Drayson Racing has set a new electric land speed record with the companies Lola B12 69/EV vehicle hitting a top speed of 204.2mph (328.6km/h).
Behind the wheel was Drayson Racing Technologies chief executive Lord Drayson as the electric car reached record speed at a RAF Elvington racetrack in Yorkshire.
Paul Drayson founded the racing team in 2007 as a “car nut” who was then in the Labour government.
The former minister for Science and Innovation hoped the achievement would show the future potential of electric cars.
“Obviously this is a very special racing car, but by setting this new world record here in Britain we say two things.
“One it is a pointer to the future – the technology that we developed for this car will filter down to the cars we use every day.
“And secondly it’s a message about how here in the UK we’re a world leader with this technology. We’ve led motorsport engineering, now we’re also leading with electric motorsport engineering.”
The previous 175 mph record was set by Battery Box General Electric in 1974.
Last week Nissan unveiled the Zero Emission On Demand Racing Car (Zeod RC) which is still some way off the speed of the Lola B12 69/EV with a limit of 186 mph.
The new record is promising for Drayson Racing ahead of the launch of the FIA’s Formula E championship starting in September 2014.
London will host the first electric car race. Rome, Miami, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro are among the other seven locations.
