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