Plans to build a new £150m factory in Carlisle crashed as a result of the Brexit vote.

Two sites were available and ready to home the tyre production centre, but the scheme stalled as investors pulled out following the referendum vote.

But Dick Cormack, managing director of city-based firm DMack , remains determined to succeed in his ambitious plans.

He said: "We had investors lined up, but when Brexit came along it had to be put on hold.

"It is definitely not dead. My personal goal is to do that, but you need the money."

DMack is flying high after winning its first World Rally Championship event and helping M - Sport to the world rally championship crown last weekend.

The Carlisle-based firm's win in Wales was its first in 88 attempts in the World Rally Championship and brought Michelin’s run of 92 consecutive wins to an end .

Mr Cormack has ambitions to become world leader in motorsport tyres before taking on the big name brands in producing commercial tyres.

But in order to do that, he has to set up his own production centre, rather than rely on a third party to manufacture his designs.

He said: "My dream is to bring tyre production to Carlisle and Cumbria.

"We had investors lined up, but when Brexit came along, it had to be put on hold.

"We had a fantastic plan and two sites lined up for it. We had great support from the people providing those sites but Brexit put paid to it.

"I don't have a problem with Brexit, but investors don't like the uncertainty it has caused.

"When you have a business plan in place worth 170million Euros and you bring in an unknown like Brexit, that scares investors.

"Brexit does not worry us. Some 95 per cent of our sales are outside the UK, but investors are worried by it and until that is all settled, we probably won't be coming back to the table with that project."

He added: "We have a great manufacturing partner with Cooper Avon in Bristol, but bringing production here would have been a huge benefit to us.

"We have a great technical team, marketing and sales team and the manufacturing side of things would pout us in total control of the whole system."

DMACK is based in Carlisle – it moved from Kingstown to Carlisle Airport Business Park – and its preferred site for the factory is Kingmoor Park, which has just been awarded Enterprise Zone status.

Mr Cormack hope d that the factory could be operational by 2019, initially with a workforce of between 70 and 100 people.

And with a capacity to turn out two million tyres a year, the numbers employed could rise to 500 as production increases.

It wa s anticipated that another 150 jobs would be created during construction and across the local supply chain.