The Duke of Cambridge impressed professional race drivers as he drove a pioneering electric SUV round a track in Scotland.
William visited the Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife to view motorsport company Extreme E’s hydrogen fuel cell for charging cars using zero-emission energy.
He said he was “amazed” at the technology, praising its ability to use waste water from the energy process to wash the company’s race cars.
He spoke to the founder and chief executive of Extreme E, Alejandro Agag and a junior engineer on Lewis Hamilton’s X44 team, George Imafidon.
He was shown the electric race SUV by driver Catie Munnings, who competes for the Andretti United Extreme E team, before driving it on Knockhill’s 4×4 track.
After being told the car’s horsepower, he said: “Put some wings on it, it would take off.”
He laughed off bumping his head while climbing out of the car after a training lap, before hitting the track.
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The duke drove the car – equipped with a “Prince William” decal with a British flag – around the muddy twists and turns of the circuit.
Despite clipping a chicane on one turn, William emerged to praise from staff and drivers, saying the experience was “awesome” and he was “going to apply for a job” with the company.
“That’s my kind of racing … a track’s a track, tarmac, but this is just that bit of slideyness, that grit, and it’s heavy, you’ve really got to think about what the weight distribution is like.”
Asked by driver Ms Munnings if he found the limits of the car, he joked: “I found the limit quite quickly. Like you said, you’ve got to go the limit and then you know where it is.”
Ms Munnings was full of praise for the duke.
“It was an honour to meet Prince William and to drive alongside him. It just felt like having one of your mates in the car. He’s so relatable and really relaxed and a really good driver as well.
She added: “I’ve been a rally instructor for years so I was really surprised by his car control and he turned up the power as well to almost the max of what we can do in the Extreme E car as well.
“The fact that he could handle that – I think he’s ready to enter one of the races.
She said he was not nervous at all in the car.
She added: “He was lovely, sharing stories in the car about the motorbikes he rides and how he reins it in now that he’s a dad and it was really cool to get to know him.”
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