JUMP ABOARD THE NATIONAL MOTORSPORT WEEK BANDWAGON

The two leading bodies in UK motor sport are encouraging all involved to maximise the full potential of National Motorsport Week.Established by the Motor Sports Association (MSA) and Motorsport Industry Association (MIA), this year’s National Motorsport Week runs from 30 June to 8 July – a high profile period for the sport featuring both the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Santander British Grand Prix.“We want everyone involved in motor sport to get right behind this initiative,” said Colin Hilton, Chief Executive of the MSA, governing body of UK motor sport. “At a National level it allows us to celebrate our past and present successes and last year we set the ball rolling when the UK-based F1 teams opened their doors to the public. However, it also gives us a great opportunity to attract new people to get involved for the first time and a number of clubs and venues organised special activities last year. We want to build on that, especially working with motor clubs to set up events that encourage newcomers to take a look at the sport and realise how much fun they can have on four wheels.”The history books show that British drivers and teams have dominated all areas of the sport. Indeed McLaren leads the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship for Constructors with its drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button among the early pacesetters for the prized Drivers’ title. Their achievements, though, are just the pinnacle of a world leading industry that includes more than 4,000 technology-focused companies providing close to 40,000 highly skilled jobs with an annual turn-over of £6 billion, the majority of which is from exports. “Whether it’s high-tech F1 teams winning grands prix, dedicated experts restoring historic racing cars or engineering companies producing state-of-the-art components, the UK motor sport industry is booming,” reports Chris Aylett, CEO at the MIA.  “National Motor Sport Week provides all these stakeholders with the perfect opportunity to do something really special. It could be the UK’s premier F1 and WRC teams organising open days, race teams inviting local schools and media into their workshops or some of the many engineering specialist companies setting up special factory tours. From all angles motor sport is a huge UK success story and National Motorsport Week exists not only for all involved to publicise their fabulous achievements but also as the perfect shop window to attract a new generation of young engineers and entrepreneurs.”To assist and encourage all areas of motor sport – teams, venues, clubs, manufacturers, events, suppliers and series organisers – to maximise the many opportunities presented by a highly visible National Motorsport Week, the MIA and MSA have prepared a comprehensive Contributors’ Toolkit which is available to download from the central www.nationalmotorsportweek.co.uk website. The relaunched site also includes tips on how to get involved, official National Motorsport Week logos and will feature a full listing of all events being organised during the period.    BRITISH MOTOR SPORT ACHIEVEMENTSThe Sport ■Britain has produced more F1 World Champions than any other nation with ten title winners; Brazil and Finland are next up with three each. ■Two of the last three F1 World Champions are British – Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. ■More British drivers (32) have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans than those representing any other nation, including France (27).  ■Guernseyman Andy Priaulx MBE is one of only two drivers to have won three World Touring Car Championship titles ■The reigning IndyCar champion is Dario Franchitti from Scotland. ■The late Dan Wheldon from England won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 ■The UK host rounds of the three premier FIA World Championships: FIA Formula 1 World Championship, FIA World Rally Championship and the new FIA World Endurance Championship.  ■There are more than 32,000 MSA Competition Licence holders in the UK. ■The UK hosts almost 5,000 MSA sanctioned motor sport events every year including: autocross, autotest, circuit racing, cross-country, drag racing, hillclimbing, karting, rallycross, rallying, sprinting, time attack and trials.The Industry ■British-based constructors have won no fewer than 37 F1 Constructors’ Championships well ahead of Italian (16) and French (1) based companies. ■Eight of the 12 current F1 teams are based in the UK. ■British built cars won 18 from 19 Grands Prix in 2011. ■Two of the three premier World Rally Championship teams are based in the UK. ■The top ten finishers on the 2011 Wales Rally GB were all British-built cars. ■The FIA World Touring Car Championship winning team is based in the UK. ■UK companies dominate the design and manufacture of components used in the majority of the world’s competition categories. ■More than 4,000 UK companies are involved in the technology driven world of UK Motorsport and Performance Engineering Industry with an annual turn-over of £6 billion – of which £3.6 billion exported. ■These innovative businesses invest more than 30 per cent of their sales into R&D when the UK pharmaceutical industry invests 15 per cent. ■Motorsport supports nearly 40,000 full and part-time jobs of which 25,000 are qualified engineers.