Drayson Racing Sets New Lightweight Electric-Car Speed Record: 204 MPHDrayson Racing Sets New Lightweight Electric-Car Speed Record: 204 MPH

It’s been a good week for electric vehicles in motor sport.
At the weekend, Audi’s R18 e-tron, a diesel-electric hybrid race car, took victory at the Le Mans 24-hour race. Also at Le Mans, Nissan unveiled its 2014 competitor for the race, the ZEOD RC electric prototype.
And on Tuesday, reports the BBC, a new electric land speed record was achieved, finally beating the 175 mph record set in 1974.
Lord Drayson, a previous Minister of Science in the UK government, took a development of his electric Lola endurance prototype to 204.2 mph at the Elvington airfield in Yorkshire, UK.
The Lola B12 69/EV was previously designed as a Le Mans prototype vehicle, not dissimilar to those which raced over the weekend, showcasing various technologies–such as “structural batteries”, energy storage built into the car’s bodywork and chassis.
Tweaks to the car to prepare it for the high-speed challenge were mainly limited to aerodynamic enhancements–but the car’s quartet of electric motors, with their total 850-horsepower output, remained.
Following his record-breaking run, Lord Drayson told the BBC, “What it, I hope, shows to people is just what the future potential of electric cars is”.
He also added that he sees technology developed in race vehicles like this one day filtering down to road cars–and also sees the UK becoming a leader in electric race car technology, just as it is in current motorsport engineering.
Attention now turns from the land speed record to the Formula E series, due to begin in September next year at city-based race circuits around the globe.
Drayson and Lola will use parts from the B12 69/EV to develop a new single-seat vehicle to compete in the series.
[Hat tip: Brian Henderson]
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