Breaking new ground
Horiba MIRA is a hotbed of engineering excellence and innovation, as Next Generation Award winner Stephen Crossley discovered
For the first time in the history of the Autocar-courland Next Generation Award, one of the winner’s placement weeks has been spent at Horiba MIRA, a centre of excellence for vehicle engineering, design, testing and development. Or, in simple terms, an automotive engineer’s paradise.
The MIRA proving ground in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was opened on the former RAF Lindley base in 1949. Today it encompasses 24 testing circuits, including those for evaluating high-speed, wet and dry handling, durability, noise, offroad and urban driving performance.
Around all this is what amounts to an engineering city – indeed, the largest such facility in Europe – containing 39 testing units, with everything from a wind tunnel to a facility developing tech for connected and autonomous cars. It has been growing since MIRA was purchased by Japanese automotive test systems maker Horiba three years ago.
“For an engineer, it’s special,” says 2017 Award winner Stephen Crossley, after four weeks with the company. “The breadth of what goes on is incredible, as are the facilities.”
Stephen was based with the Dynamics team, given that this is his main field of interest, but he got to experience several of Horiba MIRA’S main departments. His award-winning concept was for an active camber system, so Horiba MIRA set him the task of developing this through computer modelling. He was using ADAMS, a multi-body dynamics simulation software programme that is used across the industry and which Stephen had already experienced during his placement at Mclaren.
There was also a chance to see the more practical side of things, working with the Kinematics and Compliance team, which has two suspension parameter measuring rigs – used by the majority of F1 teams – that apply heave, roll, pitch and steering motions, as well as cornering, braking and traction forces. It can measure wheel rates, steer and camber change and suspension swing arm vectors – all incredibly enlightening for vehicle dynamics-loving Stephen.
The modelling and testing was all brought to life when Stephen was taken out on Horiba MIRA’S wet handling track with a driver trainer, in a BMW M2. “That was a very interesting experience, with 365bhp under my right foot,” laughs Stephen. “At first, I was no good but I quickly learnt how to keep it pointing the right way, controlling oversteer.”
Then it was off to focus on Energy Efficiency, a department that has a new Advanced Battery Development Suite for developing and testing EV batteries. Here Stephen learnt about
The breadth of what goes on here is incredible, as are the facilities
control systems, both for driving and charging. “It was really interesting to learn about EVS,” he says. “It seems they are currently engineered to build in an incredibly high level of electrical and functional safety.”
“Today’s EVS are designed to absorb crash energy through their chassis, avoiding the battery pack, rather than through the chassis and drivetrain, as in conventionally powered cars. But I’ve learnt that Horiba MIRA is looking at how to build that safety into the pack, so we can reduce the weight of EV platforms and therefore boost range.”
Stephen also learnt about the complication of temperatures and the sensitivity of battery performance and life to precise thermal management; having a wellengineered battery management system is essential. There’s also the challenge of designing a pack that can cope with lithium ion cells expanding and contracting with use.
Stephen then spent time with Connected and Autonomous Vehicles engineers, largely witnessing preparation for NCAP tests, making sure that cars comply with myriad safety protocols. This specific focus is the evaluation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), where safety aspects of the systems determine whether there’s a pending collision and can warn the driver in time to react. And if they don’t, the car can automatically brake or steer to avoid or mitigate a collision.
Stephen also used computer aided design (CAD) software while at Horiba MIRA to model some mechanical systems, in particular elements of his Award-winning concept, and even a robot platform. “It was a really good chance to practice CAD,” he says. “The robot in effect acts as a software testing vehicle. One use has been searching for people in burning houses.”
Last but not least came the Advanced Emissions Test Centre, for which manufacturers are queuing up to certify their vehicles under the new WLTP regulations.
Horiba MIRA, then, can provide a broader view of the industry than perhaps anywhere else. “My time here made me realise that I’d like to work with autonomous vehicles, developing the hardware and control software,” Stephen says. “I found it amazing that the latter is currently compromising for the former.
“If you’re an engineer who wants to find something to specialise in, you’ll certainly find it here.
“It would also be very interesting for someone from a non-engineering background, similar to how I discovered aspects of the automotive industry at Honda and Toyota that I’d never really thought about before.”