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SRIF funding for new Cranfield crash-impact centre

The UK's Cranfield University has secured a £3m grant from the government's Science Research Investment Fund to develop a new centre dedicated to motorsport and advanced automotive research. The centrepiece of the development plans will be a new 'impact' facility, which will undertake research into the safety and crashworthiness of competition cars (including F1 monocoques) and lightweight vehicles

The new facility will further develop the Cranfield Composites Group, adding new capabilities specifically for motorsport- and automotive-related research and design employing advanced composite materials. In addition, the newly established Motorsport Research Group will be extended, and a new department dedicated to motorsport and automotive computational design is to be established.

The new crash-impact division will be directed by Prof Tony Pickett. Advanced materials testing, and specifically high strain rate material testing, will be performed at the facility. The complex will benefit the Cranfield Impact Centre (CIC), which will undertake testing work within the facility, including structural integrity testing of F1 monocoques.

Cranfield's Clive Temple commented: "Such investment is crucial to the interaction between motorsport and academia. Not only will our extended research capability help underpin 'Motorsport Valley', [but] future students on our MSc Motorsport Engineering & Management course will benefit as our research informs our postgraduate level teaching.

"Companies such as EDS and WilliamsF1, and bodies such as the MIA, the MSA, the BRDC and AMRA, deserve credit in supporting Cranfield in relation to the SRIF bid. For example, EDS provides Cranfield with significant support in relation to software, and the MSA has made a significant donation of equipment to the university."

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