Mike Cope, Managing Director of MC Materials, graduated at Manchester University with honours in Metallurgy in 1981, and continued in the Metallurgy department under Rolls-Royce sponsorship to gain MSc in 1982 and PhD in 1984 in the field of superplastic forming of hollow titanium fan blades.

A 12 year spell at Rolls-Royce Derby followed, where he worked on a range of high performance titanium alloy projects for aero engines. This work allowed the introduction of a range of materials technologies into military and civil service, still being selected for new engines. His final years at Rolls-Royce were as head of the Compressor Aerofoils and Structures Group, and Corporate Engineering Titanium specialist.

In 1996, a change of career direction into motorsport, lead to the formation of a new materials department and laboratory at Cosworth. During this time Mike built up strong working relations with the engine project teams and contributed to weight reduction and reliability improvements on the race engines.

In 1998, Mike joined Ilmor Enginering, (later to become Mercedes-Benz-HighPerformanceEngines), initially as a materials specialist and later as head of department, working on a range of alloy development programmes and engine investigations supporting the Engineering, Quality and Design Functions. During his time at Ilmor and Mercedes, Mike worked on a number of advanced piston, casting alloys and valve train technologies. Mike managed staff operating from sites in Stuttgart, and Brixworth supporting F1, CART NASCAR, IRL and Moto GP activities.

In August 2006, Mike left MB-HPE to develop MC Materials Ltd, a high performance materials consultancy business, primarily aimed at motorsport and aerospace.

Mike has authored over 20 technical papers in the fields of aero engine and motorsport materials, and amassed a wide range of materials and engineering experience across Europe, USA and Asia. In summary MC Materials has 25 years of top line aerospace and F1 experience to contribute to your project.