Drayson Racing Goes Electric

[Bentley03]

Here's the news which confirms the reason for Drayson's absence from ACO regs racing this year and the future direction to be taken by the team: Link

[fieldodreams79]

Good for his Lordship and am glad to have someone like this promoting such a series; just wish he could have sustained an effort in proper sportscar racing as well. I hope the series and his Lordship can peak the racing world's interest, but I have my doubts.

And to be a true "zero emissions" series, they need get their electricity from a zero emissions source (and I guess we can consider nuclear as "zero emissions"). Otherwise, they are just replacing emissions from the car with emissions from power plants, and taking money from oil companies and giving it to the power companies (feel free to take an "eco-mentalist" jab here ).

A bit more here.

The EVCUP series gets underway in August with four events in the UK before going to Spain, Portugal and the USA. MSVR will be the UK organising club for the events which will feature races for THINK city cars, Westfield iRACER sports cars and a prototype class for any electric car based on a timed laps format.

[The Badger]

Dont think a Mr.Cocker will be pleased about that !!!

I think its awful .

[R4z3rw33n]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Dont think a Mr.Cocker will be pleased about that !!!

I think its awful .

Interesting point. I didn't see any mention of Cocker in the release, either.

He's proven himself to be competitive in both GT and prototype machinery within a short period of time.
Hopefully Jonny can secure a drive in something this season.

Would be a great shame to see such talent go to waste.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Dont think a Mr.Cocker will be pleased about that !!!

I think its awful .

I believe in what he is attempting (thinking outside the box), but can't disagree with you as I hate losing a beautiful car and possibly Cocker from LM style sportscars.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by R4z3rw33n

Interesting point. I didn't see any mention of Cocker in the release, either.

He's proven himself to be competitive in both GT and prototype machinery within a short period of time.
Hopefully Jonny can secure a drive in something this season.

Would be a great shame to see such talent go to waste.

Good LMP drives are pretty much gone, so unless AMR pick him up it's not going to happen. Hopefully there's a seat for Jonny in a good GTE-Pro car, maybe JMW or Jota.

[Tim the Grey]

Somebody will find him a home. He's way too good NOT to! I would guess AMR will have something for him, either LMP or GT, Factory or Partner team.

[fiend540]

Well, good for him if this is what he wants but I wouldn't waste my time and money going to see these abortions race. Bleh

[Deleted]

Disappointing, it was a way too short run for that team and car. Mr. Drayson was at the Lola Forum last fall, discussing about the future of sportscars and ILMC, so I was expecting something more interesting than... this.

[pdxracefan]

Wow, now that sounds like a hell of of a series.

Wait, it wouldn't have any sound at all.

[picchiofan]

So, this is like the pro version of drunken golf cart racing? I think Paul Tracy has found his ride for next season.

[JAG]

Given this is basically club level racing with a Westfield, yet rumours suggest Drayson is looking to purchase the ex-TWR facility and build their own car, is there more to come in 2012?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by JAG

Given this is basically club level racing with a Westfield, yet rumours suggest Drayson is looking to purchase the ex-TWR facility and build their own car, is there more to come in 2012?

I wonder if he got indigestion, when they calculated what the cost would be, to build a competitive hybrid car themselves?

[TWK]

Originally Posted by JAG

Given this is basically club level racing with a Westfield, yet rumours suggest Drayson is looking to purchase the ex-TWR facility and build their own car, is there more to come in 2012?

I suspect he looked at that and decided it wasn't in the cards for his dwindling fortune (or Lady Drayson did).

[TWK]

There's been more fiction than reality in Drayson's claim to "green racing." Check this sentence in his press release for nonsense:

"Drayson Racing have paved the way in green racing over the past four years with second generation biofuels, and we have been looking at electric vehicle technologies for a while, waiting for the technology to mature and for the right time to enter this exciting new field," Lord Drayson said.

First to race with E85: Corvette Racing.

First to race with isobutanol: Dyson Racing.

First to race with gas-to-liquid (GTL) diesel: Audi Sport

First to race with a battery/gasoline hybrid: Corsa Motorsport

First to race with a flywheel/gasoline hybrid: Porsche Motorsport

What was that "second generation biofuel" with which the Lord "paved the way?"

I'm a racing fan. Come race or go away. I could give a rat's patootie about your green fantasies. The idea that you're racing to save the world is megalomaniacal.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by TWK

I suspect he looked at that and decided it wasn't in the cards for his dwindling fortune (or Lady Drayson did).

Are you sure she's not driving, this series is for amateurs in the truest sense, it's a major step down from British GT nevermind the ALMS.

[knighty]

Originally Posted by TWK

There's been more fiction than reality in Drayson's claim to "green racing." Check this sentence in his press release for nonsense:


First to race with E85: Corvette Racing.

First to race with isobutanol: Dyson Racing.

First to race with gas-to-liquid (GTL) diesel: Audi Sport

First to race with a battery/gasoline hybrid: Corsa Motorsport

First to race with a flywheel/gasoline hybrid: Porsche Motorsport

What was that "second generation biofuel" with which the Lord "paved the way?"

I'm a racing fan. Come race or go away. I could give a rat's patootie about your green fantasies. The idea that you're racing to save the world is megalomaniacal.

