British gearbox innovator ZeroShift Ltd, the company that announced it had achieved zero millisecond shifting in July 2003, will begin manufacture of its aftermarket transmissions and transmission components in the UK.
ZeroShift Ltd has formed an alliance with Ketlon Ltd (Kent, UK). ZeroShift and Ketlon have been working together since mid-2003 to combine final prototyping stages and production preparation.
Ketlon will re-manufacture exchange manual transmissions for the aftermarket, starting with the 5-speed Tremec T5 (nee Borg Warner T5) later this year, followed by the 6-speed Tremec T56.
ZeroShift Managing Director, Phil James told us: "ZeroShift is a young company, so the means by which we might supply the demand we have provoked has been the subject of some conjecture. Teaming up with Ketlon, an established, sophisticated Tier 2 component manufacturer, is a key part of our solution. Ketlon's senior managers are progressive in their thinking and, as a privately-owned British company ourselves, Ketlon's private British ownership appealed to us."
Ketlon will primarily be producing the ZeroShift mechanisms that replace synchromesh components, but with the capability to supply all of the gearbox internals to car manufacturers.
The ZeroShift story goes back some years with inventor Bill Martin coming up with a number of different designs to speed up shifting in manual gearboxes. After teaming up with Phil James they formed Zeroshift Ltd in August 2002.
ZeroShift Ltd first drove its prototype transmission 7 months later in February 2003. It caused quite a stir in the industry in July 2003 when it announced it had successfully road tested a manual-based gearbox that shifts smoothly in zero milliseconds in its TVR Cerbera 4.5.
Since then ZeroShift has been fielding enquiries from both gearbox manufacturers and car producers, keen to ensure they get a piece of the action.
The Tremec T5 has been used as the primary ZeroShift development transmission in the Cerbera. The T5 has been original equipment in TVRs, Ford Cosworths and Ford Mustangs amongst
others and a variety of conversion kits are available to mate the T5 to engines such as the Jaguar XK. ZeroShift¹s first commercial product, manufactured by Ketlon, will be converted Tremec T5s aimed at the racing and performance communities.
More info is available at www.zeroshift.com
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