Kleenspeed EV-X11 Sets Electric Lap Record at Sonoma

Electric cars are typically built for clean driving. Where improvements can be made, automakers try to give them better range. But this particular EV is built for speed.

The car in question is the Kleenspeed EV-X11, an electric take on a Le Mans Prototype that packs a UQM PowerPhase 145 electric motor with the equivalent of 200 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque. The team recently took the electric racing prototype to Sonoma Raceway (formerly known as Infineon Raceway until that company's sponsorship expired) at Sears Point in California. There it set a blistering lap time of 1:35:99 over the 2.5-mile road course. That may be a good 14 seconds slower than the Audi R8 LMP that set a 1:21.69 lap time in 2004, but easily makes it the fastest EV ever to lap the track by a full six seconds.