Visit to Silverstone UTC, Sports Engineering Hub

Congratulations to the Silverstone UTC, Sports Engineering Hub for their excellent initiative in building their new Cycling Test Lab! The facility will specialise in the testing of the mechanical efficiency and resilience of bicycles, and it has been cited at the Silverstone UTC to enable engineering pupils at the school to enhance their theoretical education by providing practical experiences of testing engineering and mechanical principals. The lab will be capable of testing tyres, frames, chains and other component parts of a bicycle. Already a number of bike manufacturers are sending components for the students to test and will be contributing to school funds for every component tested. This is a great way to swell the coffers!

Rob Lewis of Silverstone Sport Hub and Neil Paterson the Principal of UTC explained how the new lab operates then Richard Harrington, Chief Executive of the local Enterprise Partnership cut the ribbon.

At the event I met Clara Kempson and Lucy Horwood, two of the UTC Engineering students who explained how the rig they were working on tests the friction of tyres and how they are able to extract data. Clara and Lucy have both decided to pursue careers in engineering as a result of having grandfathers who gave them a love of the subject. When they finish school both plan to build careers in the engineering world and already spend their weekends working in the garage of Praga Motorsport. Currently there are 100 girls studying at the UTC and the girls make up 18% of the engineering cohort. The sun shone on an excellent event!