This January, KAPS Transmissions took an active partin the most prestigious World Motorsport Fair in Birmingham, England, that hadits 24th annual celebration in 2014. Everybody with a bit ofgasoline circulating in his veins had really got his money´s worth in here. 

 The Autosport International- The Racing Car Show boasts about a rather elaborated name, as far as itslength is concerned, however, it does not derogate it from exclusiveness in anyway. Please do not confuse this event with the world motor shows in Paris, Geneva, Frankfurt… because only genuine motorsport products is all that is concerned in Birmingham.What you can see here are the racing special cars starting from the karts up torally, from the touring supersports cars to F1.

 

Several exhibition halls in NEC Arena wereinterconnected to form two giant complexes where you could see, buy, and learnanything that pertained to the area of motorsport.

 

What had this Car Show year in store for us, what newsand trends can we await in the motorsport world for 2014 – these were ourquestions for Mr. Radek Marvan, Technical Manager of KAPS Transmissions, whotook an active part in the Show:

 

1.      How would you evaluate this Autosport International Car Show year in relationshipto your products against the global competitors?

 

-         First of all I would like to highlight participation of KAPSTransmissions in this most prestigious event attended by the representatives ofany Czech company. England is a real motorsport hub and all the events startright here. I have to affirm earnestly, that we were at the right place at theright time. In the KAPS Transmissions booth, we exhibited and activelypresented a total of 5 main unique products. All of them were the fullysequential gearboxes for racing cars. I had counted a total of 8 world gearboxmanufacturers at the exhibition this year so both experts and general publichad an opportunity to readily compare our products and those of the globalcompetitors. All the products were fully functional and everybody could try shiftingof the sequential gearbox. Also the fully sequential – hydraulically operatedgearbox was a highlight. Shifting with the paddles behind the steering wheel isthe absolute peak in the gearbox design and KAPS Transmissions has this gearboxin its portfolio.

2       In what motorsport branch do your gearboxes appear?

 

-         These are the racing cars in rally, hillclimb, circuit special cars,Time Attack, drag racing, autocross, rally-cross, drifting….. it can be saidthe choice is really wide. I would like to say that the company has also furtherproducts that include namely the ACD computer inter-axle differential operationcontrol unit, the control unit for the Shiftbox sequential gearbox, hydraulicshifting system with paddles for sequential gearboxes, clutch assistant, gearlever with a sensor for engine cutting, LSD plates, and others.

 

 

 

 

3.      What is the unique feature of your products that differentiates you fromthe competitors?

 

-         Ha-ha (laughter) by saying this to you I would disclose our know-how andwe can close tomorrow….  But I will tell you briefly that the KAPS system employsunique dogring system. Technological processes, materials, machining, rightdown to the final surface finish of the components which is done using Nanotechnology, we ensure the highest standards are met. We move with the times andour products are a credit to the work of our complete team.

4. In which countries are the KAPS Transmissions productssold the most?

 

-         We sell our product virtually all over the world. The current number is61 countries worldwide in 6 continents. Certain countries are very exotic, forexample, African countries, New Zealand, Singapore.

As far as the percentage is concerned I have to allegethat 95 % are intended for export and only 5 % are sold to the clients in theCzech Republic.

5.      What are your objectives for this year 2014?

 

-         We always have the highest objectives J. It is not for the first time that we took the top position when racersbecame World Champions with our gearboxes. The last biggest achievements ofours include the second position in the PWRC Championship of Patrik Flodindriving with the Russian Uspensky’s team. The KAPS Transmissions gearboxes alsoperformed in the recoding of the famous videos of Ken Block - Gymkhana I andII. when his Subaru racing special car was equipped with the gearbox comingfrom our workshop. We hold the world record when Mr. Travis Pastrana made an82m long jump with his Subaru in 2010. We will definitely look forward to thisyear being always “Shift ahead of the pack“

 

 

 

We thereby thank to Mr. Marvan for giving theinterview