NIO 333 FE Team changes its operational and technical teams in both China and Europe, and introduce a new, bespoke powertrain package.
The Chinese Formula E Team has undergone several improvements since the squad took to the tarmac.
Now fully operational under the guidance of Shanghai Lisheng Racing Co. Ltd, China (its “333 Racing” brand licensed to the team), the foundations of a revised European subsidiary for the NIO 333 FE Team commenced with the appointment of Christian Silk as Team Principal last season.
Christian is tasked with overseeing and building the Technical, Research and Development, European Commercial and Marketing departments which remain based in the ‘Centre for Innovation & Enterprise’ near Oxford in the U.K. The team also retains its second European location at Donington Park circuit, UK, in proximity to the Formula E Holdings Ltd. Operational HQ, to house its race cars and event team.
The sixth season of the all-electric racing series, which marked the second year of running the Formula E Gen2 cars, was a transitional year for the new NIO 333 FE Team owners. Efforts behind the scenes during 2020 have been firmly focused on a full review of all areas to ensure a greatly enhanced operation would be in place for 2021 – the inaugural outing of the all-electric series as an official FIA World Championship (only the second single-seater series to have been appointed as such after Formula 1). With such a milestone year ahead for the racing series, the manufacture of a bespoke powertrain, developed in conjunction with the NIO 333 R&D department in the UK, has been the greatest investment in the NIO 333 FE Team by its new owners to date. The powertrain unit specifications include:
- Weight: 27 kg – designed for optimum efficiency overweight
- Maximum race cycle temperature: 95˚C (max operating temperature 200˚C)
- Efficiency: > 98.5% on race power at race settled temperature
- Maximum Revs: 20 k rpm
- Expected Life: 50+ hours between services
- Maximum Power: Limited to 250 kW by regulation
The NIO FE-001 season seven car has already shown impressive reliability, completing an average of 292kms per day during winter testing.
The NIO 333 FE Team shall announce who shall be racing alongside British driver Oliver Turvey, who is commencing his sixth full Formula E season with the team, at the official series Pre-Season 7 test being held in Valencia, Spain from November 27 – December 1, 2020.
Christian Silk, Team Principal, NIO 333 FE Team
Obviously, during initial testing there are always bugs to iron out, but the way the car has run is truly impressive and a real credit to the hard work put in by everyone at NIO 333 FE Team. This reliability has freed up engineering resource to focus on pure car performance. Initial driver feedback has been positive both in terms of car balance, consistency and pace. After Berlin we knew we had several areas to focus on, and the hard work being put in by the team to resolve these issues is really paying off in terms of driver comments and the data collected from the car.
Our plans for Season 7 are ambitious, but we are a proud team with a vast depth of experience and I know I can speak for everyone when I say we will do everything in our power to achieve these goals.
Vincent Wang, CEO, NIO 333 FE Team
We head into season seven with renewed optimism as we have completed some very encouraging test runs this month with our new powertrain. We were an inexperienced team at the start of season six, using an old motor package to get us through the year, but we knew our strengths and weaknesses and are working swiftly to address them. We have ambitious plans for 2021 and are building up not only the technical side of the NIO 333 FE Team to improve our on-track performance, but also our operational side in both the UK and China. Everyone is extremely focused to ensure that the NIO 333 FE Team will be as competitive as possible before we head to Chile for the first FIA ABB Formula E World Championship race in January.
Source: NIO 333 FE Team
Photo: A Pre-Season 7 test in the UK, September 2020
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