Lord Paul Drayson and his wife, Lady Elspeth Drayson, have made the move from the LMGT2 class in Le Mans-style racing to the
upper echelon of sportscar racing: LMP1. Drayson Racing campaigned their new LMP1 Lola coupe at the recent Petit Le Mans event
in Braselton, Georgia.
 |
|
Paul Drayson. Photo by Richard Sloop.
|
 |
Lord Drayson is both owner and driver of the Lola B09/60 Judd. In his non-racing life, he is currently the British Minister of
Science in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. He and Lady Drayson have been actively involved in the green
movement, not just in the United Kingdom, but on a global basis.
Even during the very busy week leading up to the Petit Le Mans race, Lord Drayson met with Motorsport.com's photojournalist
Richard Sloop at the Road Atlanta facility. This one-on-one exclusive interview follows on the heels of Drayson Racing's
announcement that they would contest the American Le Mans Series in 2010.
M.com:
Well, welcome back to United States in your new LMP1 class. I know you'd been planning this step up for a long time and you
put it together really quickly. Can you give us a little background on how you moved from an Aston Martin sedan GT to an LMP1
car?
Drayson:
We have always wanted to eventually move up to LMP1 and the primary reason for that is it is (the) premier league of sportscar
racing and it's also the class whereby you have the most freedom in terms of trying new technology. We wanted to be a pioneer
in introducing new technology for "green" racing. The decision to move up to LMP1 this year came with the idea that by doing
it now, we would be able to get to long races in (Petit Le Mans, Laguna Seca) and to sprint races (in Japan next month) before
next season. We wanted to get a jump on next year. We have been afraid we might be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves.
It's a bit unusual to change cars in mid-season. We have just completed the Le Mans series in Europe. Dale White (team
manager) and the guys have done a great job to put this together. Lola-Judd cars are so impressive. I am thankful to both Lola
and Judd teams who were willing to put this together for us so promptly. They all got the car together in a few days; got it
shaken down and amazingly here we are Road Atlanta!
|
 |
|
Debut of the #88 Drayson Racing Lola B09/60 Judd at Road Atlanta. Photo by Carol Fogle.
|
It's great to have our premiere here because it was a year ago that the ... initial Green Challenge started. We were leading
the Green Challenge until we had a driveshaft failure. So to be able to come back to Road Atlanta in (an) LMP1 car is a dream
come true for us. What we want to do now is learn on this platform. We know the Lola chassis is very competitive, very
reliable, so we have a good base to experiment with new things like new fuels, energy recovery systems and new ideas about
battery technology. We want to try new innovative technologies with a known platform. And get a real competitive pace out of
it. Our mission is to be pioneering in green racing with no compromise to the pace of performance. There's no excuse for going
slower. This is racing! We have found that with everything we've done as a green racing team, as long as you approach it with
that ethos, fans love it, it makes sense to people and we think this is very important for motorsport, never so more than now.
It's time for the motor sporting community to show that it's truly relevant.
There's no doubt, being the Science Minister, I see the data every day that the climate is changing. We have seen the growth
of carbon dioxide emissions to the highest levels ever, which has led to temperature change. So we have to respond to that. Of
course, there is legislation coming that will require car manufacturers to reduce the CO2 per kilometer. The difference, I
think, motorsport can make is to be this test bed for new technology. If you look at the history of motor racing, Jaguar's
innovation of disc brakes, use of seat belts, a lot of that came from sportscar racing. So we have a great legacy. I think
that this continued pressure that's going on for better efficiency is consistent with racing.
