World Motorsport Symposium award winners announced

Toyota, McLaren Racing, Bosch Motorsport and Ru-Bix Advanced Materials scooped the honours at the Race Tech World Motorsport Symposium, held on November 26 at the prestigious Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London.

This technical motorsport awards celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and attracted motorsport’s technical elite, such as McLaren Racing’s Director of Aerodynamics, Giuseppe Pesce, Vice President of TGR Strategic Motorsport Development, Pascal Vasselon and Honda Racing Corporation USA, David Salters.

The Awards forms part of a two-day technical motorsport event, the World Motorsport Symposium, dubbed the Davos of Motorsport, chaired by former F1 Chief Technical Officer, Pat Symonds, former Audi Director, Motorsport Engine Development, Ulrich Baretzky. The event hosts the most senior international motorsport and automotive engineering decision makers across OEMs, suppliers, teams, buyers, governing bodies and engineering students for two days to discuss how emerging technologies will shape the future of the sport as well as impact other sectors across the globe.

The Awards recognise remarkable innovation and game-changing technologies as well as ground-breaking motorsport technology that enables a positive impact on the environment. They were determined by a judging panel of industry experts representing diverse motorsport engineering disciplines.

The symposium’s theme of ‘Speed with Sustainability’ was reflected in the coveted Race Powertrain of the Year Award, which Toyota won for its pioneering work on an experimental liquified hydrogen powertrain it races in Japan’s Super Taikyu series.

This season’s development work on its inline three-cylinder engine has reaped impressive improvements to reliability, range – thanks to its introduction of an elliptical-shaped fuel tank – and CO2 capture.

The award was received by Pascal Vasselon, Vice President of TGR Strategic Motorsport Development, where he focuses on hydrogen technology and carbon neutrality.

“We have a very talented development team in Japan and I am accepting the award on their behalf,” said Vasselon. “It is a visionary programme based on the belief, passed down from the very top of the company, that motorsport must be relevant and useful to society: it has to lead decarbonization.”

Toyota beat off fierce competition from IndyCar, which introduced a supercapacitor-based hybrid system this season, and Bosch Engineering, whose hydrogen-combustion engine ran a demonstration lap at Le Mans.

Dino Toso Racecar Aerodynamicist of the Year Award

Aerodynamic development is king in Formula 1 and the judges believed nobody had a better claim to the crown this year than a rejuvenated McLaren F1 Team.

It had the third fastest car in the first five races of the season. But a big upgrade in Miami, which left almost no aero surface untouched, made the MCL38 competitive overnight and ignited a spectacular quest for the team’s first manufacturers’ title since 1998.

Accepting the Dino Toso Racecar Aerodynamicist of the Year award on behalf of the McLaren Racing aerodynamics team, Giuseppe Pesce, Director of Aerodynamics, said: “It’s been an incredible journey, to go from pretty much the back of the field to the front. Thank you on behalf of the entire aerodynamics department.”

Other nominations included Ferrari’s 499P, for its second successive win at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and Porsche’s IMSA and World Endurance Championship-winning 963.

William Kimberley Green Tech Award

Technical innovation will be the key to the world meeting its ambitious green targets and the winner of the William Kimberley Green Tech Award illustrated that point precisely.

Norfolk, UK-based Ru-Bix Advanced Materials is one of the companies leading a new wave of responsible manufacturing in high-performance sports. This year it improved its flagship Halo-S tooling board by incorporating significant levels of bio-carbon content and recycled plastic, resulting in a tooling material with a very low global warming potential (GWP).This unique material has met with great enthusiasm from engineers based in the composites industry.

“People talk a lot about sustainability, but it is something that we as a company are passionate about,” said Barrie Colvin, Technical Director, Ru-Bix Advanced Materials, accepting the award.

Don Burgoon Most Innovative Motorsport Product of the Year Award

The Don Burgoon Most Innovative Motorsport Product of the Year Award was won by Bosch Motorsport for for its development of a pioneering electronic braking system that enables disabled racecar drivers to brake using hand controls instead of foot pedals.

Asked for help by Robert Wickens, who was left paralyzed by an accident in IndyCar in 2018, Bosch adapted its existing electronic brake system (EBS) module, which is used in sportscar racing. It replaces a series of mechanical linkages that physically operated the car’s standard brake pedal, eliminating delays and friction from the existing mechanism.

“To develop our system for a different application is what systems engineering is all about,” said Michael Muerlebach, Director of Customer Account and Product Management, Bosch Motorsport. “To see Robert’s focus, his passion to return to racing, gave our entire development team a buzz. This is a story that gives me goosebumps.”

A special lifetime achievement award was presented to RACE TECH’s Publishing Director, Soheila Kimberley for her contribution to Motorsport.