Kingston University’s electric motorbike team have undergone an intense programme in an attempt to make the podium at the final round of the TTXGP season at Brands Hatch on October 2-3, writes James Buckfield.

The seven-man team have tested Peter Williams electric motorcycle at the Kent track’s shorter Indy circuit and team sponsor Life Batt’s Bruntingthorpe proving ground to squeeze out the last drops of performance the team has yet to discover.

Technical director Paul Brandon, a lecturer at Kingston, said: “We will be going for third place – that would be a great and deserved result.

“There is around 10 per cent performance left in the bike that we are not getting the benefit of, so we testedthe bike as much as possible.”

The team, formed partly of Kingston engineering students, have been working on a dynometer, which simulates the bike’s performance to predict how it will behave on track, at the university’s Roehampton Vale campus in Friars Avenue.

Engineering student Owen Gilbert said: “It is so different to a petrol bike – what you find on the dynamometer generally translates onto the track with this electric bike.

“But there is no substitute for track testing.”

Rider Adam Palfreman is confident the team can unlock the speed that has held it back so far in the four-round championship and get among the leaders, who include Isle of Man TT rider James McBride.

Palfreman, 28, said: “Finishing on the podium will be a challenge because everyone knows Brands Hatch so well.

“The other four teams have encountered quite a lot of mechanical problems while we have only had a couple.”

Palfreman is fifth in the championship standings, six points behind third place.