It is very important that motorsport doesn't underestimate this wave of concern that is coming and becomes part of the
solution, doesn't close our ears to it. The best analogy I can give really is some of the problems which we have had in Europe
relating to noise at circuits. If you look at the problem that Spa has at the moment, you can't ignore these things. The
message really needs to be, if motorsport really takes on board the need to be relevant by pioneering green technology and
sets an example by which it gets people interested in the solutions which makes going green racing quite exciting and cool,
not dull and boring. I think the leadership of the American Le Mans Series has shown that by working with Michelin, setting up
the Green X Challenge, working with the EPA, Department of Energy, that that is the way forward and I'm really delighted to be
here back in the States being a competitive part of it.
 |
|
LMGT2 #007 Drayson Racing Aston Martin Vantage at Sebring 2009. Photo by Luis Betancourt.
|
|
M.com:
How do you see the difference between the green movements in the United States and those of the UK and the rest of Europe?
Drayson:
I think that in the rest of Europe, laws have been passed, for example, which would set a date by which all cars manufactured
and sold in Europe have to operate at a maximum level of CO2 emissions. There is a first limit of 130 grams per kilometer
coming in 2012. The next will require all cars sold in Europe to have less than 130 grams per kilometer after 2015. People are
talking now that by 2020 legislation will require cars to be below 100 grams per kilometer. Now what I think is different at
the moment is these laws are being passed which are prescribing what has to be done.
I think what's great in America is that rather than just say that someone may not just do something; what's happening here is,
people are being able to find solutions which encourage people to change through what's being done in the American Le Mans
Series. People here have seen the oil prices go up and down. Americans are concerned with energy security. And I think energy
concerns are greater in the United States than Europe. We all share the same problem of how much we import. It doesn't matter,
if we had an infinite supply of oil, we can't keep chucking this carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. If you look at the CO2
emissions curve, it has changed and gotten steeper since 1960. Although, at the moment, the majority of these emissions are
coming from the developed world -- North America, Europe, China and Asia -- it is accelerating faster. The planet just does
not have the capacity to sink this amount of carbon dioxide emissions. Transportation is about 19% of total emissions so we
really have to do something about this.
I'm a firm believer as a politician and as a racer, it's not about telling people you can't do something, it's not about
people making people feel guilty. That's not going to work. You've got to inspire people and make them want to do it and
that's about using the techniques we've known for some time. It's about marketing the benefits, and the benefits come from
science and engineering. In particular cars, because they have a strong bond for people, which isn't something they will ever
want to give up. Having the freedom, the ability, to go when and wherever you want; people are not willing to do without their
cars. So the car industry has got a challenge. They've got to find how they can use technology to produce cars that are
desirable as people want and have all the features that people want, but at the same time are considerably more efficient and
dramatically lower on emissions.
|
 |
|
#88 Drayson Racing Lola B09/60 Judd: Paul Drayson, Jonny Cocker, Robert Bell. Photo by Richard Sloop.
|
For example, if you look at the heat signature of a car -- I was talking to a bunch of school kids last week -- we talked
about the Jaguars at Le Mans and asked the kids to look at the pictures of the cars with their red-hot glowing brakes. I
asked, "Where does all the energy go?" I said to the kids, "Imagine how many brakes are being used at this moment around the
world and think of all the energy that's being wasted." We can't just lose this energy. It's the same as the energy that's
lost through exhaust. All the heat expelled from cars is amazing. So we need to think about kinetic energy recovery systems in
terms of hybrids, whether it's mechanical or electrical. We've "hard paid" for it with the gas that we put in the tank. So we
need to make it more efficient, which will bring fuel costs down. It's an attitude thing. It all comes from marketing. If you
look at the Corvettes running around the racetracks on E85 fuel, they are cool...and fast! People are not going to buy cars
with poor performance. The challenge is to make cars that are cool, fast and efficient!
M.com:
You mentioned that you talked to a class for kids. Does this have to do with the decal on your car: "Science -- So What -- So
Everything"?
Drayson:
"Yes, it is all about, in Britain, we have a shortage of scientists and engineers. We know that our future depends upon
turning the great sciences, that we're good at as a nation, into businesses and products that can grow. We estimate that over
the next 10 years there will be 2.7 million jobs requiring skilled scientists and engineers. What we have found from our
research is that we need to open people's eyes about how science is in everything. So when I talk about my racing, the science
of speed, things like "What is downforce", "What allows the car to go around the corner fast", "What is drag", "What's the
trade-off between downforce and drag", we start a discussion of science. I like to explain to people about David Beckham's
curve kick and show them how science allows him to kick the ball the way he does. It's interesting.
