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The UK government command racing should care about

The government has mandated that 2018 is the Year of Engineering, but will it fix Britain's well-publicised engineering-skills shortfall and what contribution can the motorsport industry make?

Engineering

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The doomsday bells aren't ringing yet, but British engineering could be facing some tough times ahead.

That statement may seem improbable given that the government only recently identified engineering as a priority in its Industrial Strategy, announcing in November that it will increase investment in R&D from 1.7% to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, create an independent Industrial Strategy Council and invest a further £725 million into the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund - but the elephant in the room can be ignored no longer.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.