Loughborough College’s championship-winning race car was on show at the UK’s leading motorsport show earlier this month.
Autosport International 2023 at Birmingham’s NEC celebrates global motor racing and recognises the UK's important role in providing engineering, innovation and construction as well as champion drivers.
Loughborough College’s Rallycross Modified Championship-winning Honda Civic Type-R took pride of place and drew positive feedback and comments from the visiting ‘petrol heads’ and the many businesses and race teams in attendance.
The College car was built by students as a year-long project and is maintained as a key part of their curriculum.
As well as the race car, all 50 Level 3 BTEC Motorsport and Level 3 IMI learners attended the show to learn more about the thriving UK motorsport industry and the jobs and work experience opportunities available.
‘It’s key we are here to raise awareness about our college and what we do within motorsport”, said college lecturer Alex Fletcher.
“We are one of only a few colleges which take students onto the racetrack and give them a real-world experience to make learners as industry ready as possible.”
Lecturer Gary Cook agreed, ‘It has been great to see innovations like alternative fuel solutions up close, especially as UK-based companies are developing electric, hybrid and hydrogen technology.”
Students also got to meet up with former Loughborough college learner Patrick O’Donovan.
Patrick is the youngest ever 5-nations Rallycross Champion. He was only too willing to encourage the college students to follow in his footsteps with an exclusive look at his fully electric RX2E World Rallycross car.