Motorsport is usually described as a battleground, as drivers have interaction in fight on the observe and engineers attempt to out-fox one another’s methods. However the navy comparability is excess of allegorical, as many racecar engineering companies have made large strides within the defence sector.
Partially three of Past the Racecar, uncover how the UK motorsport trade challenged and improved a number of the British Military’s applied sciences.
At first look, the motor racing and defence industries won’t appear to have that a lot in frequent.
In any case, the aim of a racecar is to drive as quick as doable, over a given course, for so long as required, whereas the first goal for navy automobiles is to ship tactical benefits on the battlefield that don’t essentially embrace pace.
Look a bit of deeper, although, and there are a variety of disciplines in motorsport – most clearly a capability to innovate and drawback clear up at tempo – that may have a constructive impact on defence programmes.
Crossing the divide
Because the CEO of B2B advertising and marketing company, Chamois Consulting, Jamie Clarke has a variety of shopper firms which have crossed the divide between motorsport and defence.
It was within the 2000s, nevertheless, whereas working in procurement within the British Military after which becoming a member of defence firm, Supacat, that Clarke first witnessed how motorsport firms may make a constructive contribution within the defence area with their involvement in pressing operational necessities (UORs) for UK armed forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
‘Principally, the MoD [UK Ministry of Defence] had issues in Afghanistan with all types of package as a result of it was being utilized in methods it was by no means designed for use,’ Clarke explains, noting {that a} explicit challenge arose with the introduction of the Jackal patrol car in 2008.
‘Jackal had an additional practically two tonnes of armour put onto it, and it was by no means designed to hold two tonnes of armour. If you happen to then decreased your payload by two tonnes, that was okay, since you exchange payload with armour, however clearly the fellows weren’t doing that.
‘In order that they have been operating round in a seven-tonne truck at 11 tonnes with all their battlefield payload on after which questioning why the brakes have been failing, and so they have been having to mainly change the brake pads every single day. They have been simply crumbling and falling aside as a result of they have been operating the vans so heavy.
‘UORs meant it wanted to be developed rapidly,’ Clarke continues, ‘however most defence engineering firms can’t function that rapidly, and the important thing half we discovered was that motorsport, as an trade, recognised the so-called requirement to cross the beginning line. Which means you may design the easiest resolution on the earth within the motorsport trade however, if you’re three seconds late, you’ve missed the beginning, and it’s no use by any means to anyone.
‘The motorsport trade, as a form of collective organisation, is used to working to strict deadlines, however most firms are usually not.’
Within the case of the Jackal’s braking drawback, a fast resolution was offered by braking system specialist, Alcon Parts, which on the time was largely targeted on motorsport.
‘They mainly got here in and re-designed the entire braking system, bespoke to the car, delivered, examined and authorized in a short time certainly,’ Clarke remembers.
‘They changed the discs, calipers and pads, and so they put a twin-caliper resolution onto every hub on the entrance axle, so that you successfully doubled the braking system, however the effectivity and the reliability was multiples of that.’
Bridging the hole
Such fixes to British Military tools would possibly effectively have continued to proceed on an advert hoc foundation if it weren’t for the Labour authorities of the time appointing Lord Paul Drayson because the UK MoD’s defence procurement minister in Could 2005.
A famend petrolhead, Lord Drayson likes to drive quick and discover options quick, so he inevitably felt frustration, after which disdain, when confronted by the considerably glacial tempo of MoD procurement processes.
Nick Wills, who’s now defence growth director for the Motorsport Business Affiliation (MIA) however was serving because the commanding officer of the British Military’s Armoured Trial and Growth Unit when Drayson was appointed, notes that when appointed Drayson was additionally serving as president of the MIA, so a hyperlink already existed from motorsport to defence.
As Wills remembers, Drayson ‘had a dialog with Chris Aylett, CEO of the MIA, saying, “Properly that is loopy. I may be on the Nürburgring, performing some exams on my automotive. I can discover there’s a cooling challenge and ’cellphone up whoever and inform them I’ve acquired a cooling challenge, after which, every week later, they’d have utterly re-designed the entire cooling system and I’ll be testing it at Manufacturers Hatch. Whereas as minister of defence procurement, I really feel like I wouldn’t even get the cellphone answered in three weeks, so what can we do?”‘
Wills then describes what he characterised as ‘essentially the most dysfunctional lunch you can ever think about within the Home of Lords’ the place, on one facet of the desk sat the CEOs of main defence firms similar to BAE Techniques, reverse race group administrators and different senior figures from motorsport.
From that preliminary assembly, and a subsequent collection of showcases, the place representatives from defence and motorsport gathered to debate the issues at hand, the MIA’s Motorsport to Defence (M2D) initiative was launched in 2007, aimed toward serving to motorsport firms have interaction with the defence trade and maximise the enterprise alternatives between the 2.
A symbiotic relationship
The M2D initiative will not be merely about serving to the British Military with its mobility issues in instances of want; it’s designed to develop a really symbiotic relationship between the 2 industries.
