping from the ‘petrolheads’, resulting in lots of visitors coming to the garage in between races to view the bikes and ask questions.  Helmets off to Thijs Peeters, Daley Mathison and Josh Williams, the Twente, University of Nottingham and Duffy Motorsports riders respectively, for getting the maximum they could from their bikes over the weekend.  Daley managed the best lap time of 1.14.485 in the third race, which was the equivalent of times compatible to a good 600cc petrol bike.


If you've not been around Donington on a bike, here's your chance to ride pillion with Thijs Peeters, the Twente Superbike rider, as the team kindly shared their onboard camera footage with us. Just click here.  


I’d forgotten that the circuit is right under the flight path of East Mids Airport and at times it seemed surreal whilst looking out to the right of the track from the pit wall expecting to see the bikes coming around, but seeing an aircraft approaching at low level instead!


Although I can’t be there at Assen, we will get some coverage from the race to share with you. Really look forward to the series finale though at Anglesey at the end of September.  Anyone who has read my previous blogs on MotoE Racing will know that’s my favourite circuit.  What’s not to like, beautiful scenery, a well laid out circuit where you can view quite a bit of the action from one spot if you stand in the right place and a great crowd of riders, teams and spectators. If you've got tickets for the races, get in touch and we’ll arrange for you to come and meet the teams. 


Finally, whilst looking through the race programme I came across a flyer for the Charging Bullet which is a 1961 Royal Enfield ‘Bullet’ which has been converted by engineer Fred Spaven for a battery-powered journey from Lands End to John o’ Groats. You can find out more about the development of this project and his plans to make a road trip documentary when he sets off in October this year, via this press release I noticed on his website that Fred has already linked up with the University of Nottingham MotoE team on one of his pre-journey visits.