MPs learn about modern apprenticeships from Xtrac ahead of the Apprenticeship Reform Bill

Jane Gilham head of human resources at vehicle transmission specialist Xtrac was invited recently to attend a meeting of MPs keen to learn more about the company’s engineering apprenticeship training scheme ahead of the proposed Apprenticeship Reform Bill announced yesterday (Wednesday 14 May 2008) as part of the Draft Queen’s Speech.

"We welcome the news of the new legislation and encourage all parties to begin working together now to consider the practicalities and detail,” said Gilham.  “In particular we need to consider funding for employers, flexible frameworks for delivering apprenticeships and the need for industry to define its requirements for curriculum and qualifications".

Xtrac forms part of the UK’s renowned motorsport valley and increasingly supplies its advanced technology to the aerospace, automotive, defence and marine sectors – high tech industries which similarly demand high level engineering skills.

Hosted by Baroness Morris of Yardley the ‘Apprenticeships Reception’ was held at the House of Lords, where Minister for Skills David Lammy MP spoke of government seeing apprenticeships as being critical to achieving its objective of the UK being a world leader in skills by 2020.  

“The minister informed the group that the national programme of apprenticeships is to expand further and that the goal is to see one in five young people undertaking apprenticeships within the next decade,” said Gilham.  “Employers attending the reception were commended for their efforts in supporting apprenticeships and encouraged to continue.”

Commenting on the opportunity to discuss the Xtrac apprenticeship scheme Gilham said: “I was delighted to be asked to attend the reception on behalf of Xtrac and would like to thank Gary Lopez from our training provider Bracknell and Wokingham College for recognising our work and putting our name forward.” 

“Xtrac has been a longstanding and ardent supporter of apprenticeships for three main reasons.  Firstly, we have been able to address a national skills shortage with an effective resource planning tool.  Secondly, we develop in-house the specialist skills we require.  Thirdly, apprentices can help secure our future as a world leader in the motorsport industry.”

Xtrac currently has 10 apprentices and plans to recruit two more this September.  Each apprentice studies mechanical engineering over a period of three to four years.  Over the past five years the company has trained a total of 24 apprentices with a 100 per cent successful completion rate. 

“We have a successful partnership with our training provider Bracknell and Wokingham College together with our further education provider Newbury College.  Without them, we would not have the award winning scheme that we do today.”  

The programme combines on-the-job skills training and college attendance.  Xtrac apprentice coordinator Warren Page supports each apprentice for the entire duration of the programme, making sure the initial transition from school to full time employment and study is as easy as possible.

After formal induction into the company, each Xtrac apprentice spends the first 16 months of their programme experiencing and learning all areas of the business.  The remainder of their training focuses on a particular part of the business ranging from skilled CNC machining and process management to the assembly of high precision vehicle transmission systems.

College studies focus on achieving the Edexcel BTEC National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering.  There is also the possibility of working towards additional higher qualifications.  The ultimate goal is to achieve an NVQ Level 3 and to secure permanent employment with Xtrac.    

John Hawksley, the manager responsible for ‘work based learning’ at Bracknell and Wokingham College added: "The college has been offering apprenticeships for over 10 years and is now at the forefront in delivering work-related training to businesses in Berkshire and surrounding areas.”

“We were delighted to recommend Xtrac to be part of this government initiative having worked successfully with the company for over five years in delivering qualifications to their apprentices.”

"Over this period, our first hand experience confirms Xtrac provides all that is best from an employer in supporting staff training, staff development and co-operation with training partners. Together we are able to provide our apprentices with a fantastic opportunity to work, develop skills and careers in the exciting, international motorsport industry".

15th May, 2008

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Xtrac Wins National Work Experience Awards

Xtrac are pleased to announce they have received an award for their Student Placement Scheme from the National Council for Work Experience.

Xtrac accepts 4 students per year within the Engineering Department.  These students are placed in Design Teams (2) / Production Engineering (1) and Gear Technology (1) departments.  The recruitment process is demanding, with 150+ students applying for 4 positions.

