Prodrive has built up an enviable reputation as one of the world’s most successful motorsport engineering businesses. Formed in 1984 by its current owner and chairman David Richards, it has won international races and rallies across the world, including six World Rally Championship titles; five British Touring Car Championships and three Le Mans GT class wins. While the company is best known for its motorsport achievements, more than half the company’s turnover comes from engineering activity in the mainstream automotive sector, its most recent project being the Alfa Romeo Brera S. just-auto talked to Tony Butcher, managing director of Prodrive’s automotive technology business, to find out how this part of the business has become so successful and what it takes to develop a car like the Brera S.
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just-auto: How did the mainstream automotive business come to be?
Tony Butcher: Its origins go back a long way – even longer than the ten years I’ve been with the company. Motorsport is very cyclical during the year. During the quieter periods we started undertaking small engineering projects for vehicle manufacturers. Over the years the demand grew to the point where we employed engineers just for this and ultimately created a dedicated division. When this business outgrew our motorsport headquarters at Banbury in 2000, we moved here to our facility in Warwickshire with its own proving ground and plenty of room for growth. Today we work with vehicle manufacturers and automotive suppliers all over the world and have facilities in Thailand, Australia and China employing 400 people.
just-auto: Your motorsport experience must be a major help in working with vehicle manufacturers…
Tony Butcher: Having our motorsport roots is a significant advantage. It instills a culture of creativity and innovation and an attitude that anything can be achieved. As such, we approach projects in a unique way, bringing together small focussed teams to deliver projects to short lead times. However, our motorsport success can be a double-edged sword, as it can give many in the automotive industry the impression that that is all we can do. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have teams of engineers who have years’ of experience working in the automotive industry, specialising in the key areas of: engines, transmissions, chassis, ride and handling, electrical, electronics and control. Indeed, when our motorsport teams need additional support, they turn to us.
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just-auto: The Alfa Romeo Brera S has just been launched – how did you get involved with this?
The Alfa project is a great example of how we operate. Shortly after the launch of the Brera we were talking to Alfa Romeo about how it had been received in the UK. I think it is fair to say that, while the media loved the way the car looked, the driving experience didn’t match their expectations. The UK offers a unique ride and handling challenge to European vehicle manufacturers and many have struggled to find the right set up. It’s an area we have a great deal of experience, indeed, at the time, we had just completed the special edition RX8 PZ for Mazda UK, so Alfa asked if the same engineers could evaluate the Brera.
just-auto: Was it difficult for an Italian car company, like Alfa, to ask for help from a British engineering business?
Tony Butcher: We had worked with Alfa Romeo on its British Touring Car programme back in the mid-1990s, so we already had a relationship there. We had also helped their parent company, Fiat, with its special edition Schumacher Stilo in 2005. I think they understood that we had the necessary experience and skills to help turn the Brera into something special for the UK. As I mentioned, we had already completed a similar exercise for the Mazda PZ and, over the last decade, have produced a number of special edition Subaru Imprezas for the UK market.
just-auto: Didn’t Alfa see a conflict with your work with Mazda and Subaru?
Tony Butcher: It’s a question we often get asked. I believe working with so many vehicle manufacturers, on so many different cars, from rear-wheel drive sports cars, like the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and Mazda PZ, to high performance four-wheel drives like the Impreza, is a major strength. It gives us an unrivalled understanding of the market and I believe our customers appreciate this. In Australia, for example, we have independent operations where we design and manufacture high performance Fords and another where we assemble cars for TRD [Toyota Racing Development].
just-auto: What did you do to the Brera S?
Tony Butcher: Alfa’s brief to us was simple: to develop a limited edition for British enthusiasts for British roads. Our focus was to give the car more overtly sporty handling characteristics, in the true tradition of Alfa sports cars. Alfa also wanted us to optimise the steering feel and feedback, traditionally an Alfa strength. Our chassis engineers spent several months evaluating the ride and handling and specifying new springs and dampers, which would give both the 2.2 and the 3.2 V6 cars the desired dynamics. We also designed new significantly lighter wheels and we re-engineered the exhaust to improve its performance and accentuate the sound of the engine.
just-auto: What was Alfa’s part in the process?
Tony Butcher: With all such special editions it’s important the customer is involved throughout the development process and signs off each stage. Alfa UK’s marketing director is also a very accomplished driver and he spent a lot of time in the car giving our engineers feedback. We assisted Alfa in the VCA homologation process and built the initial 20 Brera S press cars used at the launch, which was also held at our proving ground in Warwickshire.
just-auto: Prodrive has featured prominently in the promotion of the car – is that unusual?
Tony Butcher: We are very protective of the Prodrive brand and its reputation and it is not often that we let our customers use our brand to this extent. However, we felt that with the strength of our relationship, stretching back over a decade, and the success of the programme, that it was entirely appropriate. We even lent them one of our test drivers to get the hand brake sliding stop on the union jack in the TV ad!
just-auto: What will be the next Prodrive performance car we will see?
Tony Butcher: I don’t think you would expect me to reveal that now. But I can tell you we are actively working on two special editions to be released this year and are talking to two further vehicle manufacturers.
