36 motoring special


Taking a ride through Motorsport Valley


In a backstreet off the Basingstoke Road in Reading, in a single-storey building that looked more like a hut, Motorsport Valley was born, as David Murray reports


The building was the Williams Formula One “factory” in Bennet Road. A modest establishment but home to engineers with a burning desire to be successful, to win, to be world champions.


Today, Williams F1 is an extraordinary example of British engineering brilliance. From its impressive facility at Grove, near Wantage, where the technology campus employs 600 people, Sir Frank Williams is the figurehead of not just an F1 team, but Williams Advanced Engineering and Williams Hybrid Power.


The diversification of the business has seen Williams develop hybrid systems not only for bus companies such as the Go-Ahead Group, but flywheel technology for the car that won the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours, an Audi R18.


The Williams story is an example of not just how British engineering skills can lead the world, but how the best of F1 engineering can be employed in non-motorsport areas. For instance, Williams is helping to develop the most environmentally friendly public transport infrastructure yet seen, in the Arab state of Qatar.


Innovation is also the byword at Prodrive, down the road at Banbury. The company, celebrating 30 years of success, still has motorsport as it core business, but has expanded into areas of advanced technology and composites.


programmes, as well as tailored personal development programmes. The majority of employees are shareholders through our award winning Employee Benefit Trust, which creates a highly incentivised working environment where everyone appreciates the need to re-invest and increase our level of service and capability and commitment to our customers.”


The business cluster that has an international reputation as the UK’s Motorsport Valley hosts a supply chain of more than 4,000 specialist companies. Chris Aylett, chief executive of the Motorsport Industry Association, commented: “The Valley is the epitome of a knowledge-based industrial community, now more productive than ever and attracting investment to meet future demand.”


Williams F1


electric and hybrid cars,” said chairman David Richards.


“Prodrive today is a far cry from when we started in 1984 in a small workshop at Silverstone, when the whole company would sit around the lunch table. Nowadays it’s the diverse nature of the business that’s our strength and while I am certain we will still be racing cars in the future, I am equally certain that the technology we’ll be applying will be quite different to that of today.”


At Xtrac in Thatcham, where transmission technology learned on the track has been transferred into products and services for major motor manufacturers, the client list reads like a Who’s Who of the motorsport industry. Virtually all of the sport’s top teams rely on Xtrac’s expertise.


No wonder the company was the winner of two awards at the Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards in 2013 – scooping both Dynamic Business of the Year, sponsored by Deloitte, and Best Use of Technology, sponsored by Ultima.


Prodrive's composites factory


“Walk around our headquarters in Banbury or our composite facility in Milton Keynes today and you are just as likely to see us making major assemblies and bodywork for sports and luxury vehicles as you are race and rally cars. Indeed, we are currently working on satellite components, the next Mars Rover, first-class cabins for commercial jets and the latest technologies for


www.businessmag.co.uk


Xtrac managing director Peter Digby, who has also been named Global Director of the Year in the Institute of Directors awards, commented on what makes his company a global leader: “To maintain our position as the world’s leading supplier of high-performance transmissions and driveline components, we operate a continuous improvement policy. This promotes investment in the most talented and inspired people, as well as the world’s most advanced computer- aided engineering systems and state-of-the-art computer numerical control machine tools and processes.


“Working with government, industry and academic bodies we run modern apprenticeship schemes, undergraduate and graduate training


Peter Digby in Xtrac's buildshop THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MARCH 2014


The size of the motorsport industry in the UK, primarily in the Valley, is significant – with 41,000 employees and a turnover of £9 billion. Nearly 90%


of companies export their products or services and a number have pointed to increasing potential in the emerging economies of China, Brazil and Russia.


Overall, the importance of motorsport should not be underestimated. The sector delivers British innovation and engineering skills in a global market, and flies the flag for our region.


Even the south coast gets a look in. In Poole, Prima Motorsport is a UK manufacturer of FIA-approved racing harnesses, while down the coast, the University of Southampton continues to play a key role in F1 racing, being at the forefront of advanced wind tunnel development.


Adrian Newey, the best designer in F1 in recent years, is a product of the niversity, having gained a first-class honours degree at Southampton, back in 1980….


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