Drayson Racing Brings Innovative Flex-Fuel Race Car Home to Silverstone

TOWCESTER, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, ENGLAND- Drayson Racing’s No.11 Drayson Racing Lola Coupé with Judd Power returns to the United Kingdom 12 September for the Autosport 1000Km of Silverstone in the Le Mans Prototype One (LMP1) Class. The UK-based organisation is spending 2010 on an international tour of the highest level of sportscar racing, promoting the concept and technology of “green racing” on three continents with its innovative “Flex-Fuel” Lola Judd race car.

Drayson Racing returns to its native home to compete for the first time this year in the Le Mans Series’ (LMS), six-hour endurance event at the famed Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit. As it is for the team, drivers and British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) members Paul Drayson (Gloucestershire, UK) and Jonny Cocker (Guisborough, Yorks, UK) will also enjoy a homecoming as each considers the BRDC-owned and newly renovated, 5.890Km/3.65-mile, 18-turn, F1-circuit their home track.

For the second year running, Drayson Racing is competing around the world demonstrating the team’s strengths in logistics and global reach. The schedule also provides a stage on which to develop and promote the operation’s focus on green technology in motorsport. Since the start of the international sportscar racing season in March with the American Le Mans Series’ (ALMS) 12 Hours of Sebring, the Dale White (Bozeman, MT, USA)-managed operation has competed in the United States seven times and once each in Canada and France (the 24 Heures du Mans). Before the year’s end, they will add an additional American-round at the Petit Le Mans in Braselton, GA (2 October) and a first visit to China at the Zhuhai Circuit (7 November).

Entering the Sunday event at Silverstone, Drayson Racing has one overall victory (Road America), two Michelin® Green X® Challenge wins (Salt Lake City and Road America) and two ALMS, LMP-class and overall pole positions (Mid-Ohio, Road America). Most importantly for the team, the win at Road America was the first time that a bio-ethanol fuelled race car has won an international sportscar race outright, proving the potential of this alternative future fuel.

The Drayson Racing Lola-Judd has been developed as a true “Flex-Fuel” vehicle. The Drayson racing technical team led by Race Engineer, Graham Moore (United Kingdom) together with partners Lola Cars and Engine Developments Ltd (Judd Power) have applied their innovative expertise and commitment to green racing technology to develop a race car that has the capability to be run on E85 second-generation cellulosic bio-ethanol – a fuel approved in the ALMS – as well as standard E10 race fuel as specified for use in the European and Asian Le Mans Series races.

The innovative flexibility in an LM P1 car is what gives the Drayson Racing machine the capability to be competitive on all three continents during the 2010 season. It does present additional technical challenges to the team and their partners as switching between fuels include changes to engine map and setup, fuel tank and fuel system. The change also requires modification to the pit lane refuelling equipment. However the information gained from this development of a Flex-Fuel capability not only allows the team to run the most environmentally friendly fuel where race regulations permit, it also generates information on the performance of these systems under the most arduous of endurance race conditions. This information is very useful to the future development of Flex-Fuel road vehicles, a growing trend in the automotive industry, as well as proving the potential and competitiveness of bio-fuels as evidenced by the win at Road America.

Live timing and scoring of all sessions including the 170-lap race can be found at www.lemans-series.com. The live radio call by Radio Le Mans can be heard at www.radiolemans.com. Television coverage of Sunday’s race can be seen live in UK and Europe on Eurosport.

Quotes

Paul Drayson – Owner/Driver: “Silverstone is one of the world’s great race circuits. The recent investments have made the track even better and I can’t wait to try out our Lola-Judd here. Racing against the LMS field again will be a great opportunity to benchmark our progress since Le Mans last June, as well as an opportunity to highlight the importance of green racing technology at the home track of the world leading British motorsport industry.”

Jonny Cocker – Driver: “We have a very good plan of how we are going to attack this weekend in terms of setup for the car. I’m confident that the Lola-Judd will be running great. I’m really looking forward to returning to Europe and the LMS championship to secure our position as one of the top sports car teams in the world today. We have already proven over and over in the ALMS championship that we are more than capable of being the most competitive car on the track. For me as a driver, it’s also a great opportunity to show myself up against the best sports car drivers out there! I feel totally at ease driving the Drayson Racing Lola and I know that we will be competitive this weekend! It won’t be easy, but that’s what makes it fun!”

Dale White – Team Manager: “Over the course of the last year, we have been learning the Lola-Judd and, while we still have more to learn, we are now where we can consistently get the most out of it and the Michelin tyres. Brining it here to Silverstone I feel like we can finally see where we stand with the best competition Europe has to offer. We are looking forward to the challenge. That is very exciting and even more gratifying. It is even better knowing we are racing in front of friends, family and suppliers.”

To visit the official web site of Drayson Racing, please go to www.draysonracing.com. 

© RIF | Dryson Racing-Tom Moore