‘We’ve labored with a number of motorsport firms to assist them into defence,’ says Clarke says of his purchasers at Chamois, ‘as a result of they’re beginning to recognise that motorsport is a reasonably chunky, exhausting sector to be in – low quantity, excessive value, troublesome specs that change – whereas defence tends to be long term, slower programmes, however with larger volumes and higher income. It will possibly put an actual slice of safety into the enterprise plans for these motorsport firms.’
‘On the backside line, it’s the identical legal guidelines of physics, it’s simply ensuring you’re answering the query,’ provides Wills. ‘Motorsport engineers are aggressive engineers: they actually wish to do stuff higher than another person.
‘Usually talking, in case you’re a tier one or tier two provider and also you’re nonetheless in enterprise, it’s since you’ve delivered on time; you’ve achieved what you wanted to do. So what you get is a provide chain very targeted on time and high quality supply, with aggressive engineers on the bleeding fringe of supplies expertise.’
In some early M2D instances, in actual fact, it was an absence of latest-generation expertise in defence platforms and suppliers that led to motorsport firms being referred to as in to supply optimised options.
Wills remembers one scenario when, as a part of one of many M2D showcases, a few specialised motorsport cooling firms have been taken as much as a BAE Techniques armoured car manufacturing website in Telford and requested to have a look at a radiator.
‘They took one have a look at this radiator, which was primarily Nineteen Fifties bus expertise as a result of nobody had actually challenged it earlier than, and the cost air cooler for the turbo. Actually, two weeks later, they got here again with one thing that was 50 per cent higher in effectivity for the radiator and 75 per cent higher in effectivity for the cost air cooler.’
Composite crossover
Although the expertise within the newest defence platforms tends to not endure any extra from utilizing such out of date parts, the motorsport trade nonetheless has expertise and capabilities which can be both not resident within the defence sector or are solely simply starting to be. This has led to motorsport firms firmly establishing themselves inside the provide chains of quite a few defence platforms.
As a number one composite producer for the motorsport trade, for instance, West Sussex-based International Applied sciences Racing (GTR) makes a big amount of the main composite parts required by a big variety of Formulation 1 groups.
On the identical time, the corporate’s GTR Composites division makes the carbon composite seat backs for Martin-Baker ejection seats, composite plane parts for the AW101 Merlin helicopter, composite housings for flotation and life raft methods on the Sikorsky S-92 and has produced many of the composite-protected crew pods for the British Military’s Foxhound patrol automobiles.
Williams, which has a 50-year pedigree in F1, established Williams Grand Prix Applied sciences final yr to supply a variety of capabilities within the areas of platform dynamics, superior supplies, simulation and modelling, instrumentation and information analytics, and high-performance AI and machine-learning computing outdoors racing, with defence a key a part of the corporate’s plans.
Included in September 2019, the Silverstone-based Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC) has moved its state-of-the-art metallic and polymer additive manufacturing (AM)-based engineering experience past motorsport to a variety of different sectors.
In September 2024, DMC joined armour producer and car integrator, NP Aerospace, in engaged on Mission Tampa: the MoD’s initiative to use the potential of introducing AM, in any other case referred to as 3D printing, into its provide chain.
Mission Tampa is a five-million-pound initiative designed to discover how AM can be utilized to print components for weapons and different navy tools on demand, lowering extreme lead instances for components to be delivered, and even doubtlessly permitting components to be printed in theatre, shortening the UK armed forces’ total logistics chain.
The expertise additionally has the potential to enhance platform availability amongst legacy navy car fleets by 3D printing out of date components. For instance of its capabilities, DMC has already proven it will possibly quickly produce components for the rear step and door latch assemblies of the British Military’s Mastiff and Ridgeback automobiles.
This yr, Alcon (the corporate behind the Jackal braking system repair) is celebrating 15 years of offering braking options into the defence and safety sectors. The corporate’s enterprise in these fields has grown by 500 per cent throughout that point, with its defence buyer base alone now together with BAE Techniques, QinetiQ, Patria, Supacat, JLR, Babcock and Jankel.
In June 2024, Alcon introduced its newest era, full service, brake-by-wire expertise to the defence sector, providing a variety of bespoke and off-the-shelf braking options for each autonomous and crewed defence and safety automobiles.
Automotive engineered
Shoreham-based engineering agency, Ricardo, which was based in 1915, has a protracted heritage of straddling each the defence and automotive / motorsport industries. Within the twenty first century, the corporate labored on bike engines for BMW, in addition to engines for McLaren supercars and F1 equipment.
In 2010, the MoD chosen the Ocelot, a car developed by Ricardo and US firm, Power Safety, to interchange the British Military’s fleet of Snatch Land Rovers, whereas the Foxhound protected patrol car, which entered service in 2012, was automotive engineered by Ricardo underneath contract to Common Dynamics UK.
