Great progress was made at Autosport Engineering 2010 regarding motorsport to defence technology transfer, resulting in both serious leads and solid orders for a number of companies in the industry.
This should come as no great surprise, as the motorsport, aerospace and defence industries have always been closely interlinked, requiring very similar skill sets and
expertise to function.
It's not a stretch to see that the conditions equipment has to survive in the searing heat of Afghanistan are similarly harsh to those found in an LMP car competing at Le Mans.
Certainly, the priorities may be a little different - in a racecar, the quest is usually to remove every last gram of weight from a component in pursuit of speed, whereas the designer of an armoured vehicle will probably err on the side of caution to ensure reliability. It presents the same essential engineering compromise, though, which involves obtaining the maximum performance and reliability froma piece of equipment required to work in an extremely difficult and unforgiving environment.
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