Reframing petrol heads – encouraging motorsport students to think about sustainability

Motorsport students are sometimes seen as people who want to get maximum performance with little regard to the effect their passion has on sustainability and the environment. A core module delivered in the final year of a three year undergraduate motorsport course is “Advanced Engineering Materials and Applications”. This module is also an option on the final year of a manufacturing and production engineering degree that is studied by mainly part time students employed by local industry. An assignment in the 2012/2013 academic year required the cohort to consider sustainable solutions for car body panels. This paper discusses and evaluates the submissions of the motorsport students in terms of sustainability outcomes and compares these with the submissions of mainly part time students on the manufacturing and production degree. Students made extensive use of CES EduPack in their work. They were able to use the software to explore sustainability using appropriate materials indices and some used a synthesizer tool to model their own novel materials. Both groups of students were able to justify their materials selection and confirm these by carrying out simple eco-audits. The manufacturing and production students though showed much more awareness of issues around the processes of actually making the panels and their environmental impact. The work shows that different groups engineering students can become aware of sustainability but that their previous background and study can influence their holistic thinking abilities. It is pleasing to note that one of the motorsport students went to work for a renowned motor manufacturer in a job role with specific responsibilities for making interior fittings more sustainable.