LONDON - A British government minister has stepped down to follow his dream of becoming a race car driver.
Lord Drayson, Britain's defence procurement minister, is taking an indefinite leave of absence to compete in the American Le Mans series, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said Wednesday.
Paul Drayson, 47, a former pharmaceuticals entrepreneur appointed to the House of Lords in 2004, said last year that he took up competitive motor racing as part of a "mid-life crisis."
Drayson, who competes in a bioethanol-fuelled Aston Martin, qualified for the U.S. competition by placing second at this year's British GT championship.
Drayson was appointed to the Ministry of Defence in 2005 by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to oversee Britain's military hardware budget.
In a letter to Brown, Drayson described the chance to compete as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and "a key step towards my eventual dream of success in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race."
The American Le Mans Series, a North American counterpart to the famous French endurance race, announced earlier this year that almost all its cars would race on biofuel.
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Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan
