Autosport Plus

Motorsport's hidden champion

Austrian engineering giant AVL RACING has all the skills and clout to take on Formula 1 teams at their own game, so why does it prefer to remain in the shadows as a supplier?

Engineering

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An argument lifted from a Rev W Awdry book this author read as a boy came to mind during a recent tour of the Austrian engineering powerhouse AVL. It goes like this:

"I remember going to London. Do you know it? The station is called King's Cross."

"King's Cross? London's Euston, everyone knows that!"

"Rubbish, London's Paddington. I know, I worked there!"

Visitors to AVL's 3km campus in the heart of Graz will have some sympathy with that confusion. The company bills itself as the world's largest independent supplier of powertrain development, simulation and testing services, but that only scratches the surface.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.