Cosworth

Lola Group and Drayson Racing Technologies (DRT) today announce at the 2011 Cenex LCV event at Rockingham further detail on the groundbreaking Lola-Drayson B12/69EV all-electric prototype racing car.

The major partnership between Lola and Drayson to build an electric powered LMP (Le Mans Prototype) car was announced in July. Today, both Robin Brundle, Managing Director of Lola Group and Lord Paul Drayson, founder and Managing Partner of DRT release the names of the technical partners for the project and what each of the six technology companies will be contributing and developing.

With over 850 horsepower the Lola Drayson all-electric sports car aims to be the fastest electric powered race car to lap a circuit. Showcasing technology such as inductive charging, composite battery power, moveable aerodynamics and electrical regenerative damping, the B12/69EV will be one of the most advanced zero emission competition cars to run. Drayson Racing Technologies will be managing the integration of the multiple new technologies on the car and its testing and demonstration programme beginning at the end of this year.

Cosworth will be using the expertise gained from providing electronic control systems for hybrid racing vehicles over the last 3 seasons to develop a custom control system for the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV.

The system will effectively act as the 'brain' for the electric racer, receiving signals from the throttle and brake pedals and managing the electric motor output and battery recharging circuits along with the aero and cooling systems. The control system will be based on the well-proven Sigma Lightweight platform that provides the flexibility needed to control the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV in a compact, modular package. In addition to controlling the EV powertrain, the Cosworth control system will also drive the cockpit instrumentation and car telemetry providing both the driver and pit crew with data on car performance.

As part of the technical partnership the Lola-Drayson will also be able to take advantage of the new Cosworth iSportsAR media radio that will allow Lola-Drayson to stream HD video live from the car back to the pits.

Cosworth's electronics engineers will be working alongside the team at Drayson Racing Technologies to develop the strategies for the control system which will govern the behaviour of the B12/69EV. All strategies will be auto-coded from MatLab Simulink. Areas that will be addressed will include traction and torque control and recharging from the innovative Halo damping system.
 

In an on-going development quest to add more innovation to the B12/69EV project, Lola Group and DRT are continuing to actively seek additional partners and suppliers to the programme.

Commenting today on the details of the Lola-Drayson all-electric project, Lola Managing Director, Robin Brundle said: "Lola has been known throughout its history as a technically adventurous company that has helped shape the motorsport industry. Today's announcement evidences our commitment to ensuring that with our partners and suppliers we can be the leaders in pioneering future technologies that will be an intrinsic part of both the automotive and motorsport industries."

Also commenting on today's announcement was Lord Paul Drayson, who said: "Cutting edge innovation with an emphasis on sustainable and clean power are the key elements of the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV all-electric LMP demonstrator. Everyone involved in the project is committed to combining ultra high performance with ground breaking innovation and the development of new green technologies."

The official partners and suppliers on the B12/69EV are:

PARTNERS

• BAE Systems - Structural Carbon Battery
• Multimatic - Dynamic Suspensions Energy Recovery Damper (DSERD)
• Halo IPT - Wireless Charging
• Cosworth - Electronic Control Systems

SUPPLIERS

• Oxford YASA Motors - Motors
• Mavizen A123 - Batteries
• Rinehart Motion Systems - Inverters
• Warwick University (AMRC) - Advanced Sustainable Materials

About Lola Cars International:

In its 53rd year of business, Lola is one of the longest established and most successful designers and constructors of racing cars in the world, keeping itself at the forefront of design and technology by investing in state of the art facilities including Computational Fluid Dynamics, Finite Element Analysis, a 50% scale wind tunnel and a 7 post aerodynamic suspension and chassis set up rig. The company is equipped and has the skills to carry out any major motorsport programmes for a manufacturer from F1 through every category of motorsport.

Having built more customer racing cars than any other constructor in the history of motorsport, Lola now also services the Aerospace, Renewables, Automotive, Defence and Communications industries with a complete design and build capability in advanced carbon composites.

For more information on Lola and high resolution imagery please e-mail Sam Smith on sssmith@lolacars.com

www.lola-group.com

About Drayson Racing

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. Paul Drayson, a former biotechnology entrepreneur and the UK Minister for Science and Innovation in the previous government, formed Drayson Racing Technologies LLP with his wife, Elspeth, to act as a racing laboratory to pioneer the development of green technologies in the challenging environment of motor racing. Since then Drayson Racing has achieved a number of notable firsts racing second-generation biofuels and has latterly focused on the emerging field of electric racing.

For more information please visit: www.draysonracingtechnologies.com

About the Cosworth Group

The Cosworth Group provides high performance technologies to a diverse range of global industries including aerospace, defence, automotive and sport. In motorsport Cosworth Group develops high performance vehicle electronics and wind tunnel control systems for a wide range of applications. The advanced data acquisition, chassis and powertrain control technologies developed by Cosworth Group's electronics division are used by champions in major race series around the world including; Formula One, IndyCar, Endurance Racing, World Rallying and MotoGP.