TWK - spot on mate - the Drayson website is laced with such toungue-in-cheek statements which have made me cringe all year long, this may wash with your average joe-public, but they have openly been making fools of themselves within the motorsport and powertrain industries with such statements, dont get me wrong I think Drayson are a great race team and I'm saddened the Lola LMP1 is not coming back this year (I'm British!), but I wish they didnt insult everyones intelligence with such wild statements like the bio fuel - its utter tosh ......this electrical Westfield thing is a joke too for a team of such stature, as mentioned elsewhere - is club level.......hey ho, lets hope things change soon, with something a bit more LMP related.

regarding building their own car at the old oxford TWR site - cripes -that sounds a bit ambitious!......lets hope they dont do an epsilon-euskadi :-/

[Simmi]

Very disappointing. I'm sure literally seconds into the electric season he will miss the sportscar scene.

I don't think it's the last we've seen of him. But until then, the team may as well have disappeared off the face of the earth.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Very disappointing. I'm sure literally seconds into the electric season he will miss the sportscar scene.

Let's hope he remembers the Lola coupe in the garage at that point.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by knighty

TWK - spot on mate - the Drayson website is laced with such toungue-in-cheek statements which have made me cringe all year long, this may wash with your average joe-public, but they have openly been making fools of themselves within the motorsport and powertrain industries with such statements, dont get me wrong I think Drayson are a great race team and I'm saddened the Lola LMP1 is not coming back this year (I'm British!), but I wish they didnt insult everyones intelligence with such wild statements like the bio fuel - its utter tosh ......this electrical Westfield thing is a joke too for a team of such stature, as mentioned elsewhere - is club level.......hey ho, lets hope things change soon, with something a bit more LMP related.

regarding building their own car at the old oxford TWR site - cripes -that sounds a bit ambitious!......lets hope they dont do an epsilon-euskadi :-/

A couple of related corrections. Barwell Motorsports (and Drayson) debuted E85 bioethanol in Brit GT in 2007, the year before Corvette, and actually won a round at Donington with it. (Thanks to John Dagys for correcting me.)

However, we're still both wrong on "bioethanol," and it's not even close...that was Nasamax at Sebring in 2003 (15 laps) and then Le Mans in the same year.

So Drayson is still a long way from leading the bioethanol use in racing as he claims.

Another note. Fogelhund reminds me that Sparky finished 12th at the first PLM in 1998, which would put it well before Corsa. I have some doubt whether it was using its "motive electrics," however. (Corsa didn't use its electrics at Salt Lake City, either - so wasn't running as a hybrid - and made only very low power, limited use at Lime Rock.)

Sorry I cobbled that list together quickly, off the top of my head.

[vyselegend]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Very disappointing. I'm sure literally seconds into the electric season he will miss the sportscar scene.

I don't think it's the last we've seen of him. But until then, the team may as well have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Yes, I don't want to be rough with that EVCUP series, but it certainly sounds like a big step down for Drayson racing.
How can a team find excitment in such a confidential series after battling in the top class of the top level of sportcar, sometimes against big manufacturers?...

So, are Cocker and Pirro without a drive in serious motorsport now?

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by vyselegend

So, are Cocker and Pirro without a drive in serious motorsport now?

They are temporarily...

But they'll have plenty of potential suitors won't they?

I can see Aston Martin wanting Cocker's raw pace and Pirro's unrivalled experience.

OAK have 4 cars, surely not all 12 seats are taken already?

SigTech I would have though might have something going...

The list goes on. It's not definite, but surely it would be a massive surprise if neither of them found a home...?

[jondownunder]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

And to be a true "zero emissions" series, they need get their electricity from a zero emissions source (and I guess we can consider nuclear as "zero emissions"). Otherwise, they are just replacing emissions from the car with emissions from power plants, and taking money from oil companies and giving it to the power companies (feel free to take an "eco-mentalist" jab here ).

I wish more people would realise this! Unfortunately government and big business wants to blind the masses to something which is fairly obvious when you start to question where the energy ultimately comes from.

So many of the so-called 'green' modes of transport/fuel are anything but. Too many vested interests, for companies it's all about the money they can make by portraying their technology as green. Take it all with a pinch of salt. If electricity still largely comes from emissions-producing power stations, then the only advantage I can see from electric vehicles is keeping the emissions out of city centres.

Plus, aren't there serious environmental impacts from the production and disposal of battery cells that electric vehicles use? Sorry if this is an over-simplistic and cynical view of it all, but I don't buy it. And I certainly won't be going to watch those abominations race.

[old man]

Perhaps he will work with Denny Klein?

http://mikephilbin.blogspot.com/2010...hnologies.html

[Joe Taylor]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

So many of the so-called 'green' modes of transport/fuel are anything but. Too many vested interests, for companies it's all about the money they can make by portraying their technology as green. Take it all with a pinch of salt. If electricity still largely comes from emissions-producing power stations, then the only advantage I can see from electric vehicles is keeping the emissions out of city centres.

There may be efficiency gains as well. A diesel engine can operate at 40% and a petrol at 30% at best. If you take a fossil fuel powered steam plant, you could get an efficiency of up to 60% and even assuming a load of losses transferring from the power station to the car, you would probably still be more efficient overall.