Wednesday 21 May 2014 @ 13:15
Technology Strategy Board
Technology Strategy Board
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Success Story - Xtrac gears up for new markets
The majority of Formula 1 Grand Prix cars hurtle round the world's tracks using British gearboxes. Many contain components manufactured by Xtrac which is also the leading provider of gearboxes of most high level motor sport categories around the world.
‘In the past the UK has
lost much of its manufacturing industry overseas, but over the past 30
yearsXtrac has
consistently bucked this trend winning the Queens Award for Export within eight
years of starting the company when our annual motorsport sales had already
exceeded £10m,' says Adrian Moore, the company's technical
director and motorsport industry representative on the Automotive Council's
influential Technology Group.
‘For the past decade and more, Xtrac has built on its motorsport success by securing advanced engineering projects in the aerospace, automotive, defence, and marine industries. And funding from the Technology Strategy Board has really helped.
‘We are a British company
that is respected the world over for our skills in manufacturing to precise
specifications, and designing high performance gearboxes for confined spaces
– a key requirement for tightly packaged hybrid
vehicles.'
‘Luxury and
high-performance cars are currently enjoying strong sales worldwide, often with
technically advanced features that ultimately cascade down into the automotive
mainstream, but their high power output impacts fuel consumption and
CO2 emissions,' explained Moore.
‘Xtrac has always been a
fuel efficient company - our job in motorsport is to improve powertrain
efficiency by getting as much of the power from the engine to the wheels as
possible, whether it is from an electric motor or a high power V6 turbo Formula
1 engine.
‘That's why we were so
keen to win the Technology Strategy Board funding and participate in the
REEVolution project.
‘European legislators are
imposing tough restrictions on vehicles, which by 2020 must keep
CO2 emissions below 95g/km or be subject to substantial fines.
This opens up an opportunity for us to help develop the next generation of
vehicle transmission technology,' he explained.
‘Xtrac has long had a
global lead in the development of gearboxes for racing cars. But in recent
years, we have set our sights on high performance road cars too, particularly
to help meet the challenges of making vehicles more environmentally friendly
– a market which is going to become increasingly important as EU
legislation on emissions comes into effect.
‘So in 2010, the quest to
go from ‘Race to Road' seemed like a natural progression, but we knew
that to make this transition it would need OEM partners to help in the
development.
‘We joined forces with
industry giants Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus and Nissan, along with major tier 1
suppliers Axeon and Evo Electric (now part of GKN), to apply for funding from
the Technology Strategy Board. The consortium put together a proposal for the
REEVolution ultra low carbon vehicle technologies
project.'
In
August 2010, the Technology Strategy Board awarded the REEVolution participants
a total of £9.5m funding, of which Xtrac received approximately
£100k.
