Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981. In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, based at Fradley, Staffordshire; and Zytek Engineering, based at Repton, Derbyshire. In 2014 Zytek Automotive was sold to the German engineering company Continental AG, whereas Zytek Engineering remained under Gibson's leadership and was renamed Gibson Technology.

Zytek Automotive

Zytek Automotive is a specialist powertrain and vehicle engineering enterprise, which has been part of Continental AG, a German engineering company, since 2014. It designs, develops, and integrates electric motors into a range of cars and commercial vehicles. The current family of electric motors ranges up to 170 kW. The UK facility can accommodate up to 6,000 E-Drive integrations a year in batches as low as 100. Gordon Murray Design T

Zytek has designed electric engines for the initial 100 smart fortwos, which took part in a market trial by selected British customers as lease vehicles from 2007 to 2009. The 70 kW integrated drivetrain installed in the

Modec Modec was an electric vehicle manufacturer in Coventry, in the United Kingdom, specialising in Commercial vehicles in the N2 category. It unveiled its first model in April 2006 and announced its intention to commence series production in Ma ...

electric vehicle is designed and manufactured in house by Zytek, as well as the drivetrain in the E Vito Taxi. Gordon Murray Design and Zytek Automotive developed an all-electric three-seater

city car The A-segment is the 1st category in the passenger car classification system defined by the European Commission. It is used for city cars, the smallest category of passenger cars defined. A-segment sales represent approx. 7-8% of the market in ...

, the T.27, made possible through a ( in June 2010) investment from the government-backed

Technology Strategy Board Innovate UK is the United Kingdom's innovation agency, which provides money and support to organisations to make new products and services. It is a non-departmental public body operating at arm's length from the Government as part of the United ...

. With a total cost of £9m ( in June 2010), the research and development project allowed the consortium to develop a prototype that was unveiled at the

Royal Automobile Club The Royal Automobile Club is a British private social and athletic club. It has two clubhouses: one in London at 89 Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, near Epsom in Surrey. Both provide accommodation and a range ...

in June 2011. The T.27 road debut was held in November 2011 at the RAC Future Car Challenge. As of 2011, Gordon Murray Design was negotiating with three manufacturers for possible production of the T.27.

Zytek Engineering

Zytek Motorsport is the brand name used for the Zytek Groups motorsport product range and applications. In 1987, Zytek bought the British

Alan Smith Racing Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * A ...

outfit in order to expand its motorsports involvement. The team initially supported the

Jordan Grand Prix Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team was named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan. The team was based at Silverstone, UK but raced with an Irish licence. In early 2005, the t ...

team in

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

before the team eventually chose to concentrate on engine development. Zytek would return to running a motorsports team in 2004 when the company entered the

Le Mans Endurance Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

with their first sports car, the

Zytek 04S Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981. In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, ...

, which was able to finish second in the team championship in 2005 due to two overall victories. Zytek Engineering continues to campaign in the Le Mans Series as well as in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

and

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

Vehicle Technology

In 2002, Zytek bought some of the remains of the defunct

Reynard Motorsport Reynard Motorsport was the world's largest racing car manufacturer in the 1980s. Initially based at Bicester and latterly at Reynard Park, Brackley, England the company built successful cars in Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Vau ...

from International Racing Management (IRM). These assets included the rights to the

Reynard 02S The Reynard 02S was a Le Mans Prototype race car built by Reynard Motorsport in 2002. Intended to replace the failed Reynard 2KQ prototype, the 02S would end up becoming the final new design from Reynard as the company went bankrupt prior to th ...

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

, of which only one had been completed since the company's demise. Zytek already supplied an engine to the existing chassis, and would therefore built further copies under the name Zytek 04S, offering both the chassis and engine as a complete package. Due to changes in the prototype regulations in 2006, Zytek upgraded one of their existing 04S chassis while building a third all-new car, named the 06S. Further regulation changes in 2007 required the team to build an entirely new car, th
Zytek-07s
which campaigned in both the LMP1 and LMP2 classes of the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. Zytek's GZ09S proved an immediate success in 2009, taking the LMP2 Le Mans Series Team Championship with Quifel-ASM and the Driver's Championship with

Miguel Amaral Miguel Maria de Sá Pais do Amaral, 8th Count of Anadia , 4th Count of Alferrarede, KHDSMOM, commonly known as Miguel Amaral (born 31 July 1954) is a Portuguese aristocrat, businessman and amateur racing driver. Family Miguel Amaral, born in ...

and

Olivier Pla Olivier Pla (born 22 October 1981) is a French racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Glickenhaus Racing. His younger brother Jim is also a racing driver Career French Formula Campus and Formula Three Bor ...

. In 2009 Zytek Engineering became the first manufacturer to score a podium with a hybrid LMP. The car, run by Corsa Motorsports, finished on the podium on its debut at Lime Rock. The Zytek Q10 Hybrid is a non-invasive parallel hybrid system, consisting of a motor-generator, battery and inverter. Its purpose is to recover energy normally wasted during deceleration and subsequently use this energy to assist the internal combustion engine during acceleration. The Z11SN has also won the LMP2 category of the

in both 2011 and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and the

in 2011, in the hands of Greaves Motorsport (2011) and Team Jota (2014).

Gibson Technology

In 2017 the rebranded company became the supplier of a 4.2-litre, naturally-aspirated

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

, producing approximately 600 hp, for the LMP2 Class for the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

, FIA World Endurance Championship and

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

. Two of the many LMP2 cars powered by Gibson engines finished on the overall podium, and one had led the race overall for some time until a recovering factory Porsche reclaimed the lead. In 2018, Gibson's new LMP1 engine, the 4.5 litre naturally aspirated GL458, was installed into

Rebellion Racing Rebellion Racing is a Swiss racing team that competes in endurance racing. The team competed in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season and won the LMP1 teams' title in the 2011 Le Mans Series season. The team started as an association ...

's pair of

Rebellion R13 The Rebellion R13 is a sports prototype racing car built by French constructor Oreca on behalf of Swiss-based team Rebellion Racing. It is a variation of the Oreca 07, created to compete in the LMP1 class. It would later be renamed by Alpine to A ...

s and DragonSpeeds BR Engineering BR1. The engine brought Rebellion's R13s to a 3-4 finish (1-2 among privateer teams) at Le Mans, behind the

Toyota TS050 Hybrid The Toyota TS050 Hybrid is a sports prototype racing car developed for the 2016 Le Mans Prototype rules in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is the direct successor of the Toyota TS040 Hybrid, which competed in both the 2014 and 201 ...

s. In February 2019, ByKolles Racing announced that they would be switching to the Gibson GL458, dropping the Nissan Nismo VRX30A 3.0 litre twin-turbo V6, for their

CLM P1/01 The CLM P1/01, renamed ENSO CLM P1/01 in 2017, is a sports prototype racing car built for the Austrian based team ByKolles Racing. It is designed to meet the 2014 LMP1-L regulations for Le Mans Prototypes in the FIA World Endurance Championship as ...

References

External links