Cumbria-based race and rally team M-Sport has been named Business of the Year at the Motorsport Industry Association’s (MIA) (www.the-mia.com/) annual Business Excellence Awards, because of its outstanding growth and planned £19 million investment.

The company employs more than 200 people and expects to create another 100 more after the upcoming investment, which will include a 2.5km test track.

MIA CEO Chris Aylett said: “M-Sport is a real testament to British motor-sport passion and expertise. With almost four decades of successful motor-sport innovation behind it, M-Sport operates the Ford WRC programme, as well as delivering a thriving business for private teams and supplying cars to various series such as WRX.

“With business at M-Sport going from strength-to-strength — plus the recent signing of the reigning FIA World Rally Champion and the current WRC Driver of the Year to the 2017 M-Sport World Rally Team — this world leader in engineering expertise is certainly playing its part in safeguarding the reputation of British motor-sport.”

Meanwhile, innovation and the increasing role of technology both on and off the race-track were among the key topics of discussion at the MIA’s annual International Energy Efficient Motorsport Conference, which took place at the NEC earlier this month.

Speaking at this event, Professor David Greenwood of the University of Warwick said: “If we don’t keep pace with the fans, they will drop away, leading to a decline in profits; it could be a vicious circle.

“In the fully digital world, fans want an immersive experience. An example is drone racing, where they use 3-D virtual headsets.”