‘Motorsport Valley and the Global Motorsport Industry': The Development and Growth of Britain's Performance Engineering Cluster

This paper reports on the most extensive review of a national motorsport industry ever undertaken. The National Survey of Motorsport Engineering and Services undertook an industry wide study of the British performance-engineering cluster, known as Motorsport Valley (MSV). The research estimated that the performance-engineering portion of MSV involved 1200 companies estimated to have combined annual revenue of over $4 billion and employing 25,000 individuals. In this paper we consider the reasons for the rapid growth (over 500% over the last ten years) experienced by the industry and some of the general issues we can learn from the success of these firms. The paper also considers the development of the MSV cluster and the issues raised by increased involvement by the automotive manufacturers, globalization and the development of information-based technologies. In a comparison with the US motorsport industry we consider some the unique characteristics of MSV and the implications for the development of the global motorsport industry over the next ten years.