How the UK became the global home of motorsport innovation

As the new Labour government looks for ways to drive the UK economy forward, our new podcast episode may hold some of the answers. We examine how the UK has become a world-leading hub for motorsport and advanced manufacturing. We do this by speaking to David Richards about the story behind his Prodrive business, which was founded 40 years ago.

Richards was on the podium at Silverstone on Sunday for the British Grand Prix, giving the third-place trophy to Lando Norris. He did so in his role as chairman of Motorsport UK, the governing body for four-wheel racing in the UK. That role highlights the status and success that Richards has enjoyed.

Prodrive employs around 800 people in the UK. It is a fascinating business, one that manufactures high-tech parts for a range of vehicles but also runs motorsport teams and makes sports kits. It is based on the outskirts of Banbury, Oxfordshire.

In this area of the UK, you will find the headquarters of the majority of Formula 1 teams and a collection of advanced manufacturing businesses. Prodrive’s neighbours include the Haas F1 team and Collins Aerospace, which makes parts for planes.

Prodrive started off running rally teams before expanding into a range of different areas, including manufacturing. Richards helped Subaru, the Japanese car maker, to launch its world rally team in the 1990s and managed that team as Colin McRae became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship in 1995.

The success of that team transformed Subaru as a brand and is a business case study in itself. Richards and Prodrive would then go on to turn around the BAR Formula 1 team, whose drivers included a young Jenson Button. BAR became the Mercedes team that a decade later dominated the sport with Lewis Hamilton.

A key lesson from Richards’ story is the power of delegation and trusting the team around you. “I trust people a lot. I'm probably not good enough at defining my expectations for people, but I've got better at that over the years,” Richards says. “They're empowered to get on with things. Sometimes you make mistakes and sometimes you give roles to people that are beyond their capabilities for various reasons. But that is your problem, not theirs.”

And the reason why the UK leads the way in motorsport and advanced manufacturing? People. “I think you get spin-offs from different companies. You'll start with one and you go,” he says. “We're not far from the traditional West Midlands motor industry and we've got Silverstone on the doorstep. Once you start one organisation then people leave that and set up on their own.”

Richards says the role of government in all this should be to “applaud and promote rather than interfere”.