Drayson Racing Technologies are to make an attempt for the FIA World Electric Land Speed Record on June 25, the firm have announced.
Using a low-drag version of the Drayson B12 69/EV electric Le Mans Prototype, former UK science minister Lord Drayson will attempt to break the current sub-1000kg class record of 175mph at RAF Elvington in Yorkshire.
The current record was set by Battery Box General Electric in the United States, and has stood for almost 40 years owing to the immense technical challenge of running a consistent and reliable electric car less than 1000kg.
“It is not the outright speed that is impressive about this record attempt,” said Lord Drayson, CEO and co-founder of Drayson Racing Technologies, who were the first to sign up for the new FIA Formula E Championship. “But the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1000kg electric vehicle to such a high speed and sustaining that speed over a measured mile, before stopping safely all within a relatively short distance then turning round and doing it again within an hour. It’s a tremendous technical challenge but we believe it’s about time someone moved this record on to demonstrate just how far EV technology has come.
“The reason we are doing this is to showcase the maximum level of EV performance at the moment – and in a real racing car rather than a teardrop-shaped land speed record car. We are also demonstrating the future potential of technologies like wireless charging in speeding the adoption of high performance EVs. It’s a great way to build up to the Formula E championship that we are competing in from 2014 and will demonstrate that Britain is at the forefront of this vital technology, which I believe represents the future of the automobile.”
