SECTOR FOCUS

F1 teams

based in the UK won 18 of the 19 Grands Prix staged in 2011

In 2011, Milton Keynes- based Red Bull Racing won the coveted F1 World Championship Constructors title for the second year in succession

More than 15

UK universities offer motorsport engineering and management degrees

UK motorsport

service fi rms collectively contribute almost a third of the sector’s annual turnover

venues, and close links with leading UK universities and colleges such as Cranfi eld, Brunel and Oxford Brookes, which are continually developing R&D programmes for the motorsport industry. Over the last three decades, UK-built cars have won the majority of F1 World Championship races, while most World Rally Championship cars have been designed and manufactured in the UK. Today, many of the world’s single-seater racing cars are produced here, while eight out of the 12 F1 teams – McLaren, Williams, Red Bull, Force India, Lotus, Virgin, Mercedes and Renault – are based

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in the UK. Ian Lockhart, head of UK Trade & Investment’s automotive team, says: “The UK has a long history as the leading centre for motorsport, demonstrated by it being home of more F1 teams than any other country. It is a pioneer and key global player in new, important and exciting developments in the industry, including low-carbon racing.”

A WINNING FORMULA Exemplifying the success of the UK’s motorsport industry was the recent opening by Prime Minister David Cameron of McLaren’s new

manufacturing factory in Woking – a facility that will eventually manufacture, using F1-sourced technologies, 1,000 MP4-12C sports cars every year. “Formula One is an incredible British success story,” said the Prime Minister. “It’s not just every time Jenson or Lewis crosses the winning line. It’s actually that every time Schumacher or Barrichello roar off the starting grid, they are doing so in cars built right here in Britain.” A large part of the UK motorsport industry is clustered in an area of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire,