UK's defense minister quits job to race ethanol car
Filed under: Ethanol
UK Defence Minister Lord Paul Drayson took a "leave of absence" (that's a nice way of saying he quit) from his job to race a bio-ethanol car in Le Mans. Here's part of what Lord Drayson said in a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown;
As you know I have a passion for motor racing and over the past year have competed in the British GT championship racing a unique bio-ethanol fuelled race car, achieving a 'historic first' win for a green-fuelled car and coming second overall in the championship. ... A number of special circumstances have now presented me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take my racing to the next level. ... I have the opportunity to race next year in the American Le Mans series in the US, a key step towards my eventual dream of success in the Le Mans 24-hours endurance race. ... So this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase British motorsport technology for environmentally friendly racing.
Let's see, Drayson's choices were to oversee a $30 Billion war in Iraq (it's an unpaid position) or try and win Le Mans with a bio-ethanol race car? I wonder if Rumsfeld is racing green cars now that he resigned?
[Source: BBC News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-08-2007 @ 1:22PM
why not the LS2LS7? said...
Interesting. When Scott Atherton said they were working hard to get new competitors in the ALMS GT1 class, I didn't expect he was talking to defense ministers of major countries.
Note to editor, ALMS isn't Le Mans. Le Mans is by invitation only, and NORMALLY that would mean you'd have to race for a year in ALMS and then get invited (if you were lucky) to Le Mans the next year.
But the ACO has a HUGE soft spot for alternative fuels. So he may realize his goal a year ahead of schedule.
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11-08-2007 @ 1:54PM
Lascelles Linton said...
Why not the LS2/LS7?, American Le Mans is not Le Mans?
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11-08-2007 @ 2:51PM
Kardax said...
Lascelles Linton: There is Le Mans, and there is also a bunch of imitators. ALMS is one of them.
The "real" Le Mans is the "24 Hours of Le Mans" endurance race, an annual event in Le Mans, France.
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11-08-2007 @ 3:03PM
why not the LS2LS7? said...
ALMS isn't an imitator. The ACO (sanctioning body for Le Mans) works with them. They used to be very close, ALMS is now a bit more distant, still licensing the name but acting more as IMSA once did (in fact, they are IMSA now, they bought IMSA a bit back).
But American Le Mans Series is a series of endurance races (including the 12 hours of Sebring). Le Mans is a single 24 hour race each year.
The winners and runner ups of ALMS 4 classes get an automatic invite to Le Mans the next year. Also the winner (or highest placing car that didn't already get an invite for other reasons) in each class at Sebring. These are well sought after because Le Mans is invite-only and as such getting your first chance at Le Mans can be difficult. Once you get there, if you do well, you are typically invited back, so staying isn't as hard as getting there.
Except for a few automatic invites, the rest of the Le Mans invites are strictly at the ACO's whim.
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