MOTORSPORT companies are used to responding rapidly and innovatively to extreme engineering challenges such as those faced by F1 teams.

This capability has recently been providing valuable benefits to the British forces operating in Afghanistan. Small motorsport suppliers frequently design and make parts and systems in amazingly short time-frames.

And the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) turned to some of them to provide rapid and effective solutions to a number of severe operational difficulties.

The NAR Group, for instance, solved a problem that arises when armoured vehicles operate in hot, dusty conditions.

"Unlike the so-called ‘dirty air' [turbulence] encountered by an F1 car following closely behind another, the dirty air typically experienced by armoured vehicles in convoy is truly ‘dirty' - containing clouds of the fine penetrating dust that characterises much of the Afghan terrain," explained NAR general manager Geoff Holmes.

To cope with these conditions, NAR devised a new radiator for the Scimitar CVR-T fleet of armoured reconnaissance vehicles. This is 30 per cent more efficient than the old component and only about 30 per cent of its weight.

"We are working at the edge of the laws of physics in terms of the operating environment and the operational requirement," said Colonel Nick Wills, head of the MoD's protected mobility unit that deals with vehicles bought under urgent operational requirements. "We require people who can come up with rapid prototypes and solutions."

The upgrade work on Scimitars has led to 100 per cent availability in Afghanistan, compared to 45 per cent before the improvements were made, he reported.

Based in Northampton, NAR has so far won about 500,000 pounds' worth of MoD business. As well as racing cars it specialises in building radiators for classic vehicles.

"We regularly come across cars which are 30 or 40 years old, for which there have been no spares in ages. We simply strip the old radiator down and replace it with one which is lighter, more efficient but which fits in exactly the same hole," said Geoff Holmes, underlining the company's versatility in meeting one-off requirements.

NAR was also recently asked to help solve a similar problem with the Panther vehicle's radiator that was clogging up with the fine Afghan dust. It is developing a new radiator that is easier to clean and less likely to clog.

In the meantime it supplied a rip-off Velcro mesh dust filter that a driver can replace in seconds. The mesh filter was in action in Afghanistan just over a month from the first call to NAR, a remarkably fast turnaround time in any industry.

Part of the refit of the Scimitar fleet involved the need to reduce the engine heat that the driver felt down one leg. To the relief of drivers younger than the vehicles they operate, motorsport company Zircotec came to the rescue with its Zircoflex sheet, made of aluminium coated with the firm's Thermohold plasmaspray - a development based on experience in producing heat shielding for performance cars.

"We supply our Thermohold coating to several Formula 1 manufacturers," said Terry Graham, Zircotec's managing director. "It's less than 0.3 mm thick but can allow the carbon-fibre components used in F1 to reach temperatures of 600 degrees Celsius which otherwise would disintegrate at 250 degrees.

"An armoured vehicle in a hot desert presents a different set of conditions from a race car on a track, but the principles of heat reduction are the same and the product is versatile enough that it will still do the job," added Graham. "Our coated metal sheet is flexible enough to be bent into shape and fitted ‘in theatre'."

An early example of a motorsport company moving into defence was Lola that now has a thriving defence and aerospace business. It produces composites for a number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including the fuselage for the Thales Watchkeeper and the airframe of Meggitt Defence's Voodoo and Banshee UAVs.