The students are mentored throughout their time at Xtrac by Senior Designers and they work on real projects with real timescales - nearly all are employed by the company and return full time after graduation.

This is not only a great training experience for the students to experience a high precision motorsport engineering environment, but also provides a great recruiting ladder for Xtrac.

Piers Thynne, Xtrac’s Engineering Project Manager who is responsible for the running of the placement scheme, was on hand to receive the award from Hertfordshire University’s Dr David Ashall and Senior Lecturer Matt Harrington who nominated Xtrac for the award.

14th April, 2008

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Brazilian Stock Car Bets on New Gearbox Technology

The 2008 Nextel Cup Stock Car season hasn't even began and the category's engineers are already preparing surprises for the 2009 championship. One of the confirmed changes for next year's races is the gearbox. The ranges used today, the Brazilian Bertolotti and the Argentinean Saenz GT-910, will be substituted by a similar one used on the Grand American Daytona Prototype, from Xtrac.

Well-known on international circuits, Xtrac develops mechanical parts used on different kinds of competition cars, and collects rewards on almost all categories in which it is present. To assure and stimulate the client's confidence, the company likes to mention that cars with their units have won, during 24 years, 134 prizes: 24 Formula 1 World Championship titles, 20 CART titles, 14 Indy 500 victories, 20 Touring Car Championship titles, 22 World Rally Championship titles, 8 Le Mans/Daytona 24 Hour victories, 13 Dakar Rally victories, 5 NHRA Drag Racing Championship titles and 8 AMA MX/SX Championships.

According to Xtrac Managing Director Peter Digby, the changes that have been made on the chosen standard so it could fit perfectly on Brazilian Stock Cars are minimal. Only a few adaptations were necessary. The new gearbox is ready and will be produced on a larger scale for final testing.

Developed five years ago, the unit has since been used on four American championships organized by Grand AM. The results improve day by day and, the new gearbox, used by 100 cars on races that can last up to 24 hours, is considered the world's best in its range.

Another important fact that Digby lays great emphasis on is that the new part offers, besides the mechanical quality, a good price. "To reduce the cost of the gearbox we started to produce them on a larger scale. It's an adaptable gearbox and can be used in a variety of cars. By enlarging the production we can reduce our costs. All this without damaging the quality, of course", he explains.

When asked about the advantages of the Xtrac product over the ones that have been used on Stock Car, the England born engineer answered with the best of British discretion, "We like to say you fit it and forget it. It is completely reliable, with a very low probability of breaking. It was tested on races that last a whole day, and nothing is worst than to be almost winning until the gearbox breaks. Now this risk is being reduced", he concludes.

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Three British companies - Flybrid Systems, Torotrak and Xtrac - have jointly received this year’s prestigious ‘Teamwork Award’ at the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) annual Awards Dinner for their close working relationship in the development of a groundbreaking mechanical kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) for motor sport application.
 
It is the first time this award has been presented simultaneously to three companies, who were also nominated for the prestigious ‘Technology and Innovation Award’.  Each award is decided upon through a process of voting by MIA members in the weeks leading up to the event.

The three business partners were singled out from other influential motorsport organisations - McLaren Mercedes F1Racing Team, M-Sport World Rally Team and Shell Racing Solutions - nominated for the teamwork award, which was in one of eight categories recognising the industry’s highest achievers from the past year.
“We are delighted the motorsport industry has chosen to recognise the combined effort of our three businesses to step up to the KERS challenge,” said Doug Cross, who received the award on behalf of Flybrid Systems, the company he co-founded with managing partner Jon Hilton. 
“This latest accolade clearly highlights the recognition KERS is receiving as a major motorsport innovation, which addresses the demands being made of the industry to become more energy efficient and to help lead in the development of ‘greener’ engineering solutions,” said business manager Chris Brockbank, who received the award on behalf of Torotrak.

“We too are delighted that the motorsport industry has chosen to recognise that three very different businesses have successfully applied their respective areas of technical expertise to develop a new and innovative technology,” said technical director Adrian Moore who collected the award on behalf of Xtrac.

