Drayson Racing Technologies has produced a new car that has broken the land speed record for a lightweight electric car. The previous record, set at 175mph by Battery Box General Electric in 1974, was beaten by Drayson's Lola B12 69/EV vehicle which reached a top speed of 204.2mph.
In order to qualify for the attempt, the firm had to make its vehicle weigh less than 1,000kg without the driver. It therefore adapted a Le Mans Series car it had previously designed, and replaced its original bio-ethanol fuel engine with a 20kwh battery offering 850 horsepower.
Lord Drayson, who established Drayson Racing Technologies in 2007, said, "What it, I hope, shows to people is just what the future potential of electric cars is. Obviously this is a very special racing car, but by setting this new world record here in Britain we say two things. One it is a pointer to the future - the technology that we developed for this car will filter down to the cars we use every day. And secondly it's a message about how here in the UK we're a world leader with this technology. We've led motorsport engineering, now we're also leading with electric motorsport engineering."
The firm want to enter the vehicle into next year's Le Mans 24 race, saying the competition would act as a test bed for technologies that could find their way into road cars.
It is clear that firms are beginning to take the potential of electric vehicles seriously. At the same time, Nissan, a global leader in electric road vehicles, has also unveiled the Zeod RC (Zero Emission on Demand Racing Car), which can switch between electric and petrol power and which will make its début at next year's Le Mans 24 race.
