Ricardo Transmission Helps BP-Ford to Victory

VAN BUREN TWP., Mich., Dec. 14, 2006 -- With a completely new transmission design for the 2006 World Rally Championship (WRC) season, developed and manufactured by Ricardo in collaboration with M Sport, the BP- Ford team secured the 2006 WRC manufacturer's championship with victory at the Propecia Rally New Zealand and completed the season with an outright win at the Wales Rally GB. This success further extended M Sport and BP-Ford's unique record of scoring manufacturer's points in each of the last 76 WRC events, an impressive achievement given the introduction of a completely new car and transmission for the 2006 season.

The Ricardo transmissions used by the Focus RS World Rally Cars of the BP- Ford team were designed and developed in partnership with M Sport and were based on a clean-sheet design intended to conform both to 2006 and 2007 regulations. Key objectives set for the construction of the new transmission included a lightweight, reliable and durable design; the latter being particular consideration for the 2007 season when regulations dictate that transmissions must be capable of use in two complete events without service.

The initial competition debut of the transmission occurred at the Rally Australia at the tail end of the 2005 season, following extensive prototype development on dynamometers at Ricardo, as well as in-vehicle testing by M Sport.

"We were particularly pleased at the way this transmission has performed from first installation through to completion of the season at the Wales Rally GB," said Mark Barge, director of high performance transmissions systems for Ricardo. "We have worked throughout the season with our M Sport colleagues to ensure that this level of performance and reliability was maintained at all times."

With the BP-Ford team having secured the 2006 manufacturer's championship and achieving outright wins in eight of the 16 events of the 2006 season without a single transmission failure, Ricardo and M Sport are focused on the 2007 season.

"Having completed the first full season of competition with this new unit, we are extremely pleased with the robustness and performance of this design," said Barge. "But in competition transmissions there is always some room for further optimization and we will be working with the M Sport team through the coming weeks to gain further performance advantage for the 2007 season. The closeness of our working relationship with M Sport is the key to ongoing success."

With its North American headquarters in Van Buren Twp., Mich., Ricardo - a world-leading vehicle system and powertrain technology provider for automotive manufacturers, heavy-duty manufacturers and tier one suppliers - has been providing value through innovation and technology for 100 years.

Ricardo is the premium global deep-content engineering and management consulting partner for automotive, commercial vehicle and related industry sectors. The company provides complete engineering services from strategy through product concept, design release and validation, and all phases of the product lifecycle. Ricardo technical expertise lies in powertrain and driveline, vehicle engineering, hybrid and fuel cell technologies, controls and electronics, niche volume manufacturing and advanced simulation software.

Ricardo is committed to excellence and industry leadership in people, technology and knowledge. A public company based in the U.K., Ricardo plc posted sales of $272 million in fiscal year 2005 and is a part of the FTSE techMark 100 index - a group of innovative technology companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.ricardo.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Electronic images of the Focus RS World Rally Car may be obtained from www.media.ford.com.