Hybrid Electrifies Racing Circuit

The Ginetta-Zytek hybrid racer from Corsa Motorsports combines two things we love best: high technology and auto racing. The gas-electric car ran again last weekend at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and we corralled driver Johnny Mowlem to ask the biggest question we’ve had since the car made its American Le Mans Series debut earlier this season:
What’s it like to drive?
“Cool!” Mowlem told us by phone after Friday’s practice session in the car, called the 09HS. You could almost see him smiling as he said it with his British accent. His enthusiasm for the car was infectious, and it’s easy to see he’s a big believer in the technology.
Le Mans–style racing has become the place where enviro-friendly ideas like biofuels and hybrid drivetrains are put to the test. The successes of the Audi and Peugeot diesels at Le Mans are well known, and here in the states the American Le Mans Series has ushered in a series of initiatives to make racing greener and the technology more relevant to cars the rest of us drive.