Millie: “A lot of the races you compete in are endurance races, do you have any facts and figures that might help people to comprehend just how durable and robust your engines are?”

Jim: “Yes absolutely, the first Le Mans we did with our new GK428 LMP2 engine in 2017 we had 25 cars running and there were only 4 that didn’t finish the 24hr race, which were not due to any Gibson related problems. Calculating all those running speeds of the cars throughout the entire race, the distance covered by the engines was the equivalent of around 3.5 times around the world (143,000km). To date we have completed over 1.1 million kms with our LMP2 engines – which is an incredible achievement for everyone at Gibson.

Millie: Do you have any exciting projects on the go at the moment that you would like to shout about?

John: Yes – we are diversifying into other areas outside of the motorsport arena, we will of course always be involved in motorsport, but we felt that we needed to expand some of our activities and knowledge. Motorsport can be very volatile and we wanted something which could offer more stability. We have developed an Advanced Rotary Generator (ARG) and we are about to go to the next stage. It’s a small, lightweight compact 10kw generator. At the moment the unit is in the prototype stage and weighs 41kilos, this will eventually be developed to weigh sub 30kilos. Currently there are generators on the market that weigh 75 kilos, but only produce around 2kw, so that gives you an idea of the potential. We are considering many different markets for this product, such as disaster relief, domestic and the automotive sector.

Jim: “During our time developing engines for motorsport, we have focussed on producing products that are powerful, lightweight and compact. Our Engineering team have managed to utilise that knowledge, to create a product that will be truly ground-breaking.”

Millie: “In your opinion, how do you see motorsport developing over the next 5 years, are there any emerging technologies that could change the game?”

John: “Yes, hybrid technology, without a doubt. There are hybrid systems running in Formula 1 and Sportscar racing. If you look at LMP1 Sportscars for example, as it currently stands, there are two categories. One which encompasses the hybrid systems, which Toyota run in, and then the other category for private manufacturers, which have companies like Gibson. However, these regulations are changing and in 2020 it will become mandatory to have hybrid technology on all LMP1 cars. We’ve not been producing hybrid systems now for probably the last 5 or 6 years, but we are definitely looking to get involved in that arena again, as is the case with the ARG. So, this is certainly one area that is going to change the format of motorsport in the future.”