Congratulations to TOCA and Cosworth Electronics who were awarded with the Adrian Reynard Motorsports Medal 2023

The Application of Hybrid Technology to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) claimed first prize for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Motorsport Engineering.

On 16 February 2024, the IMechE’s Automobile Division held the annual presentation ceremony of Adrian Reynard Motorsports Medal at Silverstone Circuit. The award recognises an individual or a team of people, working in the field of motorsports engineering, who have demonstrated an outstanding technical achievement or have made a significant contribution to the advancement of engineering in motorsports.

The award, this year, was presented to both TOCA and Cosworth Electronics Ltd, for their joint efforts in applying hybrid technology to the British Touring Car Championship. The British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) (TOCA), usually referred to as just TOCA, is the owner and operator of the BTCC and its support races. Cosworth Electronics Ltd, a subsidiary of Cosworth Group Holdings Limited, is a renowned engineering company specialising in high-performance electronics and powertrain technologies for automotive, motorsport, and defence industries.

The BTCC, established in 1958, is the premier race series for ‘production’ cars in the UK and apart from the Formula 1 race, it’s the most popular race series in the UK. In 2021, TOCA introduced a new approach to equalising performance using hybrid technology to boost performance of competitor cars, replacing what was used in previous years, the ballast weight method. The hybrid system application provides drivers with a certain number of hybrid ‘boosts’ to use during the race to promote overtaking or alternatively to defend against opponents attempting overtakes.

The technical definition of the hybrid system was led by TOCA and the development and application of the system to the BTCC race cars was undertaken jointly by TOCA and Cosworth Electronics. The two companies worked closely together on this project, which is why they were both recognised.

Accepting the award at the ceremony was Clive Dopson, Chair of TOCA’s engine technical review panel, and Richard Woodgate, Lead Applications Engineer at Cosworth Electronics.

“The requirements given by TOCA to Cosworth, to supply the first ever cost-effective Hybrid system for touring car competition was a huge challenge. Using our expertise in the knowledge of drivetrain technology and electronics, we are thrilled to have achieved just that, a turn-key solution that could be used by any formula, with practicality, costs, ease of use and performance at the fore.

We are very proud of every team member who has contributed to this ground breaking achievement within the motorsport sector, this award will go towards spurring on our next generation of engineers chasing the demanding challenges of an ever changing, cleaner and efficient motorsport arena.”

Find out more about our Prizes and Awards here.