Speech by: Lord Drayson
Venue: Oxford Brookes University

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Good morning.

This is an industry where – for me – the personal and the political are perfectly aligned.

That’s because the highlight of my 2009 – without question – was fulfilling a lifetime ambition by competing in Le Mans 24 hours. Ask me for a second, and I’d have to say it was moving up to LMP1, my team securing pole at Okayama and winning the Michelin X Challenge in the Le Mans Series Champtionship. I could give you a third, a fourth and a fifth.

My passion for motorsport grows with every race. But besides my own ambitions, I’m also convinced that this industry can – and should – have a greater impact beyond motorsport itself.

That’s in no way to dismiss what motorsport and high performance engineering already mean – for this country in particular.

Awareness of British achievement has been boosted by Brawn GP and Button in F1. I was delighted to pay a small part in enabling Ross Brawn and Nick Fry to buy the Honda team – although I never expected it to pay such immediate and spectacular dividends.

Yet what many people don’t realise is that British success in this sport is quite outstanding. Besides Jenson & Brawn GP, we’ve had several other winners in 2009: Dario Franchitti in the Indy Car Series; Kris Meeke in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Aston Martin Racing, using a Lola chassis, took the Le Mans Series constructors’ title.

These drivers, these teams all raise the profile of the UK – and in particular the quality of our science, engineering and technology.

According to research conducted this year by the Advanced Institute of Management, the British industry involves some 4,500 firms with an annual turnover of £6 billion that make a contribution to the UK economy through exports valued at £3.6 billion. They employ about 38,500 people on a full- and part-time basis, including 25,000 engineers.

These companies are also resourceful. This recession has caused major problems across the board, but motorsport has again shown its capacity to adapt. Another survey, conducted in December last year, found two-thirds of companies in this sector diversifying into new markets, with more than half of companies developing new products and services. Many are looking to significant opportunities overseas, in growing markets like the Middle East.

In terms of formal collaborations, we’re seeing several leading companies involved in collaborations with other industries: McLaren with BAE Systems; Williams F1 working with Airbus and Rolls Royce on next-generation computational aerodynamics.

I should add here that the pace at which new technology is developed and applied in this industry has really opened my eyes to different ways of doing things. In my capacity as a defence minister, it was the example of motorsport which persuaded me that Mastiff vehicles could be delivered to British armed forces in theatre on much shorter lead times.

The clear ability of this industry to innovate – the frequency with which its pioneering technologies and methods to improve safety have found their way not only into mainstream automotive but aerospace and marine, medical and military – brings me to my main point today.

For the foreseeable future, the most pressing demands for transferable technology all relate to the climate change agenda.

Now, given that my team, Drayson Racing, has – from the beginning – competed as a green team, I know UK firms are at the forefront of environmentally-friendly technologies: in biofuel development, energy efficiency, super-light materials, lean burn engines.

All the same, I am keen to make a case for the importance of going green to an audience with a high proportion of engineers – and to hear your views about current obstacles, opportunities and feasible timeframes.

I won’t trouble you with the science of climate change, nor the politics of the Copenhagen summit that’s fast upon us – except to say that a bold agreement with legally binding commitments is necessary, amongst other things, to send clear signals to green entrepreneurs – to give them confidence in the future market opportunities.

Instead, my starting point is this.

We’re not going to bring about a radical transformation in human behaviour – and that’s what we need – by pedalling doom. Guilt is unreliable as a motivating force. So is bullying.

We have to offer people a practical, accessible, attractive low-carbon future – one which offers solutions built on sound science and creative engineering.

Change must feel exciting and straightforward. People need persuading that their quality of life can actually improve, not decline – which is why I’ve not got much time for the hair-shirt environmentalists.

That’s where motor racing comes in, and it’s contribution can be twofold.

First, it has an exceptionally talented workforce with an unrivalled track record on innovation.

Second, if I’m right in thinking that – with climate change – it’s not the technological solutions that actually represent the greatest challenge but public attitudes, then motorsport has the considerable advantage of being extremely cool.

When racing cars demonstrate that it’s possible to achieve high performance by going green, people take notice.

When the experiencing of driving electric vehicles becomes exciting (exhilarating even) – as opposed to simply worthy – then people will change from curious observers to active consumers.

So I’m not advocating that you increase your focus on green tech out of altruism. I’m advocating that focus because it can make you rich.

The push to decarbonise will be a major driver of growth over the next decade and beyond.

The global opportunities here are enormous. We all know that car travel isn’t about to disappear. It can’t. Economic growth is fundamentally linked to individual accessibility and mobility. So is personal freedom.

From the Government’s perspective, the transition to low-carbon can’t be achieved without our input. The challenges involved are too great – the technology, the investment, the coordination, the need to win over hearts and minds.

I’m encouraged by what’s happening so far with cars. For example, we’ve agreed with the automotive industry a technological roadmap for the coming decades that incorporates business opportunities and the necessary drivers of change.

We’ve created the cross-government Office for Low Emission Vehicles, which has participants from the automotive industry, power and infrastructure companies, as well as creative thinkers and experts on pricing and systems design.

And we’re already running the world’s largest EV and plug-in hybrid demonstrator competition. I’ve test-driven some of the prototypes, and these are no poor imitations of petrol cars. Some of the sports models have bucket loads of torque and fantastic chassis dynamics.

Now, the way forward is by no means easy. But my experience of being in and around science and engineering all my life – as a researcher and entrepreneur, as a minister and most recently a race team owner – has made me a qualified optimist.

I believe we can develop the tools needed to adapt to changing ecological circumstances; that we can achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 in most forms of UK surface transport.

It will require, however, the continuing efforts of industries like this one to push technological envelopes and thereby convince people that a world without carbon is not only achievable, but superior and cooler – in both senses of the word.

Thanks for listening.