Our History
1920
The company founded as Automotive Products by Edward Boughton, Willie Emmott & Denis Brock began in Berners Street in London in 1920 with the purpose of importing components from the USA to maintain ex-military vehicles which were adapted for civilian use in this country after WW1.
The business soon expanded to manufacture components for the fast-growing British motor industry.
1928
Acquired a license for the manufacture & sale of Lockheed Hydraulic Braking System forming the Subsidiary company Lockheed Hydraulic Brake Company signalling the start of brake manufacture.
1931
Under the Borg&Beck brand, AP went into the manufacture of clutches.in the same year the first block of Tachbrook Road, Leamington Spa plant was opened.
1938
Nuvalori, driving an Auto Union fitted with AP Lockheed hydraulic brake wins the British GP.
1956
AP supplied an astonishing 50% of the brakes made in the UK & 85% of the clutches.
1958
10 Million clutch assemblies produced by Borg&Beck division at the Leamington Spa plant.
1962
AP opens its Banbury division as a spares depot and it’s Speke Precision Products factories.
1962
AP developed the 4 speed automatic transmission.
It was reported in 1965 “AP was possible best known for its Lockheed brakes and Borg & Beck clutches etc. So when in 1965 at the Earls Court Motor Show, this ingenious system was announced, it caused quite a stir throughout the motoring world.
Considered by many to be the most outstanding technical development in the 70 year history of the British motor industry at the time, this remarkable AP automatic transmission for small cars is not merely an enviable achievement for design and development engineer but is a complete break-through in volume production engineering and assembly techniques.
1967
Automotive Product (AP) creates Competition Products (CP) Division, to deal with motorsport and performance enquiries.
1967
Competition Product Division’s first Grand Prix clutch victory took place and the 1967 Dutch GP at Zandvoort in a Lotus driven by Jim Clark.
1970
The Leamington Spa site expands to 70 acres.
1970
Automotive Product re-brands Competition Products to AP Racing.
1971
AP Racing’s very first grand prix win with brakes and clutches was the Ferrari 312B driven by Mario Andretti in the South African GP at Kyalami in March.
1975
First outboard caliper used in F1 – CP2561 balance braking.
1983
AP Racing produces the very first Ø7¼” (184mm), F1 Carbon Clutch.
1984
250th GP success at the Austrian GP, won by Niki Lauda in a McLaren.
1985
AP Racing sells the first Ø140 (5½”) carbon clutch CP3418 to Williams GP.
1986
AP Racing’s Ø7¼” Clutches win Design Council Award & Automotive products was bought by the BBA Group.
1989
AP Racing’s very first OEM Road car project – Lotus Carlton brakes.
1990
AP Racing moves from the Leamington Spa site to a purpose built 6600m² factory in Coventry.
1991
Officially opened March 6th by the Duke of Kent.
1993
AP Racing first to introduce a range of internally liquid cooled calipers for Nascar and Touring car and Rally applications.
1999
BMW - Le Mans Victory.
One amazing race victory came at Le Mans in 1999 when our braking system fitted to the BMW was the first time a brake had required no change of disc and pads during the 24 hour race.
2000
500th GP success at the Spanish GP, won by Mika Hakkinen in a McLaren.
2000
AP Racing Division is bought by Brembo.
2001
First Pedal Box designed added to hydraulic Actuation range.
2004
AP Racing changes its logo.
2006
AP Racing supplied the braking system to the World Record holding JCB Dieselmax, The streamliner set the Land Speed Record for diesel-powered cars, achieving a stunning 350.097 mph (563.418 kph). The braking system was designed to slow the vehicle down from 200mph to 0.
2007
AP Racing launches Radi-CAL™
AP Racing manufactures its first Radi-CAL™ caliper for F3. This break from traditional design concepts has allowed AP Racing to lead the way in brake caliper design and manufacture, producing over 90 different variants to date for a cross selection of motorsport, OEM and Performance road categories. Radi-CAL™ enabled AP Racing to take a fresh look at how the design envelope could be used and based its qualities around making calipers lighter, stiffer and run cooler, therefore making them more aesthetic to the eye.
2009
Expands Coventry HQ to a second building, increasing area to 11,100m².
2012
AP Racing supplies the “Very first Forged” OEM calipers in to the global automotive market, fitted to HSV’s Gen F platform.
2013
AP Racing introduces its first HPK Forged Radi-CAL™ caliper to its upgrade product range.
2014
750th GP success at the Chinese GP, won by Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes.
2014
Launches its latest range of Forged Radi-CAL™ brake calipers, PRO 5000 R at the SEMA (Las Vegas) and PMWE (KÖLN) Shows.
2016
AP Racing introduces WR2, Generation 2 Forged HPK Radi-CAL™ calipers to its upgrade product range.
2018
Further expansion of the Coventry HQ to include a 3rd building increase site size to 15,000m².