Torotrak CEO Dick Elsy added: “This is the first time that the MIA award for teamwork has been given to three independent companies working together. It is indicative of how a change in regulations can lead to opportunities for specialist UK companies from different areas of the industry to work together to create groundbreaking technology for F1, and in particular a technology that I expect to cascade into general automotive applications.”

This latest motorsport industry accolade closely follows all three companies receiving the ‘Engine Innovation of the Year’ award at the Professional MotorSport Awards Dinner held in Cologne in November.  
The three businesses have combined their different but complementary technical capabilities to provide the new mechanical KERS innovation following the decision by the FIA to permit energy recovery in F1 from the 2009 season.  

Flybrid Systems is an innovative engineering company taking a fresh look at hybrid vehicle technology in F1, motor sport and automotive applications. Torotrak is a world leader in the development of full-toroidal traction drive transmission technology for use in on- and off-highway vehicles and ancillary drives.  Xtrac specialises in vehicle transmission technology in the aerospace, automotive, defence, marine and motor sport sectors.

Each company has played an important role in the development of the KERS system. Xtrac has a license from Torotrak to design and manufacture a continuously variable transmission (CVT), incorporating Torotrak’s traction drive technology, which matches the speed between a flywheel and vehicle drivetrain.  The KERS assembly is completed by Flybrid with the addition of electronic controls, mechanical flywheel and containment system.  As the final system integrator, Flybrid also carries out the calibration, testing and installation of KERS for the customer.

The mechanical KERS system utilises a flywheel to recover and store a moving vehicle’s kinetic energy, which is otherwise wasted when the vehicle is decelerated. The energy is received from the driveline through the CVT as the vehicle decelerates, and is subsequently released back into the driveline, again through the CVT, as the vehicle accelerates.  The FIA has defined the amount of energy recovery for 2009 season as 400kJ per lap giving the driver an extra 80hp over a period of approximately seven seconds.  

The role played by Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac in designing a KERS solution for F1 could be highly instrumental in developing this pioneering vehicle technology for more fuel efficient road cars, especially important at a time of spiralling fuel prices and tighter emission regulations, without resorting to the expense and complexity of battery systems. Compared with hybrid electric vehicles, which use batteries for energy storage, a mechanical KERS system utilises flywheel technology as a highly efficient alternative to recover and store a moving vehicle’s kinetic energy.

Applied to road cars the system supports the industry trend for smaller powertrains and hybrid vehicles.  Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac believe that compared to the alternative of battery systems, a mechanical flywheel-based KERS system can provide a more compact, lighter and environmentally-friendly solution.

First presented in 1995, the MIA Awards were created to recognise excellence at all levels within the motorsport and high performance engineering industry.   Taking place on the evening of the first day of the Autosport International Show (NEC, Birmingham, January 10-13), the sell-out dinner was attended by an audience of some 500 representatives of the international motorsport community. 

In its official statement the MIA comments that ‘all motorsport companies are eligible to win one of these sought-after awards; nominations for which are made by the MIA membership thereby demonstrating that the winners have earned the respect and support of their industry peers, which makes the awards especially meaningful to the recipients.’
The ‘Teamwork Award’ was sponsored by MIRA, whose chief executive John Wood presented the award.


16th January 2008

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Torotrak and Xtrac discuss specialised transmission technology required for energy recovery at Cleaner Racing Conference

Transmission technology specialists Torotrak and Xtrac have joined eminent motorsport personalities participating today in the 2nd International Cleaner Racing Conference, which precedes the opening of the Autosport International Show at the Birmingham NEC.  

Organised by the Motorsport Industry Association the conference will explore with experts, not only the technical issues of energy efficient motorsport, but also the possibilities for transferring new and advanced motorsport technology to the automotive mainstream.

In their joint presentation to the conference, Chris Brockbank, business manager with Torotrak and Adrian Moore, technical director with Xtrac, will focus on their innovative continuously variable transmission design, which forms an essential part of a mechanical flywheel (KERS) Kinetic Energy Recovery System, which the FIA has permitted under its revised regulations for the 2009 F1 racing season.

