Occasional PHer Lord Drayson (chat with him about electric racing
here
) is on something of a mission to demonstrate the power of electric cars at the moment. And the latest attempt to bring EVs onto the radar of the likes of us and away from what he calls the 'greenwash' that paints them as purely city runabouts will be a land-speed record attempt here in the UK.
Next month he'll drive the Drayson B12 69/EV along the runway at Elvington in an attempt to break a near 40-year-old record for the highest speed achieved by a sub-1,000kg electric vehicle.
"It is not the outright speed that is impressive about this record attempt," says Drayson, "but the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1,000kg 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 car for the job is Drayson Racing's converted Lola, which previously ran with a biofuel Judd V10 before conversion into a rolling demonstrator for the firm's electric technology and a testbed for the forthcoming Formula E electric single-seater. The car has been modified for the attempt, with reduced drag and downforce and other detail changes. If you want to know more about the technical side check out the Drayson Racing website and wish the team well for the attempt on June 25.