MURRAY Walker has joined forces with fellow Guild of Motoring Writers member Dr Bruce Grant-Braham to launch a new university research project into the business of motor sport and the physiological aspects of competing in it.

The two are pictured in Bournemouth at scrutineering for Rallye Sunseeker, the opening round of the Pirelli MSA National Gravel Rally Championship.

They have announced the creation of the Motor Sport Research Group at Bourne-mouth University. At the event, a number of the project’s elements began, including an online survey linked to Rallye Sunseeker gauging public perception of sponsorship.

Spectators were also being quizzed on how much they spent during their visit to watch the rally.

In addition, during the event the stress levels of current national champion Marcus Dodd – who was to retire – were being monitored, along with those of rally director Rick Smith who had to handle the cancellation of the crowd-pulling Friday night stage because of a crash.

Bruce, who is leading the research team, said: “We believe this is the first time such monitoring has been carried out in rallying in this country, so the results should be quite interesting.”

The Motor Sport Research Group is also studying the effectiveness of branding with the new British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) team, Cartridge World Carbon Zero.

Future projects include working with top speedway outfit Poole Pirates.

Murray Walker, for decades the ‘voice of Formula One’, who lives in the New Forest and holds an honorary doctorate from the university, was delighted to support the initiative, which will help to demonstrate the importance of motor sport to local economies.

As well as writing motor racing books and covering motorsport events, Bruce is a lecturer at Bournemouth University in the School of Services Management.

“Our newly formed group provides a wonderful opportunity to use our wide range of expertise to provide our students with a winning curriculum.

“We aim to lead business research on four and two wheels,” he explained.