Xtrac enjoys most successful ever Le Mans

British transmission specialist Xtrac enjoyed its most successful ever Le Mans race weekend - which many consider to be the pinnacle motorsport event - with its advanced technology gearboxes and differentials equipping the first seven finishers. Altogether the company achieved a remarkable 12 of the top 15 finishing positions - including three out of four class winners comprising LMP1 and both GT1 and GT2 classes. Of the 19 race cars that started with Xtrac driveline technology all but seven completed the full 24 hour endurance race; and none of the seven retirements were due to Xtrac technology.

"We’re delighted in the results achieved by our motorsport customers and the part we were able to play in their success," said managing director Peter Digby. "The results delivered our best ever Le Mans weekend vindicating the strong investment we’ve made in recruiting and retaining an excellent team of people, which we provide with the best possible design and manufacturing facilities."


"We had an exceptional weekend," added technical director Adrian Moore. "Transmission systems are extremely complex and in a 24 hour race components are subjected to extreme loads. Mechanical efficiency and reliability are paramount and to produce race winning transmissions your design and manufacturing processes have to set the highest possible benchmark."

Each racing gearbox, differential and driveline system was designed and manufactured to the same high standards Xtrac delivers to the automotive, aerospace, defence and marine sectors.

"These are all very demanding industry sectors and motorsport is no exception," said Digby. "In fact motorsport provides a tough but practical proving ground for developing new transmission designs and superior manufacturing processes suitable for wider automotive and marine applications. Motorsport also helps us meet the needs of the high technology aerospace and defence sectors."

Xtrac employs more than 250 staff at Thatcham including over 50 professional engineers and technicians in its engineering design and research departments. The company is currently recruiting post graduate qualified engineers to expand its capability in the areas of advanced engineering and product development and makes continuous investments in high added value production engineering and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.