Autocar UK – 07 August 2019

ENFIELD 8000

The energy crisis of the 1970s caused

sufficient kerfuffle that the Enfield

8000 electric car was developed, partly

at MIRA. It made about 8bhp and could

d o a l m o st 5 0 m p h. T h ey we r e n’ t te r r i b l y

successful, but our friend Jonny Smith’s

upgraded ‘Flux Capacitor’ version runs

a sub-10sec standing quarter mile.

LOTUS BICYCLE

MIRA’s climate chambers have

prepared adventurers for Arctic

expeditions and its wind tunnel

helped perfect the aerodynamics

of Lotus’s bicycle, made for Chris

Boardman, on which he won the 4km

pursuit at the 1992 Olympic games.

McLAREN F1

The McLaren F1 set MIRA’s high-

speed circuit record in the 1990s,

managing a 168mph average and a

1 92 m p h p e a k d ow n i t s stra i g ht s. T h e

previous record was 161mph, set by

the Jaguar XJ13 prototype racer.

CARS (AN D B I KES) D E VE LO PE D AT M I R A

HORIBA MIRA INSIDE STORY

7 AUGUST 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 53

‘every journey in the world is

p o sit i v e l y i n f lue nc e d b y u s’. A nd

f ut u r e t e c h nolog y i s at le a s t a s

i mp or t a nt t o it a s t h at w h ic h

makes it onto the roads today.

“We’re developing a research

and development campus

here,” Allen explains, from an

office that overlooks a good

proportion of the 750-acre site,

including the old tower.

From up here you can see a new

city circuit, digitally connected

s o c a r s a nd ba s e s t at ion s c a n

communicate with each other.

It’s currently being used to

develop driver assistance and

autonomous technologies and

traffic management. Another

new test track build has started,

including a 350m approach road to

a vast, 300m-diameter asphalt pad

(given the go-ahead against some

objections about its proximity to

the Bosworth battlefield site), while

another new-build will allow testing

and development of autonomous

parking technology.

“What’s fantastic about this site

is that we’ve got the closed-circuit

pa r t of ou r f a c i l it y, t he n w e h av e

New facilities are used to

test drive assistance and

autonomous technology

the semi-segregated part of the

site, and then the connected

and autonomous vehicles

highway infrastructure coming

t o ou r do or ”, e x pl a i n s Gr ae me

St e w a r t , Hor i ba M I R A’s c h ie f

technical officer, as we later sit

in the atrium of the Technology

Institute, a college that offers

everything from vocational

c ou r s e s t o Ph D s (a nd i s op e n

for coffee, meeting points and

e le c t r ic c a r c h a r g i n g i f y ou’r e

passing). In partnership with local

colleges and universities, and in the

eight months it has been open, it has

si g ne d up 3 4 0 0 le a r ne r s.

Even producing the right

engineers, then, is part of the gig.

“I think the scale of the industrial

revolution going on in the industry

is nothing that has been seen since

the advent of the horseless carriage,”

says Stewart. “That’s one of the fun

things. One of the exciting things

is that we get to work on so many

projects, from top-of-the-line luxury

vehicles to tuk-tuks to unmanned

g r ou nd v e h ic le s t o m a i n s t r e a m

passengers cars. We get the chance to

shape the future of mobility.” L

Acclimatisation

takes place prior to

emissions testing

Robotic^ dummy^ (centre

) aids ADAS^ testing

Fridges have (^) been u
sed by Arctic explorers