Mark Ellis Named AER Tech Director

AER P60 LMP1 engine

Dr. Mark Ellis has been named to the newly-created position of Technical Director for Advanced Engine Research, Ltd. Ellis, whose relationship with AER goes back to 2009, has most recently held the title of Senior Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering at London South Bank University, while maintaining a consulting relationship with AER. He will be responsible for technical leadership within the company, including reliability and performance development. Ellis will have a significant role in business strategy as well as development of future engine projects. He will also have line management responsibility for engineering personnel and will lead design, simulation, performance-development, and engine-testing.

"Mark's return to full-time status with AER represents another step forward for our company," said AER managing director Mike Lancaster in making the announcement. Lancaster noted that Ellis' longtime integrated involvement in the academic and professional engineering worlds gives him a rare perspective and approach to the challenges inherent in motorsport.

"In his new role Mark will be a key contributor to AER's growth, while fulfilling our commitment to maintaining the ‘small-company' benefits of flexibility; rapid response times to new engine projects and requests; technical capability across the board; personal face-to-face customer experience; and expanding our company's capabilities in new markets across the world."

"I am very pleased to be returning to a full-time role at AER," Ellis said. "Many aspects of AER's business have improved greatly during recent times. I already have a good working relationship with many among the current staff and huge respect for the staff's individual and collective expertise, professionalism and overall capability. These existing positive relationships will permit me to immediately focus on leading our programs for both engine performance development and reliability."

Ellis first joined AER in January, 2009 and was later named the company's Chief Engineer. During his tenure in that position Ellis was involved with a number of major projects, including one for an F1 client for the design, manufacture and testing of a prototype engine to evaluate proposed Formula 1 turbocharged engine rules. He also oversaw the evolution of the existing P70 and P80 Le Mans Prototype-class engines.

Expanding on Lancaster's remarks, Ellis noted that "Throughout my career I have been involved in industry and academia, to the mutual benefit of both types of organization. I have been able to bring relevant and up-to-date examples of work and case-studies from Industry to the lecture room whilst working in academia, which in turn has continually reinforced my theoretical knowledge and awareness of state-of-the-art processes which I've then been able to bring back into industry.

"I have been exposed to various engineering disciplines through academic work and colleagues," Ellis continued, "some different to those normally encountered in a race-engine company. A broader awareness of engineering has proved beneficial in addressing potential solutions to engineering problems in the workplace. At the same time, I have been fortunate to have worked with many talented engineers and technicians in motorsport, and have learnt greatly from them."

In remarks following his appointment, Ellis made several points about the advantages AER offers the motorsport community, including the company's ability to offer high-end technology mechanical and electronic systems at competitive prices.

"The company is practically unique for its size in having the technical capability in design, simulation and test to be able to undertake clean-sheet design engine products, whilst supported by dedicated manufacturing and build capability," Ellis said, noting the company's history in top-level motorsport — it's products have been competing on race tracks and in the marketplace since 1999 — and its excellent reputation among its peers in the industry. He further noted that AER's sister company, Life-Racing, enables AER to offer integrated packages, including not just ECU, data-acquisition, and engine looms, but also full chassis integration. This allows a degree of mechanical and electrical performance development normally only exploited by much larger organizations.

Ellis is a chartered mechanical engineer whose qualifications, in addition to 20 years professional experience, include BEng(Hons), PhD CEng and FIMechE. He and his family reside near Basildon, Essex.