Abstract. In this paper a procedure for determining the number of different synchronous speeds that can be obtained from the stator of a drum motor as a function of the number of slots is presented. This preliminary study is foreseen for a hysteresis high-temperature superconducting motor, but the approach is directly applied in conventional motors. The targeted device has multiphase windings, in order to achieve full flexibility in torque-speed space through electronic variation of magnetic poles. Simulations are performed in order to achieve a qualitative understanding of the behaviour of the motor, namely in what concerns to torque and settling times from initial to synchronous speed. A prototype with eighteen slots in the stator and a bulk YBCO rotor is described and built, and experimental values of torque are obtained.