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Students ready for life in the fast lane after unveiling new racing cars

31/03/2017

Two racing cars which have been transformed by engineering students at the University of Wolverhampton have been unveiled during a visit to the world famous Morgan Motor Company in Malvern.

The University has a partnership with the family owned, independent British motor manufacturer to engage engineering students in a range of activities and opportunities including educational programmes, research and development and motor racing.

Members of the University of Wolverhampton Race (UWR) team toured the Malvern factory on Thursday (MAR 30) as part of the collaboration.

UWR will be racing two cars in the AR Morgan Challenge Series this season. The University liveried Morgan Plus 4 Babydoll and an ARV6 were officially unveiled during the visit, and will be taking part in the first race of the season at Snetterton on Saturday (1 APR).

Students will attend every race meeting as well as preparing and testing the cars from the Telford Innovation Campus in Priorslee, which has recently seen a £10m investment in the engineering facilities. 

Alongside professional race instructor and driver Shane Kelly, students have completely rebuilt the cars during the winter breakdown in readiness for the new season enabling them to fully understand the manufacture and operations of the cars.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Oakes, said: “By working alongside the Morgan craftsmen and women and taking part in the AR Morgan Challenge Series, our students are gaining hugely valuable work experience of the motor manufacturing industry.

“This exciting partnership is already having a major impact on the employability of our engineering students, which is a key focus for the University. We are delighted that they are gaining experience of the real world of car manufacturing at a world famous company which focuses on traditional craftsmanship coupled with modern design and engineering innovation.”

Steve Morris, Morgan Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to enter the second year of our partnership with the University of Wolverhampton. Over the course of the last 12 months we have been impressed with the skills demonstrated by the team both during race weekends, and in providing technical feedback for our road cars. The passion shown by the students is fantastic and we are excited to continue building our next generation of craftsmen and women ahead of the 2017 Morgan AR Motorsport Challenge.”

In races, the Morgan cars are driven by professional drivers Tony Hirst (ARV6) and Henry Morgan’s descendant Craig Hamilton-Smith (Babydoll). 

An investment of £10 million in the University’s engineering facilities at its Telford Innovation Campus in Priorslee has just been completed, creating world class education facilities for engineering students including industry standard design, development and testing facilities.

In addition there are Motorsport workshops which are home to the two Morgan cars, the Plus 4 Babydoll and ARV6, and the single seater race cars (Formula 3, Formula Renault, IMechE Formula Student and a Formula 300 Gould race car which is raced in the British Hillclimb Championship by Graham Wynn OBE).

Find out more about the range of Engineering courses on offer at the Telford Innovation Campus on the website and follow the UWR Race Team’s progress on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter@UWRacing and Instagram@uwracing.

Further information

Engineering students and members of University of Wolverhampton Race team visit Morgan Motor Company

For more information please contact the Media Relations Office on 01902 32 2736 or 01902 518647.

Date Issued: Friday, 31 March 2017

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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