Ricardo has additionally labored with different militaries world wide. In November 2021, it was chosen by South Korea’s STX Engine to develop a clean-sheet energy unit to be used in heavy responsibility navy automobiles such because the K9 self-propelled howitzer.
Ricardo additionally established a devoted enterprise referred to as Ricardo Protection for its work in america. In 2020, Ricardo Protection teamed as a strategic accomplice with GM Protection and gained a contract to supply the latter’s Infantry Squad Automobile to the US Military. It additionally acquired a US Military contract to put in its Dismounted Soldier Communication System on three brigades of M88 armoured restoration automobiles.
The Ricardo Protection offshoot was bought to Proteus Enterprises and Gladstone Funding in late 2024 for US$85 million.
In 2015, what was then Williams Superior Engineering, now Fortescue Zero, was awarded a contract by Common Dynamics UK to carry its F1-bred applied sciences and capabilities to supply a core infrastructure distribution system for the British Military’s household of Ajax tracked armoured preventing automobiles (AFV). The corporate used its F1 experience in information analytics and methods integration to supply the Ajax AFV household with a complicated digital structure.
WAE additionally labored with BAE Techniques on at the very least two defence tasks. In 2018, they linked as much as discover collaboration in a variety of areas, together with digital and augmented actuality, aerodynamics, light-weight supplies and battery expertise that might energy solar-powered unmanned aerial automobiles (UAVs) and extra.
Then, in 2020, WAE and BAE explored how battery administration and cooling applied sciences from the motorsport trade might be exploited to ship effectivity and efficiency features within the design of future fight plane.
Shropshire-based casting specialist, Grainger & Worrall, which has a world buyer base that features a number of F1 groups in addition to Tesla, Lucid, Porsche, McLaren, Maserati, Bugatti and Aston Martin, presents progressive casting experience to provide light-weight, motorsport-quality castings in each aluminium and compacted graphite iron.
That experience is now deployed on a variety of large-scale navy sand-casting tasks, together with manufacturing of tank turrets, engines, gearboxes and driveline applied sciences for navy purposes.
Fast deployment
Since its incorporation in 2000, Oxfordshire-based precision fabrication and thermal administration system specialist, SST Know-how, has gained a repute for growing and supplying exhaust methods, warmth shields and thermal administration options for motorsport disciplines together with F1, IndyCar, touring vehicles and sportscars, in addition to rallying.
Now, the corporate’s expertise with thermal administration expertise, along with experience within the design and manufacture of complicated exhaust and pipework / ducting methods, is making vital inroads into the defence market.
Lifeline Fireplace and Security Techniques, a market chief in motorsport fireplace suppression methods, has additionally diversified into the navy market.
The Coventry-based firm has taken its racing-focused methods and additional developed them to supply crew compartment fireplace suppression for British armoured automobiles such because the Warrior – a tracked infantry preventing car – for which the time from preliminary enquiry by way of to growth, manufacturing and look in motion was simply six months.
Lifeline’s involvement in defence began with supplying fireplace suppression methods for the British Military’s Mastiff protected patrol automobiles once they have been first deployed to Afghanistan within the 2000s.
Extra not too long ago, the corporate was chosen to supply the fireplace suppression methods for the British Military’s future fleet of Challenger 3 battle tanks.
Whereas the UK arm of US firm, Moog, is thought for supplying miniature actuation methods for F1 equipment, its actuation and stabilisation methods are at present getting used for a number of navy purposes, together with turreted weapon methods, ammunition dealing with methods, exact missile steering mechanisms and near-silent actuation on submarines.
Tailored expertise
Banbury-based motorsport and superior engineering group, Prodrive, which has a wealthy heritage in rallying and sportscar racing, has additionally established a footprint within the defence sector lately.
In addition to participating in a programme to analyze and develop a chassis / suspension system for 8×8 navy automobiles, in Could 2010, the corporate introduced it had tailored the torque management expertise utilized by Subaru within the FIA World Rally Championship to present navy automobiles elevated functionality over tough terrain, whereas on the identical time making them simpler and safer to drive.
Lastly, Swiss mechatronics options supplier, Stäubli, which has a UK arm based mostly in Telford, has discovered that the fluid and electrical connectors it has developed to resist the rigours of motorsport are equally relevant to a variety of defence platforms.
The lengthy listing of motorsport-to-defence crossovers is, in fact, not complete.
Analysis for this text, for instance, confirmed a couple of occasion the place UK prime defence contractors are at the moment working with motorsport firms on main platform and weapons programmes the place the small print of the tasks couldn’t be mentioned within the public area.
Conclusion
Because the MoD strives in its endeavours to make UK defence procurement extra agile and responsive, each within the incorporation of recent expertise and the addressing of future operational calls for, it can little doubt proceed to learn from the experience and capabilities that the UK’s front-running motorsport trade has to supply.
In the meantime, firms whose unique footprint and curiosity was firmly positioned within the motorsport sector will proceed to seek out profit from the choice strains of income the defence trade has to supply.
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