In England since one day in June there has been a very common topic of conversation, what does Brexit really mean? and in our world specifically what does Brexit mean for the motorsport industry.

Well in short it is probably the biggest threat that the UK motorsport industry has ever faced. Brexit you see means a lot more than Brexit (a made up word which first appeared in 2012) it means a substantial change to many areas of life and industry. Right now due to the dithering and indecision of the current UK leadership nobody really knows what the impact of Brexit will be, but it seems pretty obvious that the EU will take a tough stance against the UK as a lesson to other nations such as France and the Netherlands which are also considering their own futures in the union.

It is distinctly possible (even likely) that post Brexit trade restrictions, import taxes, and restricted movement will be applied by the EU. This would have an immediate and drastic effect on the motorsport industry in the UK.

People such as Chris Aylett of the Motorsport Industry Association spend their entire life highlighting the great levels of engineering skill and innovation in the UK, especially in high performance engineering like motorsport He is quite right to do so, our SME’s have for years dominated the international racing scene, especially in Europe but it is too easy to be complacent about this.

Two decades ago you had Reynards, Lolas, G-Forces and Penskes all designed and built in the UK taking on the likes of Dallara, but now all of those British constructors have gone and the Italians dominate. At Le Mans this year of the 33 prototypes in the race only two had chassis made in the UK and both are ruled out for 2017.

The point here is that while many rave about the UK leadership in motorsport engineering it should not be overstated and it is not invulnerable. Yes right now it is the best as a single nation all round but Italy, France and Germany jointly are able to match that blow for blow.

It is particularly true for the component supply industry, take gearboxes for example, the two world market leaders in transmission design and construction are based in England, Xtrac (Thatcham) and Hewland (Maidenhead), but for every Xtrac there is a Sadev (French). The same is true for brakes, for every Alcon (Tamworth) there is a Brembo (Italian).

If export taxes and similar restrictions are applied to these British made products then teams based in the EU will likely opt for the EU produced rival which is of the same or similar quality (and this goes for more than just F1). Customs could become an issue too today shipping parts across the channel is no great issue but we could see crucial parts on a typical ‘I need it yesterday’ motorsport schedule, held up in customs at Dover, Heathrow, Calais or Frankfurt. Another reason for using EU produced components.

Some are pointing out that the Brexit induced crash in the value of the pound will actually improve exports as the UK made products are cheaper for those in the EU, USA and Japan to buy and while this is true the weak pound also makes it more expensive for the manufacturers of those products to buy in the raw materials they need to make the things they make, which can reduce the margins substantially.

Travel too is likely to be impacted, I already mentioned customs for components but it could now also become a factor for teams too, I can already picture the over zealous customs inspectors crawling around the back of team trucks at Dover or Calais demanding all the various cases are opened. Staff too could face a lot more time at airports and having to fill in a lot more landing cards and customs declarations. Will the 30 minute check in at Luton airport or St. Pancras still be possible – it is hard to say, all Prime Minister May will tell us is that ‘Brexit means Brexit’. Helpful that.

Recruitment is already being hit, even before the Brexit vote there was a severe skills shortage in engineering, after the vote the crisis has only deepened. Over the years F1 teams and component suppliers have taken advantage of EU staff, especially skilled graduates, in great numbers. If restrictions on non British staff come into place, which they almost certainly will, then finding the right skills could become a major issue, reducing the UK skill level overall, and making it less attractive as a place to business. I can’t imagine the the Renault F1 team will stay in Enstone if it can’t recruit the right people, after all its owners would one suspect rather prefer the team to be based in Paris anyway and would not need much encouragement to move.

Quite what happens to existing staff is also unclear, every team in F1 has a huge mix of nationalities especially those from the EU, the boss of McLaren is a Frenchman, the technical director of Ferrari is an Englishman, come 2018/2019 will they need work permits? There could be compliance issues with the major manufacturers and organisations and there will certainly be tax implications.

This has already become an issue I’m told, if someone has a choice of jobs, as the skilled staff tend to, will an EU citizen choose to up sticks and work in the UK which they know will be leaving the Union in 2-3 years and that could mean that it could cause issues with continued employment? All the government tell them is that ‘Brexit means Brexit’.

This may all read like doom and gloom, to large extent it is. I voted to stay in and I am disappointed with the result but also not surprised. Now I know that some of the senior F1 types have said that they don’t forsee any issues but I think they are being either short sighted or doing an ostrich impression. The reality is that they have no clue what will happen, so are unable to predict their response.

Of course there is a solution to all of this, when the UK Goevernment finally work out what Brexit actually means, or rather get told by the EU what it means, we could have all the fact laid out in front of us (it is now abundantly clear that facts were in short supply ahead of the referendum). With those facts laid out in front of us we can then work out what Brexit means, and then we can vote on whether we should proceed. It is for this reason I have joined the Liberal Democrat Party which is advocating exactly this.

Even if Brexit goes ahead, which I hope it does not, there will be silver linings in the gloom, trade agreements will be done and unexpected outcomes will result. I do feel that the industry in the UK now needs a stronger domestic strategy moving forwards, we have to protect the skills and industry we have in the face of European competition. Japan perhaps shows the way forward here, the work of the JMIA in protecting the domestic motorsport engineering market in that nation has worked well. Its introduction of JMIA F4 saw the ‘mother chassis’ concept introduced, and its FIA F4 series also uses a domestically produced car from Dome. In the UK our F3 championship (which is an odd F4/F3 hybrid) uses EU produced cars, as does our F4 series. That will probably need to change and a Japanese style approach taken. The BTCC could be an example of this, the NGTC rule book sees British components used throughout without too much restriction on engineering freedom.

Quite what the future holds is unclear, but the future now is very different and I fear some tough years are coming for the UK motorsport industry and it will now need to think about how to weather the storm.