Drayson electric car sets new world speed record

A new world record for land speed has been set by the Drayson Racing technologies by an electric car.

The Lola B12 69/EV vehicle hit a top speed of 204.2mph breaking the previous record of 175mph by Battery Box General electric in 1974, BBC reports.

According to the report, CEO Lord Drayson, who was behind the wheel, said that the record was set to highlight the potential of electronic vehicle technology.

The firm works with others to develop more sustainable automotive technologies and uses motorsport competitions as a means to focus its efforts.

In order to set a record of land speed for an electronic vehicle, the firm had to make the car weigh less than 1,000 kg without the driver, and adapted a Le Mans series car and replaced its bio-ethanol fuel engine with a lightweight 20 kilowatt hour battery offering 850 horsepower.

The chassis of the vehicle are made of recycled carbon fibre in order to minimize air friction.

Drayson said that the new record indicates to the potential this technology has and indicates that UK has become a world leader with this technology as they have led with motor sport engineering and will now lead with electric motor sport engineering.

Google's chairman Eric Schmidt attended the practice runs for the car which was highly praised by Drayson who said that it is great that Schmidt from one of the world's leading technology companies who itself has a very active R and D programme with regard to electric vehicle technology, visited the event.

The report added that some of the components of the vehicle will be used by Drayson to build a car for the FIA's Formula E championship in 2015.