Ricardo is the largest transmission engineering and design consultancy in the UK. The combination of key technologies from both motorsport and mainstream automotive applications has enabled development of cutting edge capability. This philosophy and “right first time ” approach has resulted in an enviable track record in all forms of competition at the highest levels.
Ricardo's design strength and reliability is highlighted by Mitsubishi's domination of arguably the hardest and most difficult endurance race in the world - The Dakar Rally, where Ricardo have designed and manufactured the complete transmission assembly for the Pajero and more recently the Lancer Evolution.
Ricardo motorsport transmissions have been used by winning teams in virtually all forms of Motorsport. This encompasses bespoke design and supply of differentials and transmission for 4WD World Rally Cars, component parts for Formula 1, and single source supply transmissions to race series such as World Series by Renault FR 3.5, Firestone Indy Lights Series, and the new for 2009 Formula Nippon in Japan.
Capitalising on the effectiveness of Ricardo's ultra reliable transmission supplied to Audi for the R8 during their record breaking 5 Le Mans 24hr wins; Ricardo produced a transverse customer sportscar transaxle used successfully by 6 teams in the 2008 Le Mans Series. In addition to this success, a further outright race win was achieved with a Ricardo transmission in the 2009 Le Mans 24hr and the Ginetta-Zytek 09S of Quifel ASM Team went on to win the LMP2 team title in the 2009 Le Mans Series.
Enhancing further, Ricardo's reputation for competitive, dependable sportscar transmissions, was the supply to the championship winning Nissan GT-R in the ultra competitive Japanese Super GT Championship in 2008, with Nissan winning 7 out of the 9 races held.
Introduced in 2009 and built to the F.I.A 2010 GT regulations, is Ricardo's first LM GT transmission, fitted to the NISSAN GT-R in GT1. This GT transaxle specifiically designed for a front engined rear wheel drive application, uses fully validated race proven internals from the Japanese Super GT series and completed the 2009 Spa 24hrs at its first attempt.
Photographic acknowledgements:
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, compliments Mitsubishi Motor Sports.
Formula Nippon photo by Junya Sasaki, compliments of Swift Engineering.
Ginetta-Zytek 09S LMP2, compliments of Zytek Engineering.