Xtrac Limited, also known as Xtrac Transmission Technology, is a British engineering company founded in 1984 by the former

Hewland Hewland is a British engineering company, founded in 1957 by Mike Hewland, which specialises in racing-car gearboxes. Hewland currently employ 130 people at their Maidenhead facility and have diversified into a variety of markets being particul ...

engineer Mike Endean to make 4WD systems and gearboxes for

rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

and later rally and racing cars. Endean, together with Chris Goddard, who had been working on the electronic components essential to the system, in 1983 developed the first Xtrac 4WD system, for Norwegian rallycross star

Martin Schanche Martin Schanche (born 1 January 1945), nicknamed ''"Mr. Rallycross"'', is a Norway, Norwegian former racing driver and politician. Biography Schanche was born in Trondheim, as the son of a German WW2 airplane pilot, who lost his life in a plan ...

. Schanche had thought up the idea of a changeable hydraulic 4WD system (his 1984 ERC winning Ford Escort Mk3 Xtrac-

Zakspeed Zakspeed () is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and then run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around from the Nürburgring circuit. The team was, together with th ...

had a stepless FWD:RWD ratio of 28:72 to 50:50) and financed its development. This 560bhp so-called ''Xtrac No. 1'' was bought by Endean, in the mid-1990s, who raced it himself for many a year in carsprints and

hillclimbs Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

. "Xtrac started making gearboxes in the mid to late 1980s for the then-new

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

rally cars Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sports ...

from their original premises in

Wokingham Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...

and then continued to do so after moving in 1986 to a new 20,000 sq ft factory in

Finchampstead Finchampstead is a village and civil parish in the Wokingham Borough in the shire of Berkshire, England. Bordering northeastern Hampshire to the south, its northern extremity is south of Wokingham, west of Bracknell, south-east of Reading, ...

". In 2000, Xtrac built a bespoke high tech factory in

Thatcham Thatcham is a market town and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. It is situated in the valley of the River Kennet east of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury, west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading and west of London. The town has a long history d ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, England, and is currently supplying many top level sectors of motor sport, including F1, prototype and GT sportscars,

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

Grand-AM Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. I ...

, rally cars and

touring cars Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race-prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move a ...

. In 2010 the company supplied its complete 1044 gearbox, designed and developed in only six months to three F1 teams: Lotus,

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

and HRT. This is mated to the Cosworth CA2010 engine. In addition to supplying many high-profile motorsport customers, Xtrac has expanded in other areas such as automotive, marine and aerospace. The

Pagani Huayra The Pagani Huayra () is a mid-engine sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto ...

was a vehicle which used the Xtrac 1007 AMT transmission. In 2019, it was announced that Xtrac would be the sole supplier of gearboxes for the US based

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Championship, this was due to start in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, but with

Covid-19 restrictions During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

being in place this was delayed until

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. In 2020, it was announced that Xtrac would supply gearboxes as part of the hybrid power unit for the

Le Mans Daytona h LMDh (Le Mans Daytona h) is a set of sports prototype regulations used alongside Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) in both the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship and the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championsh ...

endurance hybrid sport cars with Bosch, supplying the motor generator unit, and Williams Advanced Engineering, supplying the batteries.

Footnotes

External links

Xtrac website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xtrac Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Automotive motorsports and performance companies Auto parts suppliers of the United Kingdom Automotive transmission makers