A British Superbike team is getting help from one of the world’s top manufacturers of precision sensors. Druck has struck a deal with family-run Hawk Racing to support its riders on the Bennetts British Superbikes circuit and international road races including this month’s Isle of Man TT.
In the 50 years that it has been going Druck – part of the Baker Hughes group – has built a reputation for developing and making some of the most precise pressure and temperature measurement technology in the world. Its components are used in the toughest of environments, from sub-zero to superheated temperatures and from hundreds of metres below the sea to the vacuum of space.
They take readings from components such as fuel tanks, braking systems and oil systems on anything from jumbo jets to oil rigs and chemical plants, power stations, race and rally cars, and racing bikes.
Druck – the German word for pressure – employs around 900 people worldwide, with around 700 at its base in Groby, Leicestershire. Most recent accounts showed a turnover of £95.4 million.
Hawk racers Josh Owens and Charlie Nesbitt, who ride in Round 3 of the British Superbikes series at Donington Park this weekend, joined engineers at Druck HQ this week to see how its technology can translate into gains on the circuit.
The teams at both Druck and Hawk said the partnership was made in heaven, with the engineering business just a few miles from the Hawk headquarters at the Mallory Park race track in west Leicestershire.
Druck senior engineer Neil Sands is even part of the small Hawk team, travelling with it to races around the UK and using his expertise to check how the modified Honda CBR 1000 bikes – and their riders – are performing and where improvements can be made.
Mr Sands, who has been at Druck for 30 years, said: “Hawk is a small operation compared to Motorgp, World Superbikes or F1 but has the exact same need for accurate, reliable sensors on its bikes because they have to withstand such sharp pressures and vibrations.
“Druck did a little bit with them at the end of last year but this is the first full season with them.
“My job with Hawk Racing is to analyse all the data those sensors provide to tune the bikes – the better the data the better they can be optimised for the best performance.”
Druck global technology leader Jonny MacGregor – who is also a GT racing driver in the Britcar British Endurance Championship – said its sensors were used in “pretty much every plane up in the sky”.
He said: “It is our sensors making sure that everything is operating as it should be. Equally our components are used in a lot of military jets which work in the harshest of environments and a lot of the space rockets.
“We’re one of the few companies worldwide manufacturing piezo-resistive [a change in the electrical resistivity when mechanical strain is applied] high quality motorsport sensors from silicon wafers, into a finished product that can withstand the punishing environment of top tier motorsport.
“Our lightweight sensors provide accuracy and reliability and deliver race teams’ marginal gains, which on the circuit are critical.
“We hope this collaboration of two regional firms at the forefront of this industry will deliver a best-ever season for Hawk Racing on the British Superbike circuit.”
Hawk was started by Stuart Hicken – who now owns the Mallory race track – and is now owned and run by his son, team principal Steve Hicken, a former LCFC and Sheffield United youth player.
He said: “It’s great to have a company of such scale and expertise as Druck working with us and it helps that they are local too. The products speak for themselves.
“We use the data from their sensors in so many different ways – down to telling how the individual rider is performing. The information is invaluable.
“This is our 25th year in racing, making us the longest established team in British Superbikes – and we want this season to be one to remember. Adopting world-leading sensor technology from Druck, alongside our new Honda machinery and two talented riders, we believe we can make a big impact, and the collaboration is particularly special due to sharing the same regional base.”
