Modified Lotus Exige reaches speed of 151mph at Elvington
airfield in North Yorkshire
A battery-powered car designed to "smash the boring,
Noddy stereotype of the green car" broke the UK electric land speed record
on Thursday.
The Nemesis, a Lotus Exige modified by utility company
Ecotricity, reached an average speed of 151mph near York today. It was driven
by 21-year-old Nick Ponting, who started racing go-karts at the age of 12, and
first broke the record by hitting 148mph earlier today at Elvington airfield in
North Yorkshire.
The previous record, of 137mph, was set by the grandson of
racing legend Sir Malcolm Campbell, Don Wales, driving a Bluebird Electric in
2000. Wales attempted to break his own record in August 2011 but failed after
the car hit a pothole on a beach in Wales.