Automotive & Motorsport
In Automotive & Motorsport, a wide range of work can qualify for R&D Tax Credits where competent professionals are pursuing a technological advance and the route to achieve it isn’t straightforward from existing knowledge or standard practice. This can include creating or substantially improving vehicle subsystems where performance, durability, safety, packaging and manufacturability must be resolved together, such as powertrain, thermal management, aero/vehicle dynamics, chassis and braking, electronic controls, or lightweight structures. It can also include low-volume and motorsport-led development where the engineering challenge sits in achieving repeatable outcomes under extreme duty cycles, tight space constraints, and rapid iteration cycles, rather than following established OEM development pathways.
How our skillset can help you claim.
Automotive and motorsport engineering often involves decisions that must be validated through measured performance and structured trials, as changes in one area can create knock-on effects across the vehicle as a system. Our team works alongside your engineers to pinpoint the advance being targeted, connect it to the technical work actually carried out, and present the development process clearly, using test outputs and engineering records to demonstrate how designs were refined. We also help distinguish qualifying development from routine manufacture, maintenance, or straightforward installation activities, and support a practical, evidence-led approach to cost capture so the claim is robust and defensible.
Project Examples:
Work to enhance torque delivery, drivability and reliability where hardware changes, operating conditions and control strategies interact in ways that can’t be resolved by standard settings. Progress is typically demonstrated through iterative mapping and measured performance checks to reach stable results across the duty range.
Development to improve cooling effectiveness and temperature control when packaging constraints and competing heat loads create complex airflow paths. Outcomes are validated by repeated design changes supported by temperature/pressure measurements under representative operating conditions.
Engineering to achieve dependable behaviour across sensors, ECUs, actuators and safety features when real-world noise, tolerances and fault states disrupt expected operation. The advance is shown through structured testing of sequencing, diagnostics and recovery behaviour to prove consistent performance in use.
