May 2006

NORTH AMERICA:

CHAMP CAR: The leading road racing series is well underway, having just had its third race of the year, at Houston. Sebastien Bourdais leads the series after winning every round so far, in his Newman Haas Lola Cosworth, using many Hewland gearbox parts.

CHAMP CAR ATLANTIC: One year ahead of its `bigger brother` the Formula Atlantic series has adopted a new car. Swift engineering of California supply the chassis, which uses a bespoke for Swift Hewland gearbox. The series is a huge success this season with large grids and a fast reliable car.

EUROPE:

DTM: Audi and Mercedes have shared the wins in the prestigious DTM series this year; both using a bespoke Hewland DTM transmission. Tom Kristensen won for Audi at Oscherslaben on May 21st and now leads the title race by two points over Bernd Schneider of Mercedes. Next round April 9th at Hockenheim.

WTCC: Cars using Hewland transmissions are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th in the hard fought World Touring Car Championship. Seat are 1,2,3 after the last round at Brands Hatch on May 21st, whilst Alain Menu scored a debut win for Chevrolet. These cars and Alfa Romeo (previous champions) all rely on Hewland.

BTCC: Seat are running 2nd and 3rd in the BTCC. Watch this space.

BRITISH AND FIA GT: Hewland transmissions are winning in both series, most notably within the exciting and rapid Ferrari 430 GT2 cars. Spyker and Ascari are both Hewland clients looking like future winners after impressive season starts also.

LE MANS: No less than 21 cars will use Hewland transmissions at this years’ Le Mans 24 hour race in June. Best wishes to the array of Hewland clients that will seek success at this famous and grueling event.

JAPAN:

SUPER GT: The impressive series that pits Honda Toyota and Nissan in to battle, is thriving. After three rounds, it is tantalizingly close, with Honda just leading Toyota and Nissan.

FORMULA NIPPON: Japans high profile and fast single seater series has adopted a new Lola Chassis for 2006, using many Hewland gearbox internals.

INVESTMENT:

Hewland Engineering Ltd continues to invest in the latest plant and equipment to maintain its leading edge in quality and performance. Current investment is in shot-peening and super finishing plant, a twin head CNC lathe to enhance the gear manufacturing cell, further grinding plant and new CMM stations.