Maze Centre of Engineering Excellence

Perhaps too much ink has been deployed on the subject of the Maze (Long Kesh) and the wider Stadium debate.  I immediately declare my involvement with Ulster Rugby, where I sat on the now defunct Stadium Committee prior to the advancing of the impressive new Stand at Ravenhill. 

I coined the phrase ‘Belfast, once a city of 2 halves, is now a city of 7 quarters’.  It is entirely compatible with this philosophy, which celebrates a proud city of diversity and activity, that I now call for appropriate financial support to be allocated to Casement Park, Ravenhill, Windsor Park and Danny Blanchflower Park.

We could and should passionately promote great and welcoming sporting events in these communities, just as we should promote Titanic Quarter on the East Bank, Cathedral Quarter in the city centre and the Gaeltacht Quarter in the West (as well as the other 4 – Linen, Library, Queen’s & Market Quarters).

That said, I turn to what to do with the Maze with its strategic location (adjacency to Belfast-Dublin rail link and M1/A1), accessibility (from throughout the island and importantly from the island’s Ports and Airports) and plentiful acreage and relative remoteness from housing (and that’s not a contradiction from my point on accessibility)?

In this Twitter era, the key might come our renowned world-class ability at Tweaking rather that Twittering. Our rich sporting heritage in motorsport is directly linked to our engineering DNA. It is well known that amateur and semi-professional Northern Ireland 2 and 4 wheel competitors and teams can extract more performance from an engine or chassis, much to the frustration and admiration of many a well funded Works team. 

• There have been almost as many column inches devoted to the need for a state-of-the-art motor-racing track in Ireland as there have been to the aforementioned stadium debate.
  
• Northern Ireland once hosted the Ards TT (and later the Dundrod TT) which was one of the Grand Prix events, before modern F1-style Grand Prix existed, along with the Mille Miglia, Le Mans and the Sicilian Targa Florio. 
  
• The Circuit of Ireland was the longest tarmac rally in the world. We have more World Rally Cars (WRC) per capita in Ireland than anywhere else in the world.
  
• I helped to stage and promote the WRC Rally Ireland at Stormont and across the border from Enniskillen to Sligo, which generated a €42M positive economic impact to the island.
  
• We have created many more 2 and 4 wheel stars per capita than most countries. Two of our number, John Watson and Eddie Irvine, have come within a hairs breadth of clinching the F1 drivers title.
  
• I remember with pride and personal sadness the world-beating Dunlop Brothers – Joey as a childhood hero and Robert a great friend.
  
• Some favoured the Dromara Destroyers, others the Armoy Armada. Either way their success stemmed from their ability with the spanner nearly as much as their guile around the circuit. Remember the great Ray McCullough, one of the ‘Destroyers’ came from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Queen’s University, where they honed his hybrid Yamaha engine.
  
• Today the NW200 is acclaimed as one of the finest road-racing, indeed motor-racing, festivals in the world rivaling the Isle of Man TT, the British Grand Prix or even Daytona.
  
• The Ulster Grand Prix at Dundrod has hosted the climax to the Formula 1 World Motorbike series (won by Joey Dunlop), a precursor to the World Superbike Series.   
  
• Recently the A1GP world title was clinched by Team Ireland owned by our own Mark Gallagher and driven by Portadown’s Adam Carroll.
  

All this recalled, perhaps we should back our ability as world-class Tweakers with visionary initiatives that will yield economic pay-back, as well as training and jobs.

Let’s develop the Maze Centre of Engineering Excellence focused around a racing track (and test-track facility) that the island of Ireland can be proud of. We can encourage a cluster of motor-racing, engineering and associated technologies to co-locate.

Look at Silverstone, which has developed in to a vital resource in the world of automotive engineering and technology.

Look at the thousands of people already employed in this sector locally. Why not have our Universities and FE Colleges locate a shared facility at the Maze Centre of Engineering Excellence.

I am not saying this is the whole solution to finding a way out of the Maze, but it would be a good start.