In their presentation, Brockbank and Moore will pick up on important points made recently by FIA technical consultant Tony Purnell, who commented that ‘car manufacturers are already working flat out to develop optimal low-emission engines and there is little that engine development programmes in F1 will add to this effort.  However, in five years or so, their attention will turn more and more to subsidiary devices incorporating energy recovery. By opening up this area now, F1 can make a real difference to this important facet of future car technology.  The technical challenge is huge and there will be very little constraint on it.’

To meet this technical challenge Xtrac has used its motorsport honed skills to rapidly design and manufacture a CVT variable transmission to be used as the ancillary gearbox required for an F1 KERS system. The advanced traction drive technology incorporated in the variator is produced under license from Torotrak.  It forms a critical part of the design, which provides for the all-important speed matching between the flywheel and main vehicle driveline. 

“With rising fuel costs and the need to reduce CO2 emissions this highly efficient technology, developed initially for F1, is also particularly relevant to the automotive mainstream,” says Brockbank.

“A flywheel based mechanical KERS system which uses our CVT has a very good power density,” says Moore.  “It avoids the use of exotic and expensive materials, and is significantly lighter and more compact than a battery electrical system, and yet offers the potential for excellent efficiency.  It also offers low operating costs and long-life components.  Moreover, for the mainstream automotive industry it is also scaleable to meet the different power and energy requirements of many different types of vehicle.”

Brockbank and Moore’s technical presentation will provide an overview of new F1 regulations and the sophisticated transmission design required for a mechanical based KERS system, which has been developed to recover and store braking energy in the most efficient manner possible. 

For the F1 application, the Xtrac CVT variator can handle 90Nm of torque and weighs approximately 6kg.  Xtrac’s first customer is Flybrid Systems, a motorsport company which very impressively has developed a complete KERS system, initially for use in F1, from concept to rig testing in less than 12 months.

Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac all see the potential for wider application of a mechanical flywheel-based KERS system beyond motorsport; particularly as a means of developing vehicles with reduced fuel consumption and CO2 levels.  Applied to road cars the system supports the current motor industry trend for smaller powertrains; a lightweight kinetic energy recovery system ironically providing a means of boosting acceleration and overall performance, which could allow engine downsizing, as well as improving fuel economy.

Brockbank and Moore are participating in this high level conference alongside influential figures from the world of motorsport including Renault F1's engineering guru Pat Symonds, Audi engine legend Ulrich Baretzky, former head of GM Motorsport Herb Fishel, and top international racer and committed environmentalist David Brabham.   They will each bring their particular expertise to bear on the subject of motorsport technologies playing a key role in the development of more energy efficient road vehicles and racing cars.

The conference has attracted an international audience of 150 motorsport leaders, key influencers, advanced engineers, R&D specialists and marketing executives together with trade and business media.  The conference takes place today (Wednesday 9 January 2008) at the Birmingham NEC.  It precedes the Autosport International Show, where Xtrac will be exhibiting a wide range of motorsport and high performance transmission systems.

10th January 2008

Xtrac Apprentice of the Year Award

Last year Xtrac introduced the Darren Huttel Apprentice of the Year Award in recognition of the efforts put in by the Apprentices. The assessment is based on their conduct and performance both at work and college, NVQ portfolios and overall performance and conduct.

The awards were handed out at the Donnington Valley Hotel on 15th December.3rd place this year went to Ben Clark, 2nd place to James O'Hagan (who was last year's winner) and in first place, Mark Rosier. Mark joined Xtrac in September 2006. He has impressed everyone he has come into contact with during his first 15 months with Xtrac, and in particular has distinguished himself due to his enthusiasm, maturity and confidence. Always happy, polite and inquisitive, he has shown interest in all the tasks he has been presented and uses his initiative to suggest good ides and looks beyond the immediate task.

The standard of this year's award is very high, so will be a hard one to beat in 2008.

