INDUSTRY INTERVIEW LORD DRAYSON
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Lord Drayson President of the Motor Industry Association, Lord Drayson is the co-founder and owner of Drayson Racing Technologies (DRT). An entrepreneur with more than 25 years combined experience in the successful development of sciencebased enterprises, Paul Drayson is an engineer trained in the automotive industry. A graduate of Aston University, Drayson had already built and sold one successful business backed by 3i plc when he met Professor Brian Bellhouse, as well as Drayson’s future wife Elspeth at Oxford in 1993. Over ten years they built PowderJect Pharmaceuticals Plc into one of the UK’s most successful biotechnology businesses. The company grew from three to more than 1,000 employees, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1997 and was the first UK biotech company to achieve profitability in 2002, before its acquisition for £550 million in 2003. Having chaired the UK’s Bio Industry Association for two years, in his political career Drayson focused on policies regarding science and innovation. In 2004 he was appointed a Life Peer and in 2005 Defence Procurement Minister by Prime Minister Tony Blair with responsibility for the UK’s Defence Industrial and Technology Strategies. In 2004 Paul started motor racing. In 2007 he
competed in the British GT sportscar championship, racing a unique bio-ethanol fuelled Aston Martin DBRS9, achieving a historic first win for a bio-fuelled race car, and coming second overall in the British championship. In November 2007 he took a leave of absence from the Government to compete in the American Le Mans Series in the United States, a key step towards his goal of racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race. Paul returned to the British government in October 2008 as Science Minister with responsibility for the UK’s science and innovation policies. During his period in office Paul established the UK Space Agency, the Centre for Defence Enterprise, the Innovation Investment Fund and the Office for LifeSciences. Since 2009 Paul has competed in the American, European and Asian Le Mans Championships, and driven at Le Mans, Sebring and in the Petit Le Mans endurance races. In 2010 he won outright at Road America, and with his team Drayson Racing came third overall in the inaugural Intercontinental Le Mans Championship, campaigning a unique 225 mph Flex-Fuel Lola-Judd V10 LMP1 racing car. Founded in 2007 by Elspeth and Paul Drayson, for more than four years Drayson Racing Technologies has been devoted to pioneering the development of sustainable green technology in motorsport.
SPRING 2012 proActive magazine