In association with Motor Sport Magazine, the History of Motorsport Technology Conference will be an integral part of National Motorsport Week 2012, held between the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Leading motorsport engineers and designers who have contributed to the sector’s key technological developments and internationally recognised motorsport historians and journalists will present papers here at Cranfield University on the 3rd July. Presentations will also cover the context in which these developments have taken place and the development of the motorsport technology cluster in the UK.
Topics covered will include:
Grand Prix giants and the Land Speed Record
Ground effects from the 1920s
The major 'schools of motorsport engineering'
Engineering insights from an innovator’s career: the remarkable Colin Chapman
F1 race car design and development in the 1960s and 1970s
First age of F1 turbocharging
Developments during the Group C era
Safety in motorsport
Race car simulator development
Gaining advantage in Grand Prix motor racing
Evolution of the UK motorsport technology cluster
Organised by Cranfield's Motorsport Engineering and Management Programme Director Clive Temple, anticipated speakers include Peter Wright, Joe Saward, Karl Ludvigsen, Brian O'Rourke, Graham Humphrys, David Tremayne, Mark Hughes, Professor Mark Jenkins, Graham Campion and Charles Armstrong-Wilson. Craig Scarborough will display his illustrations covering technical developments in the atrium.
There will be a display of competition cars from the early years to the 2000s that reflect some of these key technical developments. It will be a full day’s programme including a keynote address together with a networking lunch. Tea and coffee will be available at registration. Following the conference there will be a dinner. Guest of honour at the dinner will be three times F1 World Champion, Sir Jackie Stewart OBE. In recognition of William Boddy OBE, there will be the Bill Boddy Award for the best presentation on the day.
By organising this conference – the first in a series of annual conferences dedicated to the motorsport - Cranfield University is setting out to recognise both the contributions of our engineers and the historians and journalists who have charted these developments. It is considered that the latter groups should receive greater recognition of their work academically.
Cranfield is one of the world’s leading university centres for motorsport. The University has been actively engaged in motorsport research, consultancy, education and testing since the 1970s. Cranfield’s facilities are second to none and include the Cranfield Impact Centre and Cranfield Motorsport Simulation.
By way of a special offer for VSCC, HSCC, BRDC, HGPCA and Group C members I have arranged the special price of £120 to attend both the conference and the dinner if the booking is made between now and the 31 May. You can either book online via http://www.motorsportconference.com or contact the Academic Operations Unit to reserve your place:
Academic Operations Unit
Cranfield University
Cranfield
Bedfordshire
MK43 0AL, UK
T: +44 (0) 1234 754176
E: shortcourse@cranfield.ac.uk
F: +44 (0) 1234 751206