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Heritage

Quaife has a long and illustrious heritage, with an emphasis on motorsport activity across numerous disciplines that helps drive technological improvement and new product development. This involvement also helps us to better understand the specialist requirements of our markets, both domestically and globally.

Across the decades Quaife has been fortunate to work with some very famous marques and personalities both in motorsport and the OEM automotive sector. The firm has also made a substantial impact with its own high profile motorsport programs, many of which produced some memorable moments...

1960's - Beginnings

RT Quaife Engineering Ltd has a long and illustrious heritage...

The business was created in 1965 by Rod Quaife, initially operating from a small workshop near Penshurst in Kent. The company initially focused on producing close ratio five-speed gearkits for Norton and Triumph motorcycles.

As the business flourished, it swiftly relocated to larger premises in Tonbridge, Kent; while the pedigree of the products at Quaife was being proven with victories at the prestigious Daytona Speedway and the Isle of Man TT.

Paul Smart 750 Triumph 1971

The 1970’s – Two Wheeled Success but Four Wheels Beckon

The new decade heralded bigger markets and challenges for Quaife. Despite ongoing motorcycle market success with the emerging Japanese manufacturers, the decline of the British motorcycle industry coincided with enormous growth in four wheel motorsport.

Quaife soon diversified into the car market, successfully transferring its drivetrain expertise to four wheels and beginning a long association with the Ford marque that continues to this day.

The 1980's - Differentials and F1 Success

As the 1980’s progressed, Quaife introduced a new range of purpose designed motorsport transmissions to its product portfolio, as well as the famous ATB® Differential.

Reliable and effective, it was soon used in a diverse number of applications, covering everything from the Maserati Biturbo to Gehard Berger’s Benetton F1 car. Indeed, the Quaife equipped Benetton won the 1986 Mexico Grand Prix.

Attracted by its high profile and liberal technical regulations, Rod’s son Michael Quaife entered the British Rallycross Championship to both promote the brand and empower developments at the cutting edge of motorsport. The car of choice - the Vauxhall Chevette.

Quaife R4 GTS

The 1990's - Four Wheel Drive Arrives

The 1990’s was met with the build of a series of fearsome and fast four-wheel drive rallycross Escorts. Developed in conjunction with Gordon Spooner Engineering, the experience gathered was fed directly back into the development of four-wheel drive transmission technology and sequential shift mechanisms.

A switch away from the mud of rallycross to circuit racing saw Quaife build a high powered Ford Escort based Thundersaloon race car. This knowledge enabled Quaife to embark on its most ambitious project yet, to build its own V8 powered, four-wheel drive British GT Championship contender, designed to act as a developmental test bed for new technologies.

As the 1990’s progressed, Quaife relocated to its current 16 acre site near Sevenoaks, Kent. This offered considerably more expansion potential. It proved a shrewd move, as more OEM projects would later show.

Ford Focus RS Mk2

2000's - OEM Success

During the 2000’s, Quaife enjoyed OEM supplier status to the world’s major car manufacturers. They came seeking the firm’s unique drivetrain expertise to add driving excitement to their niche high performance models.

In the last decade Quaife has delivered volume turnkey ATB® differential packages to exacting quality standards to Daimler-Chrysler, GM and Ford, most notably on the Mk1 & Mk2 Focus RS.

With the twin demands of continued growth and in order to house large scale multi-pallet robotic CNC machinery to deliver the capacity for large volume OEM projects, Quaife invested in a new plant in Gillingham in 2006.

This modern site offers 23,000 feet of additional production and quality control facilities, enabling Quaife to offer it’s diverse range of high performance drivetrain products to a constantly evolving global market, creating a new chapter in the Quaife heritage story.

2010's - Expansion Continues

The 2010's continued with the supply of products to OEM, specifically for performance cars. These performance cars include the Lotus Evora 400, Mk3 Ford Focus RS Edition and Mk8 Fiesta ST. Radical Sportcars, Morgan Motor Company and Caterham Cars also benefit from Quaife driveline components.

The electric vehicle sector is growing exponentially, and Quaife has and still is developing a range of different projects specifically for bespoke applications in the EV market. From small drop ratio transfer units for use in go-karts, up to complete twin motor differential drive units for electric powered and autonomous-ready commercial vehicles, we are trusted in the development of electric vehicle drivetrain solutions. We’ve even developed our signature ATB® differential for use in multiple Tesla models!

2020's - Today

We started the 2020's off with becoming the title sponsor of the Mini Challenge Championship, this was a 3 year partnership with the one make racing series that was announced at the 2020 Autosport International show.

The OEM journey is still in full swing with the continued supply of ATB®s for the Ford Fiesta ST Mk8, with the addition of the Ford Puma ST and Ford Transit Custom Trail. We also supply ATBs to Lotus Cars, which are fitted into the Lotus Emira.

Furthermore, we have delved more into in-house development with the recent QBE46Z (5 speed Sequential Gearbox for the Mk3 Ford Focus RS), with more and exciting projects in the pipeline. The whole process was completed in house, allowing us to control every aspect and to make sure our high quality standards were met.

Speak to the QUAIFE TEAM on
+44 (0) 1732 741144

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