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13^th March 2008 (Source: EEMS )

Drayson-Barwell, the international British GT sports car racing team that is pioneering the use of green technologies in motorsport, is pleased to announce a ground-breaking partnership with JCB, the world’s third largest construction equipment manufacturer. The relationship will consist of team sponsorship as well as a technical partnership that will involve developing emerging energy-saving technologies and the sharing of specialist knowledge.

The British Drayson-Barwell team has fast gained a reputation for its highly successful use of green energy-efficient technologies in motorsport. It was the first team to win a sports car race outright with a bio-ethanol fuelled car during its title-winning British GT Championship campaign in 2007. As the only British team to enter full-time into the 2008 American Le Mans Series (ALMS), the world’s most competitive sports car racing championship, Drayson-Barwell is participating as the Official Partner Team to Aston Martin Racing. As well as aiming for on-track success, the team is aiming to showcase how new energy-saving technologies can make vehicles more competitive. The team’s principal focus in ALMS will be on securing the series’ recently-announced Green Challenge.

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction equipment, JCB shares Drayson-Barwell’s ambitions to identify and develop innovative technologies to improve the energy balance of vehicles. On 23 August 2006, JCB Dieselmax broke the world land-speed diesel record on Utah’s Bonneville sands with its innovative JCB444 diesel engine, a high power density engine utilising low emissions combustion technology.

Lord Drayson, team owner and driver, commented: "I am delighted to begin this sponsorship and technical partnership with JCB, one of the world’s most respected manufacturing companies. Motorsport can be a genuine spur to innovation and we aim to accelerate the development of exciting new technologies which will tackle the twin challenges of energy efficiency and climate change. Demonstrating the success of these technologies on the race track can definitely drive their acceptance and introduction into the marketplace. We look forward to working with the JCB team on this exciting project."

Sir Anthony Bamford, Chairman of JCB, added:"We share a firm belief that improved vehicle performance and better environmental performance are not mutually exclusive challenges. We learned from our JCB Dieselmax experience that motorsport is a fertile ground for developing advanced technologies that can be applied in our production machines. I am confident that Drayson-Barwell will equally prove to the world that there is no conflict between these two challenges."

Drayson-Barwell can be seen contesting the first round of the 2008 ALMS this weekend in its bio-ethanol Aston Martin DBRS9 at Sebring.

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