Racing Transmission Solutions from Hewland Engineering

Hewland Engineering Limited is the only company in the world that supplies transmission solutions to racing teams at virtually all levels of motorsports (single-sitter racing. GT, touring car racing, Champ car). Transmissions of this British company are distinguished by high quality components and high-tech production process. In this article, we will become more familiar with this company and take a closer look at its racing transmission technologies.

Bits of Hewland History

Hewland Ltd. is the British company founded by Mike Hewland, specializing in production transmission solutions for racing cars. Hewland’s production facility is located in Berkshire, England. Mike Hewland was the owner of a small workshop and in 1957 he started producing custom-made transmissions for racing cars. In 1958, he was approached with a request to assist in manufacturing of several gearboxes for Formula 2 cars. At that time, transmission units frequently turned out to be a weak spot of racing cars. It is hard to imagine that, at that time, there was no company directly specialized in production of racing transmissions. Thus, Hewland found its gold mine.

Initially, the company, whose staff consisted of only 5 dedicated enthusiasts, modified VW transmissions, and starting from 1963 the company launched the production of its own gearboxes. Jack Brabham, a legendary racing driver, became interested in Hewland products and decided to give Hewland transmission a try at Tasman Series and then, after being convinced of its reliability, integrated Hewland solutions in Formula 1.

Hewland Mk.IV on 1964 Lotus 32

The finest hour for Hewland came in 1967, when the legendary Cosworth DFV engine was released. This not-very-expensive and powerful unit became an ideal match for Hewland transmissions, as many racing teams started using this engine jointly with the 5-speed FG400 transmission from Hewland. This solution became so popular in F1 that at some point only Ferrari managed to compete with the English teams.

Learn more about Hewland Engineering

Nowadays, Hewland, as a professional in high specification transmission design and manufacture with more than 60 years of practical experience, employing more than 120 specialists, remains faithful to its philosophy and commitment to offer its customers highly-efficient solutions not only in the racing world, but also in other industry sectors.

Insights into Hewland Racing Transmissions

Hewland made itself widely known in the world of motorsports thanks to its famous Mk transmission family. The first Mk transmission was released in 1960, and was intended for Lola racing cars. In fact, this unit was an upgraded version of the VW Beetle 4-speed transmission with increased durability and maintainability. In addition, gears in this unit were unsynchronized. As a result, Hewland came up with a 5-speed manual transmissions, which allowed a driver to shift gears without depressing the clutch pedal. Moreover, it became possible to change gear ratios within twenty minutes.

Gear Stack in Hewland Mk9 transmission

The transmission turned out to be extremely reliable and it could be mounted upside-down for better arrangement and it could be easily maintained even by trainee technicians. In addition, enhanced adjustability of the unit structure allowed making a wide range of configurations: the same unit could be converted into 4 or 6-speed transmissions, while a large number of gear ratio options enabled engineers of racing teams to choose the most appropriate settings, taking into account a road surface and even wind direction.

In general, the Mk transmission Series includes 9 transmission models and has the following advantages:

• Rapidly operating gear shifting mechanism;
• Upside-down arrangement of the transmission, which allowed engineers to install the engine low on the chassis;
• Application of magnesium alloy housing, ensuring durability and lightness of the transmission.

What is more, the 3rd, 4th and the 5th gears are interchangeable, and the design of the unit allows engineers to change gear ratios without removing the transmission from the car, or disconnecting it from the engine.

That’s how the Hewland transmission is warmed up

Now let us have a look at several modern transmission solutions offered by Hewland to the auto racing market:

FTR 200

Thanks to its widespread application in Formula 3 racing competitions around the globe, the FTR gained recognition as one of most efficient and reliable transmissions in the world of racing. This gearbox surprises all one-seat racing enthusiasts with its enhanced operational flexibility and low weight (only 40 kg for a 6-speed unit).

JFR6-200

The JFR6-200 is a 6-speed sequential gearbox which found application in Formula 3. The gear shifting process in this advanced unit is performed with the paddle-shifters. Despite fact that this transmission is noisier than its helical analogs, it ensures advanced performance and incredibly fast gear shifting. The internal components of this transmission are similar to the FTR unit, but thanks to elimination of some elements this solution is more compact.

GFT-200

The Hewland GFT-200 is a lightweight, transverse gearbox, which found application in TCR Series. The transmission was adjusted not only to ensure enhanced performance rates, but also to be highly reliable and maintenance-friendly.

SL-200

The SL-200 is a reliable transmission unit widely used in Nissan GTR GT3 cars. Thanks to its simple design, this solution ensures optimal weight distribution and enhanced efficiency. Developed for long racing competitions, the SL-200 proved to be extremely durable during 24 hour racing at Le Mans and Daytona.

F3B-200

The F3B is the next-gen transmission unit developed for application in Dallara’s new Formula 3 cars. This unit takes advantage of the latest technologies to ensure required performance characteristics and complies with strict F3 technical regulations.

In addition, it should be mentioned that today Hewland has an experienced R&D team and sophisticated technical infrastructure aimed at developing new transmission solutions, which will meet current technical and environmental requirements. Moreover, the company also constantly invests in advanced production equipment. For example, the company recently bought 4 and 5 axis machining centres in addition to a number of high-specification lathes. To check the quality of its products, Hewland has its own advanced equipment to test produced transmissions under different operating conditions. For more comprehensive estimation of new products, Hewland closely collaborates with well-known providers of dyno testers to perform power and stress-related tests.

Hewland has been the leading supplier of gearboxes for different racing competitions during 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, and still the company has no intention of giving up its leadership in the field of racing gearboxes. In addition to the conventional manual solutions widely used in all the racing and rallying classes, Hewland now offers a wide range of related products including the following: shift actuators, throttle actuators, compressors, shift position sensors, and steering wheel paddle systems.