Science is about noticing stuff. It's about knowing facts and the principles behind things, of course, but what I have noticed
as the Science Minister is that when you talk to well-known scientists or Nobel Prize winners and ask them what got them
interested in science, they all share the same interest of "why." I remember one scientist I spoke with who, as a young boy,
remembered walking down the street and noticing that the leaves that were in the shade of the tree were a different shape than
the leaves that were in the sunshine and "I just asked why".
M.com:
Curiosity?
Drayson:
Yes! That curiosity of why and then wanting to know the answer. That's where the motivation and interest in the "Science -- So
What -- So Everything" campaign comes from. It is getting over to people that science is like art: it's out there, it's in
everything and it's really interesting stuff. You can tell a child that you have more cells in your body than there are stars
in the universe and they go, "Really?" And you go, "Yes, it's true!" We want to inspire parents to encourage their children to
be interested in it. In effect, recognizing that for the United Kingdom to be a successful country, it has to be good at
science and it has to be comfortable with doing science. It's not about making science elitist, but it's about making science
for everyone, hence the logo on the race car.
 |
|
#88 Drayson Racing Lola B09/60 Judd: Paul Drayson, Jonny Cocker, Robert Bell. Photo by Richard Sloop.
|
|
M.com:
Great. Now a fun question. You're about to start your new ride in a LMP1 car. Tell us a little bit about how exciting it is.
Drayson:
Everybody has told me how amazing and fast these cars are and if you have been a GT driver and have seen these cars fly past
you and now you're in one of those cars and you're coming down the main straight and now I'm passing everyone else, that's
really cool!
What's really different is, the car is incredibly stable. It's just amazing. As the trees are rushing past at this
increasingly fast rate and I'm in my mind saying, "Wow," it's a bit distracting. I'm so amazed by what the car is able to do.
The car has way more ability to turn through a corner than I think it does. I say to myself as I turn in, "That's a bit fast,"
and it just goes through and I think, "Well, next time I'll try it a little bit faster." And you just keep going faster and
faster; it's kind of addictive, that's the best way I can describe it. The feeling of the g-forces on your body, the faster
you go, the more you get that "fairground ride." You know, the big dip feeling on a roller coaster ride. Like here at Road
Atlanta, when you come out of the esses at the bottom of the hill at Turn 10B and come up the hill over the top, under the
bridge and you're flat out, the car goes completely light. Your stomach gets left behind and then you come down and you hit
the dip in the turn, your head and neck are straining from your helmet through the hard right-hander. This is such a
challenge. It's a blast! The the best way I can describe it is, it's like being on a roller coaster ride with the ability to
steer it!
M.com:
Could you also say that when you are racing in a GT car you are always waiting for it to catch up with you and now that you're
in a LMP1 car, you're trying to keep up with it?
Drayson:
That's exactly right! You just know the car has all this capacity and you haven't gotten there yet. I'm the slowest driver in
the car at the moment. What I've got to do is get up to speed as fast as I can. I also know that when you get up to the limit
of grip, it is a very narrow line. Therefore, the differences: let's say you're in a GT car and you're at the limit of grip,
the car slides and you feel it coming and you can catch it. It has a lot of weight and you're used to getting good speed out
the car. So you get used to driving on that edge with the whole thing holding on by its fingernails. But with an LMP1 car it's
not like that at all. The point at which the car has grip and it's planted with all that downforce and then you go over the
line is quite a narrow line. Like driving here in the wet, it's very precise and when it goes, it goes really quick.
M.com:
Is there anything else in the world you rather be doing right now?
Drayson:
Absolutely not! This is it, right here, right now!
M.com:
Good luck.
Drayson:
Thanks, mate...
