Past Events (2006)

The SAMPE UK & Ireland Chapter held its AGM on Thursday 25^th May 2006, which was hosted this year courtesy of MIRA Ltd. in Nuneaton, UK. The day began in a positive way with sunny weather which is always good when one’s travelling, and the SAMPE group were met by Andy Ellis, who is a “senior business development manager” for MIRA Ltd and our host for the day. 

It was emphasised that MIRA Ltd. do not make showers, but they do a lot of work for legislative testing and safety engineering for vehicles and pedestrian safety. This is the cornerstone of MIRA Ltd’s reputation and they have a specifically designed test track called HAVOC (Highways And Vehicles Openair Crashsite) where they perform live crash tests using anything up to 30 Tonne trucks to assess the design of roadside furniture, crash barriers, bollards and bridge parapets. The vehicles used must be current (less than 10 years old to ensure they represent the typical vehicle currently on the road) and roadworthy before they are smashed to pieces (on good days) in the name of public safety.

After some more information on the company and the scope of research work done there, we were whisked off to the site tour. Much of the work done at MIRA Ltd is secret and therefore could not be opened to public viewing, but we were privileged enough to be shown around some key areas.

First came the Semi Anechoic Chamber, which was basically a large (semi) sound-proof chamber. The walls of the chamber are lined with carbon impregnated foam spikes that are configured to absorb the particular RF signatures of the electromagnetic emissions they were trying to measure. This ensured that the signals recorded were true emissions and not signals that had been reflected around the chamber. The vehicles tested could range from small cars to any large vehicle that would fit in the chamber and typical tests were conducted to assess a component’s immunity to external sources of electromagnetic emissions or the quantity of emissions produced by the vehicle itself. Needless to say the presenter had to speak up to be heard!

Then came the highlight of the tour, which was a minibus tour of the vehicle test tracks. MIRA Ltd boasts 56 miles of test roads including 8 miles of off-road track and some wet handling circuits that are kept wet by their own natural spring! The high speed track is a 4 lane circuit where the inside two lanes are for slower speed vehicles moving at less than 70mph and the outer two banked lanes are for any speed greater than 70mph. The 33-degree banking on the circuit allows a vehicle to travel at 86mph without any steering input (this situation is called neutral steer). Unfortunately we were not subject to this first hand, but were driven past in on the ‘slower’ lanes. We were, however, introduced to a negative camber track, which featured paving stones and bridges and other obstacles designed to test a vehicle’s endurance to its limit. Many of the features on the test circuits are designed so that a vehicle can complete the equivalent of many years of normal service in only a few months of intensive testing here. For example, driving 100 miles on the ‘Belgian Pave’ road (basically a heavily cobbled road) is equivalent to the suspension going through 1000 miles of normal service. The test is so intense on the suspension that the vehicle must go through a water bath after each test to prevent the suspension from overheating and exploding!

Following the tour of the testing tracks, we were led around the materials testing facilities and the crashworthiness lab. The material testing facilities take on almost 100% contract work and feature up to date facilities for testing of metals and composites under thermal shock conditions (rapid changes in service temperature from hot to very cold) and dust ingress tests. The crashworthiness labs featured a look at an actual crash test rig and viewing of some examples of simulated vehicles that are crashed into cars at various angles and velocities. These tests are performed under 1Megawatt of lighting and filmed using high-speed digital cameras and the results are used to certify vehicles for roadworthiness.

This marked the end of the technical visit and then after lunch, we progressed to the SAMPE AGM, the details of which will be distributed by David Carlton later. Some significant points to note from the meeting were a formal appreciation of Ed Trewin’s long and dedicated service in producing the SAMPE newsletter over the years. Ed has stood down from his role as newsletter editor and future plans are to incorporate a ‘latest news and reports’ section on the UK SAMPE website which is currently managed by Andrew Long and his minions at Nottingham University (www.sampe.org.uk / www.sampe.co.uk).

David Carlton was also thanked for his immense contributions to SAMPE UK in his roles as secretary and treasurer. David has expressed his desire to stand down from these positions and replacements for both roles will be appointed over the coming months.

Finally, Bob Griffiths was proposed as the new Vice President of SAMPE UK &Ireland in parallel to his role as VP of SAMPE International. Bob is thanked for his contributions so far and his efforts will be much appreciated, even if they are from ‘across the pond’.

Thanks again to all of you and thanks to Andy Ellis and MIRA Ltd for their time and hospitality in making this AGM a success!