A journey by car around the Millbrook test track is one of many journeys. The steps, water troughs and jagged paving batter, bruise and drench the vehicle with salt; the Alpine-style hills exact the most from the engine; the city driving course puts the onus on the driver’s accuracy; and the “bowl”, a circular, mile-long circuit that encompasses other demanding tracks within its perimeter, provides the perfect opportunity to step on the gas.
Cars, vans and military vehicles have been subjected to this kind of abuse at Millbrook, near Bedford, since 1970. The GM-owned site was chosen in the late 1960s by the US giant over locations in Scotland and Wales because of its proximity to Vauxhall’s operations in Luton and nearby Bedford Vehicles, and because there was a large flat area and scope to build a hilly track without moving too much earth.
GM had begun designing vehicle proving grounds in the 1950s and Millbrook was chosen with this in mind. “They did this rather than just using race tracks,” recalls Andy Eastlake, who is responsible for business development at Millbrook. “So that’s always been one of the key attributes: it’s designed to test cars – not just to race them.”
From 1970 through to the late 1980s, Millbrook worked solely on GM models. Much of this work was on Vauxhall cars destined for the UK market, but also on military vehicles and, increasingly, GM cars for the US. Eastlake says: “We were testing vehicles for all those markets in our early years, and that was somewhat unusual compared to companies focused on the UK and Europe.”
Changes to GM’s operations in Britain, however, began to shape Millbrook’s current form, as a test and development facility that operates independently of its parent with the wider automotive industry. Design and engineering work for Vauxhall had migrated to Opel in Germany and Bedford Vehicles had entered a period of decline, eventually moving out of the heavy vehicle market. At the time Millbrook had around 200 staff. Eastlake says: “GM didn’t want to sell it. Millbrook is a valuable asset. Further, it’s difficult to replace if you wanted to build it up again.”
GM decided to put the proving ground and test facilities under the wing of Group Lotus, which included Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. Millbrook, with its test tracks, was regarded as complementary to Lotus, which had test and development labs but lacked tracks. Lotus’s successful engineering consultancy also provided a model for the way in which Millbrook could operate.
From that point on, Millbrook would operate as a commercial player in the marketplace rather than as a sole proving ground for GM.
“That was the point at which we had to create a brand and market our capabilities,” Eastlake says. “So we created the logo, which actually contains the green and yellow of Lotus, the brand, and we started to build a commercially facing organisation and developed our business.” Expansion was rapid. “I think there was still about £10-11 million worth of business coming from General Motors at that point, but we needed to build that. In the next five or six years we doubled our turnover purely from outside work. For the first time we were competing with non-GM companies, which made things interesting.”
When GM sold Lotus, Millbrook’s status as an independent automotive test and development centre, with GM continuing as the owner, was confirmed. Today, in addition to the tracks, the site features crash test laboratories, a powertrain and engineering centre, and noise, vibration and emissions testing facilities. Millbrook works for numerous clients, some of which, such as Nissan, have their own operations on site.
Vehicle development is expensive, but Millbrook provides a service that obviates the need for manufacturers to develop their own test tracks, for example. “As some manufacturers tried to reduce their own footprint in terms of facilities, we were able to maximise the throughput on ours,” explains Eastlake. “We can offer them at a very competitive rate, but we are spreading the capital cost across a number of clients.”
One of the key areas of automotive development for Millbrook is the test and certification of engines in terms of emissions requirements, and crash safety. Here, the facility is both responsive to legislation and helps to shape future regulations through working with the European Commission. Eastlake points out: “Very often the legislation lags technology – electric vehicles are an example, where the legislative requirements are still being discussed. Because we see this technology very early on, we can help advise and steer the legislation to be both robust and pragmatic and practical for the industry.” n
Mira’s growth plan could create 2,000 jobs and triple company turnover
Nuneaton-based vehicle engineering and test centre Mira is a direct rival to Millbrook. It has aggressive expansion plans which could see the creation of 2,000 jobs over the next 10 years, a period in which its turnover is forecast to treble to more than £100 million. Some 400 of these new jobs could be at Mira itself with the rest in the supply chain and surrounding technology companies.
Mechanical engineer Declan Allen, the company’s recently appointed operations director, joins Mira from Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, and will help to oversee what it is hoped will be a rapid period of expansion. “We are looking to at least double our turnover in the medium term,” he says.
Allen’s analysis of the main challenges of maintaining the recent growth has a familiar ring. “Well, we must be an attractive business proposition for external investors, which in the current climate is obviously a challenge. Provided we secure funding, then the next main challenge is going to be attracting and retaining numerous, more highly-skilled people.”
He adds: “We have, unfortunately, a situation in which a lot of our manufacturing and engineering activities have reduced in this country over the years. We’re looking for highly-skilled engineers and technicians. We can try to attract as many existing qualified professionals as possible – however we are competing for the same talent pool as many other engineering businesses in the country.
“This can increase market rates and reduce competitiveness. Finding good calibre people to match our growth and capability aspirations is a significant challenge for us. Our current and future technology development plans should be an attraction, however. Mira has already revamped its graduate scheme and established an apprentice scheme as it seeks to train and develop the staff necessary to deliver the forecast growth in business.”
The company has benefited from being awarded Enterprise Zone status by the government which should make the technology park, adjacent to the Nuneaton HQ, an attractive location for many other technology companies in the transport sector.
The technology park is already generating significant interest. Allen says: “The Enterprise Zone award could lead to a range of benefits for companies, typically including reduced planning permission restrictions and reduced rates. This award is a significant step forward to realise our vision for the technology park.”
Allen says he has been pleased by the level of support from government for Mira in recent times, and that of local authorities in the region. He says: “The value of engineering can be hidden until the economy hits financial problems. Unless you’ve got a backbone of production and engineering capability, you can start to lose your way very quickly.
“Look at Germany, which came out of the credit crunch sooner due to the strength of its engineering and exports. Their recovery was underpinned by engineering. It should be that way here.”