And they're off! UK-based Drayson Racing Technologies is the first team to commit to Formula E Holdings's plans to run an all-electric Formula One-style racing circuit starting next year.
Drayson, which will be one of 10 teams that are expected to compete in the circuit, plans to devote two drivers to the circuit and is "talking to a number of the world's leading racing drivers." While the cars are being developed by Spark and McLaren, Drayson may start building its own cars by 2015. The standard car will be an updated version of the Formulec EF01 electric-racing prototype first shown at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. That prototype was said to have a 155-mile-per-hour top speed and a 0-to-60 acceleration time of three seconds.
Formula E plan to hold 10 road races during the first full year of the circuit and said last month that the first race as part of the series will take place in Rome, with street demonstrations expected to start later this year. Check out a short video with Lord Drayson and read the team's press release below.
Drayson, which will be one of 10 teams that are expected to compete in the circuit, plans to devote two drivers to the circuit and is "talking to a number of the world's leading racing drivers." While the cars are being developed by Spark and McLaren, Drayson may start building its own cars by 2015. The standard car will be an updated version of the Formulec EF01 electric-racing prototype first shown at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. That prototype was said to have a 155-mile-per-hour top speed and a 0-to-60 acceleration time of three seconds.
Formula E plan to hold 10 road races during the first full year of the circuit and said last month that the first race as part of the series will take place in Rome, with street demonstrations expected to start later this year. Check out a short video with Lord Drayson and read the team's press release below.
New Drayson Racing Formula E Team is Officially "Go"
British team is first official entry to be approved by the FIA in new global electric championship
Drayson Racing Technologies LLP (DRT), the pioneering low-carbon motorsport R&D business, announced today at the Low Carbon Racing Conference that the Drayson Racing Formula E Team is the first team to have agreed with Formula E Holdings (the promoter) to be officially proposed to the FIA as one of the 10 teams taking part in the Championship starting in 2014.
The Oxfordshire, UK-based outfit is the first team to commit to the zero-emissions series and will run in the inaugural season of the Championship in 2014, featuring cars racing on city street circuits powered exclusively by renewable electric energy. Drayson will field a two driver attack and is already talking to a number of the world's leading racing drivers about seats with the team. During 2013, it will work with Spark and Formula E Holdings to test the Formula E customer car and to promote the championship around the world in the 10 host cities planned for the first season.
Drayson Racing will run the new Formula E customer racing car in 2014 which will be supplied by the promoter Formula E Holdings and is currently being developed by Spark and McLaren.
From 2015, the team plans to be a constructor in its own right fielding a new drivetrain developed from the advanced DRT 4X2-640 electric system featured in the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV car that set a new electric record this summer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The team is a wholly owned subsidiary of Drayson Racing Technologies which has been pioneering green racing initiatives since 2007 and has been acting as Scientific Adviser in terms of sustainability to the FIA Formula E Championship during its establishment over the past few months.
Lord Drayson, Team Principal of Drayson Racing commented: "We are hugely excited about the prospect of competing in the opening season of FIA Formula E. We aim to be one of the front runners from the start, leveraging the knowhow we've built up over the past two years working on electric drivetrains and developing our 200 mph electric Le Mans prototype. We believe that FIA Formula E has very significant commercial potential, it will attract new fans and new sponsors to motorsport and is on track to become the world's leading environmentally sustainable global sporting event."
Alejandro Agag, Chief Executive Officer of FEH, said: "Today is a very special day for the FIA Formula E Championship. Announcing Drayson Formula E team as the first of the 10 teams proposed to take part in the competition is a very important step in the creation of the first sustainable global motor sport Championship.
"Having a team like Drayson join our ranks, gives the FIA Formula E a true electric racing DNA, as the British company represents, like no other, the passion for research and technology in the field of green motor sport.
"Lord Drayson is a true pioneer in electric racing, and our championship identifies completely with his goals and his ambitions. We look forward to see the Drayson Formula E Team racing in the heart of great cities around the world, first with the Spark customer car, and then with his own technology, that will contribute to the advance of electric cars in our cities."
Ends
Notes to Editors
Drayson Racing Technologies LLP is a research & development business based in the heart of the UK's world-leading motorsport industry at Kidlington, near Oxford. Lord Paul Drayson, a former science entrepreneur and the UK Minister for Science and Innovation in the previous government, formed Drayson Racing Technologies to act as a racing laboratory to pioneer the development of green technologies in the challenging environment of motor sport. Since then, Drayson Racing has achieved a number of notable firsts racing second-generation biofuels and latterly focusing on the emerging field of electric racing.