December 21, 2007

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Xtrac, the UK-based engineering design and manufacturing company, specialising in vehicle transmission and driveline technology, has received the “Most Innovative New Motorsport Product of the Year Award” for its pioneering work developing a state-of-the-art gearbox for race teams competing in the World Touring Car Championship and other touring car championships.

The unique capabilities of Xtrac were singled out by an international panel of high level motorsport engineers, who selected its innovative ‘516’ transmission system from a total of 23 worldwide entries nominated for the awards, which included new products from among the world’s leading high technology suppliers to the automotive and motorsport industries.

“The judging panel felt that Xtrac had clearly achieved its design objective of delivering a reliable, lightweight and cost-effective high performance gearbox for touring car racing,” commented William Kimberley editor of Bernoulli and Race Tech magazines, which organised the annual awards dinner held at Rhodes House in Oxford yesterday evening (Thursday 29 November 2007).  

“It’s a real honour to receive this coveted award on behalf of the company,” said Adrian Moore technical director of Xtrac, who attended the awards ceremony. “There was tremendous teamwork involved in bringing this new product to market and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Xtrac for their significant contribution to this project.  The award caps a highly successful debut year for the 516 gearbox and is a superb way of ending its first season on the highest possible note. I would also like to thank all of our customers who have supported this gearbox.”

The Xtrac 516 transmission has competed in all 30 rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car championship races this year with no mechanical failures and achieved consistent success on the podium with cars equipped with the gearbox winning 15 races with 14 second places and 14 third places for a total of 43 podium finishes.

The championship winning VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra prepared by Triple Eight Racing Engineering was one of the cars utilizing the 516 transmission.  Ian Harrison team principle of VX Racing and managing director of Triple Eight, which assisted Xtrac with initial prototype development, believes the transmission's performance and low weight contributed towards making the Vectra the package to beat in the championship.

The new gearbox applies Xtrac’s longstanding expertise with Formula One transmissions and adopts the same design principles to minimise its mass, size and inertia.  Particular attention in the design was paid to improve gear-change response and feel, and differential performance..

The awards ceremony was the highlight of a two-day ‘World Motorsport Symposium’ for motorsport engineers, organised by Race Tech, Bernoulli and MotoTech magazines and held at Oxford Brookes University's new motorsport engineering building, built in the heart of the UK’s internationally renowned motorsport valley.

In addition to receiving the award, Moore was also a guest speaker at the conference where he described the company’s groundbreaking work to design and manufacture a continuously variable transmission (CVT) for a mechanical flywheel-based kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), which is permitted under new Formula One regulations for 2009.  The system is rapidly gaining a lot of attention from automotive engineers interested in applying the technology to road cars because of its potential to significantly reduce vehicle CO2 emissions.

03-Dec-07

F1 kinetic energy recovery system voted ‘Engine Innovation of the Year’

A groundbreaking mechanical kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) currently under development for Formula 1 by three British companies - Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac - has been voted ‘Engine Innovation of the Year’ by a distinguished panel of motorsport experts.  The honour for the technical achievement was presented at the Professional MotorSport World Expo Awards ceremony held this week in Cologne.

The award was well received by the 1,000 international motorsport professionals attending the awards presentation and gala dinner, who clearly appreciated the significance of new rules in motor racing stimulating a new technology highly relevant to the development of future road cars.  The fast-acting flywheel system offers up to twice the efficiency of current generation hybrid electric vehicles in the storage of recovered vehicle kinetic energy.

Graham Heeps editor of Professional Motorsport World and one of the judges said: "Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac are on course to succeed where others have failed by delivering an efficient yet safe flywheel energy recovery system for applications on the racetrack and beyond."

Roland Schedel, editor-in-chief, Auto Technology, who also served on the awards panel, added: “Having had this interesting technology explained at the Global Motorsports Congress, I’m convinced that this system will appear in more motorsport events and road car series production and I congratulate these three companies on their success.”

