The company, established by former UK science minister and racing driver Lord Paul Drayson, already broke the land speed record in the class in Elvington in the UK last June, with Lord Drayson achieving a 204.2mph average speed over the measured mile in his Drayson B12 69/EV electric Le Mans Prototype racing car.

Now Lord Drayson is taking the B12 to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in an attempt to raise the record at the much longer Bonneville track.

Lord Drayson said: ‘We are delighted to be invited to Bonneville and to be racing on the West Coast – without doubt the spiritual home of the electric vehicle.’

‘Back in June, the relatively short runway at Elvington limited our top speed as we had to brake as the car was still accelerating. We are looking forward to discovering just how fast the car can go on the wide-open spaces of the Bonneville salt flats, although its been a major engineering challenge to prepare the car for running on salt.’

By running in the sub-1000kg electric vehicle land speed record class, the team is aiming to demonstrate the future possibilities of EV technology and performance and to highlight the importance of lightweight in future electric car design.

Lord Drayson added: ‘The development of lightweight car technology is a key part of the drive to bring electric cars to market with the range and performance that consumers expect. That is why we are focused on the sub 1000kg category for the EV world record. It presents the greatest technical challenge to engineer a car that weighs under 1000kg, goes over 200mph and is purely driven by sustainable electric energy.’