The engineers pushing to make motorsport safer

The diverse group of engineers that make up the FIA Research Working Group are united by one key goal - the desire to see motorsport safety improve

James Newbold Feb 8, 2020, 2:31 PM

Engineering

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Here's a brain-teaser for you. What connects Prodrive technical director David Lapworth, chief engineer at Williams Advanced Engineering Doug Campling and IndyCar's Dr Terry Trammell? On the face of it, you'd think not a whole lot beyond their shared membership of the cadre of career-long motorsport professionals.

Prodrive has shown no indication that it plans to follow McLaren into IndyCar and, while its proven EV credentials with Formula E would make WAE a credible partner to any engine manufacturer preparing for the arrival of hybrid power to IndyCar in 2022, it's still very early days. In fact, the connection is much less obvious.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.