Jon Hilton, managing partner of Flybrid Systems, and Chris Brockbank, business development manager of Torotrak, stepped forward to receive the award on behalf of all three companies.  Acknowledging their delight at winning the award and commenting on the companies’ fast track achievement over the past 12 months Jon Hilton said:

“We’re delighted to receive this award in recognition of our efforts this year, whereby we’ve already achieved a huge amount simply by turning an idea into reality.  With the design, test and development of a system for F1 now well underway, our challenge for next year is to demonstrate the viability of the system for mainstream automotive applications.”

Dick Elsy, chief executive of Torotrak, added: “Our three businesses have applied their combined knowledge and technical capabilities to deliver an innovative solution to the challenge presented to the industry by the FIA.  The rate of technology development in this industry is tremendous. We are already looking at applications beyond F1 and into road cars.”

“We’re proud to receive this award and pleased we’ve been able to apply our transmission and materials expertise,” said Martin Halley, chief engineer with Xtrac.  “Xtrac has been involved in MIA energy efficient motorsport initiatives since as far back as 2001, when we first considered the pros and cons of kinetic energy recovery.  Obviously, we have to work to the rules permitted within motorsport regulations; therefore we’re pleased with the decision by the FIA to permit energy recovery in Formula 1 – particularly since it will provide a unique opportunity to demonstrate a new technology which could be extremely relevant to the wider automotive industry.”

The role played by Xtrac, Flybrid and Torotrak in designing a KERS solution for F1 could be highly instrumental in developing this pioneering vehicle technology for more fuel efficient road cars, especially important at a time of spiralling fuel prices and tighter emission regulations,  without resorting to the expense and complexity of battery systems.  Compared with hybrid electric vehicles, which use batteries for energy storage, a mechanical KERS system utilises flywheel technology as a highly efficient alternative to recover and store a moving vehicle’s kinetic energy. 

The flywheel kinetic energy recovery system employs a small and sophisticated ancillary transmission manufactured by Xtrac incorporating full toroidal traction drive technology licensed from Torotrak.  Torotrak’s patented technology is a vital element in a mechanical system as it provides a continuously variable connection (a CVT ‘variator’) between the flywheel and the vehicle driveline and is being developed for motorsport applications by Xtrac, who can design, manufacture, assemble and distribute complete variator systems and discrete components. Xtrac can sub-license the Torotrak ‘variator’ technology to Flybrid and other motorsport teams who may wish to design and develop their own mechanical system. 

With a major racing team already signed up to use the mechanical KERS system for the F1 application in the 2009 season, the combination of the variator and advanced lightweight flywheel will most likely form part of the driveline assembly. The energy is received from the driveline through the variator as the vehicle decelerates and is subsequently released back into the driveline, again through the variator, as the vehicle accelerates.

The FIA has defined the amount of energy recovery for the 2009 season as 400kJ per lap giving the driver an extra 80bhp over a period of 6.67 seconds.  Flybrid, Torotrak and Xtrac believe that compared to the alternative of battery systems, a mechanical KERS system can provide a more compact, lighter and environmentally-friendly solution.

Applied to road cars the system supports the current motor industry trend for smaller powertrains; a lightweight kinetic energy recovery system providing a means of boosting acceleration and overall performance and economy independently of the vehicle’s internal combustion engine.

The Professional MotorSport World Expo awards were judged by an international jury of 13 motorsport experts comprising Michael Andretti, CEO, Andretti Green Racing; Ulrich Baretzky, head of engine technology, Audi Sport; Ian Bickerton, team principal, Creation Autosportif; Jost Capito, director, Ford Team RS; Trevor Carlin, co-founder and managing director, Carlin Motorsport; Tim Edwards, team principal, Ford Performance Racing; Jonas Jarlmark, chief engineer, Flash Engineering; Armin Schwarz, team principal, All-German Motorsports; Marc Van Dalen, team principal, Kronos Racing; Roland Schedel, editor-in-chief, Auto Technology; David Tremayne freelance motorsport writer; Kim Wolfkill, publisher, MSN Autos; and Graham Heeps editor Professional Motorsport World magazine.