For the latest episode of Chris Harris on Cars, the journo had the insanely rare opportunity to drive the world-record holding Drayson B12 69/EV on an abandoned runway to fully explore the potential of this electric racer.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_cRqcbXAs4[/youtube]
Earlier this year, the Drayson B12 69/EV set a new world land speed record for a car weighing less than 999 kg, reaching an average top speed of 204.185 mph across two one-mile runs.
Based around a former Lola LMP1 car, the Drayson B12 69/EV has been created by Drayson Racing Technologies in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom which features a completely unique electric powertrain. This system includes a 30kWh battery covered with a carbon fiber cell. This is then combined with four electric motors, two for each rear wheel. As a result, the Drayson B12 69/EV produces around 850 hp and 4000 Nm of torque and can hit 100 km/h in just 2.9 seconds and 160 km/h in just 5 seconds.
While the current record is very impressive, Lord Drayson believes the Bonneville saltflats will provide the perfect space to fully explore the car’s potential. “Back in June, the relatively short runway at Elvington limited our top speed as we had to brake as the car was still accelerating. We are looking forward to discovering just how fast the car can go on the wide-open spaces of the Bonneville salt flats, although its been a major engineering challenge to prepare the car for running on salt,” he said.
