AUGUST 6, 2002
British government moves to support motorsport industry
"Motorsport a great example of where technology, innovation and manufacturing comes together as a great British success," says Hewitt. "But there is more we can do to spread the benefits and opportunities generated by the UK motorsport cluster across manufacturing and service industries. The UK leads the world in this sector, but we cannot be complacent. Tens of thousands of people have jobs associated with the sector and we need to make sure that we can meet the growing competition from other countries.
"I want to ensure government does what it can to assist. A cross section of key industrialists in the UK will participate to ensure that the needs of industry are being addressed and help inform the research for the study."
Over the last 20 years, the UK has developed a world class motorsport industry cluster of performance engineering and service companies which now generates $7.5bn annually, over 50% of which is exports, and directly employs over 40,000 people (including 25,000 engineers) in over 2,500 individual businesses.
One of the major problems identified by the sport is that there is not enough high technology in Britain to keep the motorsport business ahead of competition in Japan and Germany. The government has recently announced plans for a $70m investment in an Automotive Academy, where the latest design expertise and world-beating production techniques can be perfected and shared between Britain's top car engineers and manufacturers.