AXON AUTOMOTIVE AIMS FOR 100 MPG PLUS WITH MODIFIED CATERHAM SPORTS CAR IN SHELL ECO-MARATHON 2006

The Axon modified Caterham sports car will take to the tracks at Rockingham this Wednesday and Thursday 12 and 13 July 2006, with support from the Energy-Efficient Motorsport (EEMS) initiative of Motorsport Development UK. The Axon team aims to beat last year’s record for a conventional road car and achieve above 100 mpg. The Eco-Challenge is to set the highest fuel economy after 40 minutes driving 7 laps of the stadium at a minimum speed of 15mph.

The Caterham 2R (Research Record breaker) is based on a standard 1600cc Caterham 7 road car and has been modified with lightweight seating, bodywork changes to improve the aerodynamics and narrow low rolling resistance tyres. The team also has a careful race plan for their four practice runs and then six timed runs over the Challenge's two days.

‘We are showing that careful driving and relatively simple modifications to conventional cars can lead to significant fuel savings,’ explains project leader Steve Cousins. ‘We hope that competition at the Eco Marathon can drive up fuel economy in road cars too.’ The Caterham could be driven to and from the event as it is the only car entering which is road-legal.

'Over last year, we've moved the project to Axon Automotive, a spin-out from Cranfield University. Axon is an innovative car company manufacturing vehicle bodies in carbon fibre.  This technology could allow car bodies to become much lighter, which in turn enables a smaller and more economical engine to give the same performance.’