Mahindra M3Electro will compete in the third season in Formula E with Bruno Senna and Nick Heidfeld behind the wheel
Mahindra Racing has been participating in the all-electric top-flight Formula E racing championship since its inaugural 2014/2015 season. The squad led by Team Principal, Dilbagh Gill, has made leaps and bounds at the end this season with two podium and four top six finishes. The Indian constructor finished fifth in the title race with 105 points as opposed to eighth the previous year with constant improvements throughout the term.
The points earned were nearly half as much the outfit had managed to garner with Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok onboard in 2014/15. Mahindra sought the fans opinion and named its second season race car as M2Electro which was developed in collaboration with Spark Racing Technology. Mahindra’s Nick Heidfeld, the vastly experienced ex-F1 driver, took third in the season-opening Beijing ePrix last year.
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But the team had to wait until the double header finale in London for Bruno Senna to taste champagne by coming home second. With unyielding car development, Mahindra announced technical partnership with famed Italian technology company Magneti Marelli this April. Dilbagh Gill said the third season’s racecar would be called as M3Electro and the testing phase would begin in June.
The snapped pictures found on Facebook display the M3Electro undergoing testing in a race track. Besides the commercial deal struck, Magneti Marelli will be developing key aspects of the powertrain for better performance, reliability and efficiency. The electric motor will only weigh 23 kilograms and will be three kilos lighter than the McLaren built powertrain.
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The amount of battery regeneration and maximal weight of the battery cells are increasing for season three with the overall car weight reduced from 888 kg to 880 kg. However, the maximum permitted power output stays put at 200 kW. The Mahindra M3Electro pictures indicate that the signature black, white and red livery remains the same in addition to the presence of Indian Oil logo and its wordings. The biggest change seen is the slightly elevated front wing giving a boomerang shape with restrained aggressiveness.
Mahindra relied on Rockfort Engineering to help maximise the potential of McLaren Electronic Systems built battery pack last season but with the myriad of experience brought in by Magneti Marelli, which provides technical support to F1 teams for their ultra-sophisticated energy recovery systems, the performance is expected to climb higher.
Also Read: Mahindra Formula E team Strikes Partnership with Magneti Marelli
Both seasons of Formula E were topped off by wheel-to-wheel racing and championships won in controversial circumstances. With Jaguar entering the scenes for third season and more auto manufacturers showing interest in partnerships technically and commercially, the growth of Formula E’s popularity will only substantiate the efforts put by Mahindra Racing in attaining brand promotion and apparently becoming the best of the elites in the electric racing world.
Source: Facebook