Global Technologies Racing Ltd is celebrating 8 years of service to the Formula One (F1) engine manufacturing industry, in May 2025. As a provider of bespoke high performance composite design, development and manufacturing services, GTR Composites, a division of the Global Technologies Racing group, has been and remains a supplier to a significant selection of the world’s premier F1 racing engine manufacturers, as well as other global and national racing formulas.
GTR’s engine component work has been developed over time from an initial requirement, to integrate composite component technology into what was traditionally an area of engineering that was populated by metallic components designed by metallic specialists. The design drivers for the integration of composite technologies into engine component design are a reduction in mass and an increase in performance whilst making the parts unique, yet repeatable. At the same time, reliability must be optimised. Unlike many other carbon composite race car components, engine parts are absolutely critical, as the tiniest failure can simply stop the car.
Image: An early waterpipe that has been dissected for review of the lay up cross section and stack up
F1 is an extremely demanding environment and in all areas, the teams are constantly in a race to develop and add performance to their cars. The result of this is extremely aggressive project timescales from initial customer design release to first off delivery. The considerable demands of this specialist area of work have led to the development of some innovative practices and procedures as well as the procurement of specialist equipment and machines to deliver the high performance and tolerance levels required. To improve the services, GTR has embedded specialist and trusted staff within the customers’ own design teams. Because of the intricate, complex and critical nature of these components, some of GTR’s most skilled team members are working in this area, across the production process, which has been retained in-house to deliver the standards required. To maintain quality, GTR use complex control techniques including CT scanning, NDT (Non-Destructive Testing), Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) and pressure testing. GTR has added additional inspection criteria that form a critical part of the manufacturing and inspection operations. Machining and finishing are also delivered in-house using some of the very best machines in the business – an area where GTR has continually invested.
GTR is unable to name individual clients nor detail specifics regarding the designs. However, the span of their contribution to F1 engines is broad and has, in the past, included components such as complex inlet manifolds and remote fluid tanks. Over the 8-year period, GTR has worked with 6 different engine manufacturers building engines for F1 and other top-echelon motorsport categories. On average, at any one race, GTR has estimated the average total number of GTR manufactured engine components present on the starting grid to be over 70. Working with multiple clients means GTR has had to develop and maintain the strictest confidentiality and security processes. To protect the competitive intellectual property, different build teams across the business are completely unaware of what may be going on in the building next door. This inbuilt discretion is something that is attractive to other sensitive sectors, such as defence and security.
Image: An F1 oil tank
Simon Kingdon-Butcher, Co-founder, Owner and Director at GTR said: “we’re really proud to be celebrating this milestone. Our Motor Engine Business Manager, Glenn Hobson, has built this area of our operations over the last 8 years and we’re now in the position of being a truly trusted supplier to this extremely demanding sector of business for GTR. With the changes in F1 rules coming in 2026, we see our services being even more sought after as engine configuration constraints increase and cost caps extend to engine manufacture”. He added: “But, whilst we pause to celebrate this important milestone, it’s not all about engines and F1. We’ve gradually diversified to other sectors too where our skills developed in F1 are equally as applicable. Be it marine, aerospace, defence, automotive or medical, we can deliver the very best to meet the exacting standards of any client – but it’s all underpinned by our trusted pedigree in F1”.
