Future Engineering Bets
Board Level Conversations on High Stakes Engineering Decisions
Designed for decision-makers navigating complex trade-offs between technology, capital, and risk.
Stream the latest episode now
Where Automotive Is Getting It Wrong | Future Engineering Bets
In this episode, Fred Warner reflects on four major themes emerging from recent conversations across motorsport, electrification, hydrogen, university ...innovation and advanced engineering. From the growing weight of EVs to the slow commercialisation of university IP, the episode looks at where engineering ambition, regulation, capital allocation and real-world delivery are starting to collide.
Fred also explores what automotive and engineering businesses can learn from motorsport: faster problem-solving, stronger alignment and sharper programme governance. With OEMs facing major EV write-downs and growing pressure from Chinese competitors, this episode asks where the industry may need to rethink its assumptions.
What’s in this episode:
- Why EV weight may be one of the most overlooked problems in electrification
- Why university IP & patents often fail to become commercial reality
- How product cycle times are shrinking while academic commercialisation remains slow
- What McMurtry’s active fan technology could mean for braking, cornering and future vehicle design
- What businesses can learn from motorsport’s delivery rhythm and urgency
- Why major OEM EV write-downs raise serious questions about capital allocation and programme governance
- How software-defined vehicles, vehicle-to-grid and Chinese competition are reshaping automotive strategy
Chapters:
00:00 Preview
00:50 Intro: recent lessons from Future Engineering Bets
01:45 Problem 1: EV weight is out of control
03:56 Problem 2: university IP & commercialisation
05:53 Problem 3: active aero & McMurtry’s fan technology
07:19 What businesses can learn from motorsport
09:20 Problem 4: OEM write-downs & programme restructuring
10:47 Software-defined vehicles and the future role of the car
11:56 Rethinking capital allocation and governance
About Future Engineering Bets:
Future Engineering Bets is for CEOs, board members, and private equity investors making high-stakes decisions in electrification, energy transition, and advanced engineering strategy. Get a boardroom-level view of the engineering decisions shaping billions in capital investment and defining the future of automotive and mobility. Each episode breaks down the engineering, commercial, and strategic realities behind topics such as:
- Electric vehicles and the global EV transition
- Hybrid powertrains and the future of internal combustion
- Hydrogen, sustainable fuels, and emerging propulsion systems
- Product strategy and R&D investment at OEM and Tier 1 level
- Market dynamics across Europe, the US, and China
- The impact of regulation versus real consumer demand
If you are responsible for product direction, capital allocation, or technology strategy, this series will help you think more clearly about where to place your next bet.
About Fred Warner:
Fred Warner, Founder of 7Q Ltd (https://7q.ltd/), is a specialist partner and Chartered Engineer connecting capital investment with no nonsense value creation. With a background spanning motorsport, aerospace, automotive, clean tech, rail, and electronics - including experience across F1, Honeywell, GE, and Meggitt - Fred works with CEOs, boards, and investors on high stakes engineering and R&D programmes. Connect with Fred on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-warner/Show More
Recent conversations
Why Energy Management Drives Performance
With Mark Preston – Lola Yamaha ABT Team Principal
A board‑level conversation with Mark Preston (Lola Yamaha ABT Team Principal) on how elite motorsport organisations manage energy, performance, and risk under extreme regulatory and competitive constraints.
Can Motorsport Prove Hydrogen’s Future?
With Mark Grain – Extreme H Technical Director
A board-level conversation with Mark Grain (Technical Director, Extreme H) on how motorsport is being used to test, challenge and prove hydrogen fuel cell technology under real race conditions.
Can EVs Be Lightweight, Fast and Exciting?
With Iain Wight – McMurtry Automotive Head of Technology Sales
A conversation with Iain Wight of McMurtry Automotive on lightweight EV performance, fan-generated downforce, battery technology, and what it takes to make electrification genuinely exciting.
Industrial Risk or Strategy?
With Daniel Fung – Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)
An unfiltered exploration of the UK’s innovation paradox – leading in R&D, yet struggling to scale. Featuring Dan Fung of the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), this conversation examines how funding, industrial strategy, and global competition collide at the point of commercialisation.
What These Conversations Explore
Each Future Engineering Bets discussion breaks down the real drivers, constraints, and failure modes behind major engineering decisions, including:
The focus is on benefit realisation, technical deliverability, organisational reality, and capital discipline, factors that ultimately determine success or failure.
Who Future Engineering Bets Is For
This series is designed for leaders responsible for directional engineering decisions, including:
- CEOs shaping product and technology strategy
- Board directors overseeing engineering led businesses
- Private equity firms and capital investors deploying capital into complex technical environments
- Strategy, R&D, and CTO level leaders influencing long-term capability and valuation
If you are accountable for product direction, capital allocation, or technology strategy, these conversations are designed to help you think more clearly about where to place your next bet.
Why 7Q Created Future Engineering Bets
7Q partners with Boards, PE firms, shareholders and capital investors making irreversible engineering decisions – whether investing, intervening, or preparing for transition.
Future Engineering Bets exists to bring open, intelligent discussion to the types of engineering questions that are often simplified, politicised, or obscured in public debate – but which matter deeply inside boardrooms.
Hosted by Fred Warner
Future Engineering Bets is hosted by Fred Warner, Founder of 7Q and a Chartered Engineer with over 25 years’ experience across motorsport, aerospace, automotive, clean tech, rail, and electronics.
Fred works alongside CEOs, boards, and investors on highstakes engineering and R&D decisions, connecting capital investment with nononsense value creation. The series reflects his longstanding experience of how engineering decisions are made – and how organisations succeed or fail when complexity, regulation, and capital collide.
Want to Get Involved?
If you’re navigating high‑stakes engineering decisions – whether around product strategy, capital allocation, or technology direction – we welcome informed voices and perspectives into the conversation.