Drayson Racing has tested their land speed record car for the first time in 2014 at Silverstone.
The teams Drayson B12/69 EV ran with an updated cooling and traction control system in extremely wet conditions at the Northamptonshire track, but driver Jonny Cocker still managed to reach the same lap time he did in a test last year at Silverstone, even with a reduced aero package.
“Since our successful World Electric Land Speed Record attempt at Elvington last year, the B12 has been completely stripped and all the systems and motors checked,” said Graham Moore, Drayson’s Chief Engineer.
“We came to Silverstone to primarily test a number of new parts that we’ve manufactured that will assist with motor cooling. We had six options that we want to try back-to-back, and despite the atrocious weather we did manage to test many of the options and gain a significant amount of important new data.
“We also did some work on the traction control, hence a different downforce level. We wanted to get more wheelspin data, so the wet weather provided us with the perfect conditions.”
Cocker also commented, saying: “Every time we run the B12 we find a big chunk of information, and every test session is a big learning experience. We were at Silverstone just before Christmas in very similar conditions, and then we ran the B12 in full downforce specification and with full power.
“This time we ran with reduced aero and power and achieved exactly the same lap time, which illustrates the developments that are continuously being made to the car. Silverstone in February, heavy rain blowing in sideways and two degrees Centigrade made driving quite exciting, yet we achieved pretty much everything we set out to do. We’ve gathered all the data we needed, and this latest engineering exercise has been well worthwhile.”