For more information please visit: www.draysonracingtechnologies.com
FIA Formula E Championship: Formula E is a new FIA championship featuring racing cars powered exclusively by electric energy. It represents a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades. The races will be held in the heart of the world's leading cities, around their main landmarks. Demonstrations of the first cars will commence in 2013, followed by the first official electric car race in 2014. The aim is for a grid of 10 teams and 20 drivers in 2014. The FIA has expressed its delight with the sport's shared values of clean energy and sustainability. Formula E hopes to promote general awareness around sustainability. It also intends to serve as a framework for R&D around the electric vehicle and accelerate general interest in these cars for personal use.
For more information please visit: www.formulaeholdings.com
Follow us: @FIAFormulaE
British team is first official entry to be approved by the FIA in new global electric championship
Drayson Racing Technologies LLP (DRT), the pioneering low-carbon motorsport R&D business, announced today at the Low Carbon Racing Conference that the Drayson Racing Formula E Team is the first team to have agreed with Formula E Holdings (the promoter) to be officially proposed to the FIA as one of the 10 teams taking part in the Championship starting in 2014.
The Oxfordshire, UK-based outfit is the first team to commit to the zero-emissions series and will run in the inaugural season of the Championship in 2014, featuring cars racing on city street circuits powered exclusively by renewable electric energy. Drayson will field a two driver attack and is already talking to a number of the world's leading racing drivers about seats with the team. During 2013, it will work with Spark and Formula E Holdings to test the Formula E customer car and to promote the championship around the world in the 10 host cities planned for the first season.
Drayson Racing will run the new Formula E customer racing car in 2014 which will be supplied by the promoter Formula E Holdings and is currently being developed by Spark and McLaren.
From 2015, the team plans to be a constructor in its own right fielding a new drivetrain developed from the advanced DRT 4X2-640 electric system featured in the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV car that set a new electric record this summer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The team is a wholly owned subsidiary of Drayson Racing Technologies which has been pioneering green racing initiatives since 2007 and has been acting as Scientific Adviser in terms of sustainability to the FIA Formula E Championship during its establishment over the past few months.
Lord Drayson, Team Principal of Drayson Racing commented: "We are hugely excited about the prospect of competing in the opening season of FIA Formula E. We aim to be one of the front runners from the start, leveraging the knowhow we've built up over the past two years working on electric drivetrains and developing our 200 mph electric Le Mans prototype. We believe that FIA Formula E has very significant commercial potential, it will attract new fans and new sponsors to motorsport and is on track to become the world's leading environmentally sustainable global sporting event."
Alejandro Agag, Chief Executive Officer of FEH, said: "Today is a very special day for the FIA Formula E Championship. Announcing Drayson Formula E team as the first of the 10 teams proposed to take part in the competition is a very important step in the creation of the first sustainable global motor sport Championship.
"Having a team like Drayson join our ranks, gives the FIA Formula E a true electric racing DNA, as the British company represents, like no other, the passion for research and technology in the field of green motor sport.
"Lord Drayson is a true pioneer in electric racing, and our championship identifies completely with his goals and his ambitions. We look forward to see the Drayson Formula E Team racing in the heart of great cities around the world, first with the Spark customer car, and then with his own technology, that will contribute to the advance of electric cars in our cities."
Ends
Notes to Editors
Drayson Racing Technologies LLP is a research & development business based in the heart of the UK's world-leading motorsport industry at Kidlington, near Oxford. Lord Paul Drayson, a former science entrepreneur and the UK Minister for Science and Innovation in the previous government, formed Drayson Racing Technologies to act as a racing laboratory to pioneer the development of green technologies in the challenging environment of motor sport. Since then, Drayson Racing has achieved a number of notable firsts racing second-generation biofuels and latterly focusing on the emerging field of electric racing.
For more information please visit: www.draysonracingtechnologies.com
FIA Formula E Championship: Formula E is a new FIA championship featuring racing cars powered exclusively by electric energy. It represents a vision for the future of the motor industry over the coming decades. The races will be held in the heart of the world's leading cities, around their main landmarks. Demonstrations of the first cars will commence in 2013, followed by the first official electric car race in 2014. The aim is for a grid of 10 teams and 20 drivers in 2014. The FIA has expressed its delight with the sport's shared values of clean energy and sustainability. Formula E hopes to promote general awareness around sustainability. It also intends to serve as a framework for R&D around the electric vehicle and accelerate general interest in these cars for personal use.
For more information please visit: www.formulaeholdings.com
Follow us: @FIAFormulaE
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