33 Facts About Prodrive

1.

Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.

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2.

Prodrive has a specialist composite division based in Milton Keynes where it manufactures lightweight carbon composite CFRP and visual carbon components for many supercars and increasingly for the luxury automotive, aerospace and marine sectors.

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3.

Prodrive first became well known for its involvement in the World Rally Championship with the Subaru World Rally Team, developing championship-winning cars for Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg, which now reside in the Prodrive heritage collection alongside many other of its classic race and rally cars at its new Banbury headquarters.

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4.

Prodrive was founded in 1983 by Ian Parry and David Richards, the latter is the chairman of the group.

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5.

In 1986, Prodrive ran a MG Metro 6R4 in British and Irish rally championships.

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6.

Since then, Prodrive has run touring car programmes for Alfa Romeo for Honda, for Ford and with Volvo in 2002 in the FIA European Touring Car Championship.

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7.

In 1990, Prodrive started rallying with Subaru, a relationship which lasted until December 2008, when the global economic downturn forced their withdrawal from World Rallying.

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8.

In 2000 Prodrive expanded out of its base in Banbury, England, and bought a private proving ground in Warwickshire to house its automotive technology business.

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9.

Prodrive founded Ford Performance Racing in 2003, entering the V8 Supercar series in Australia after purchasing Glenn Seton Racing.

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10.

In 2001, Prodrive entered sports car racing with its own privately developed Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello.

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11.

Prodrive raced the car until 2004 winning numerous races in the FIA GT and American Le Mans Series.

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12.

In December 2001 Prodrive was brought in to manage the unsuccessful Formula One constructor BAR.

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13.

Prodrive has subsequently been linked with Formula One on a number of occasions since.

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14.

In 2013 Prodrive created the first Mini rallycross based on the Mini JCW World Rally Car.

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15.

In 2016 Prodrive developed a one-off car for Subaru to set a new record lap of the Isle of Man TT circuit.

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16.

In 1990, Prodrive began a long-standing and highly successful relationship with Subaru, forming the Subaru World Rally Team.

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17.

Prodrive was tasked with running Subaru's rallying campaigns, helping them to three Drivers' and three Manufacturers' World Rally Championships.

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18.

On 27 July 2010, it was announced that Prodrive would re-enter the WRC with a limited programme in 2011 with BMW using the Mini Countryman.

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19.

In 2014, Prodrive developed a new rally car based on the Volkswagen Golf specifically for the Chinese Rally Championship.

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20.

In 2013 Prodrive developed the Mini RX a new rallycross car based on the Mini WRC.

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21.

In 2021 Sir Lewis Hamilton asked Prodrive to run his new X44 team in the new Extreme E electric off road championship.

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22.

In 2017 Bob Nevelle asked Prodrive to run the Nissan GT Academy Program in the 2017 British GT Championship with a 2017-spec Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 with Harry Tincknell, Gatean Paletou, Alex Buncombe and Aaditya Gayadeen been the registered drivers for the team.

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23.

BAR owners British American Tobacco and Prodrive had a prior relationship with BAT sponsoring Subaru's World Rally Championship team, operated by Prodrive.

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24.

However, Prodrive's contract was terminated early, following their best season after Honda's purchase of BAR.

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25.

On 28 April 2006, Prodrive were officially granted entry to F1 when the FIA announced the list of entrants to the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

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26.

On 23 April 2009, Prodrive issued a press release stating that they were considering an F1 entry for the 2010 season, possibly under the Aston Martin Racing brand.

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27.

On 29 May 2009, it was reported that Prodrive had submitted a formal application for the 2010 season.

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28.

Prodrive was one of two potential buyers considered by the Renault F1 Team to take-over the team prior to the 2010 season.

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29.

Prodrive has a carbon composites manufacturing facility in Milton Keynes making lightweight components for premium vehicle manufacturers, including Jaguar, Aston Martin and Bentley, and the aerospace industry.

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30.

Prodrive was a technical supplier to the Land Rover BAR team to help develop its America's Cup challenger.

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31.

In 2016 Prodrive announced it was bringing the world's lightest folding bike to market called the Hummingbird, which was a concept created by Petre Cracuin.

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32.

Prodrive already had a facility at the former RAF Honiley airfield and LucasVarity proving ground near Wroxall, Warwickshire, together with Marcos and TRW.

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33.

Until the Honiley factory is operational, Prodrive will remain at their existing Banbury headquarters.

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