Warwick Moto superbike designs unveiled

Published by

Nicky Godding

Students from across the University of Warwick have worked together to develop an electric supervise, with support from Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

The superbike, Aurora, will be raced when the Coronavirus pandemic is over, meanwhile, the students have been working at home to finalised the bike's design.

The students come from a range of Departments including: WMG, School of Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Law and Maths.

Aurora will house a 17 kWh oil-cooled battery, a powertrain capable of delivering 150 kW (200 hp) and 400 Nm of torque at an estimated top speed of 160 mph for racing driver Tom Weeden to take advantage of.

Along with a carbon fibre subframe, Aurora has a uniquely positioned radiator to maximise the cooling to the powertrain components and weighs 260kg.

4^th year Physics student, Rishi Bhugobaun has created the video of the bike.

Aman Surana, a School of Engineering student at the University of Warwick who is managing the Warwick Moto team said: “We have tried our best to design a bike that is performance oriented but is also a learning platform for us. With the TT cancellation and our racing and testing plans impacted with COVID-19, our focus has been to make strategic decisions that align with our long term objectives and ensures future teams have something to work with.

“It’s been one of our goals to design a vehicle around a rider rather than converting a vehicle to suit a rider. Tom Weeden, our rider has been involved throughout this design process where we have sought his opinions and view on various characteristics of the bike and tried to implement them where possible. We cannot wait to get back in the workshop, action on our designs and go testing with Tom later this year!”

The team have been receiving support from industrial partners, such as MUPO Race Suspension, Rock West Composites, Michelin Tyre PLC, Rajputana Custom Motorcycles, Demon Tweeks and SITRa Moto.

The team’s long-term objective is to compete with a podium qualifying time at the Isle of Man TT 2022, to make this a reality the team are looking for more supporters to make their first electric bike, you can sponsor them or donate to them here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/warwickmoto

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.