Being a British government minister apparently wasn’t exciting enough for the Right Honorable Lord Paul Drayson. Drayson, who describes himself as a devoted car nut, used to spend his time away from the office doing mundane things like racing in the 24 Hours of Lemans—considered one of the most grueling motorsports events in the world. In 2010, however, he had a bit of a career change when he lost his ministerial positions in the general election.
Rather than collect his pension while penning his memoirs, however, Drayson devoted himself to another task: creating the fastest electric race car in the world. Drayon’s company, Drayson Racing Technologies, and the Lola Cars group have just pulled the sheet (actually it was a large Union Jack) off their brand new electric-powered racing car, the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV.
image via Drayson Racing
Built around the current Lola LMP1 chassis, Lord Drayson’s new ride has some stunning performance numbers that raise the bar in the burgeoning world of electric auto racing. The Lola-Drayson features four axial flux Oxford YASA motors that are said to provide a total of 850 horsepower to the rear wheels. That massive amount of power is enough to provide a top speed of 200 mph and an almost-unheard of zero to 60 time of about three seconds. If you want to step on the accelerator just a bit longer, the Lola-Drayson will let you see 100 mph in a mere 5.1 seconds.
image via Drayson Racing
The race car is powered by next generation lithium nanophosphate battery cells that are only able to provide enough juice for 15 minutes of racing time. To counter that, the Lola-Drayson will be recharged by a wireless induction system in the pit garage. Induction works when coils inside the car pick up a charge from below the road surface.
The new racer is packed to the gills with all manner of high-tech innovations, movable aerodynamics and electronic control systems. Right now, Drayson’s race team is concentrating on getting the car some track time and working out the bugs. They hope to have it ready to go in time for the 2013 FIA electric car championship
[source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Earthtechling/~3/06_CRlxPXD8/]
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