Protex builds on Le Mans success

Protex in Redditch is pitching for increased motorsport sales of its stainless-steel 'CatchBolt' fasteners, which have equipped the winning cars in the Le Mans 24 Hours for four straight years. Audi Sport and Team Bentley specified the UK-made devices to secure the composite nose, tail and centre bodywork sections of their sports-prototypes. Measuring 100x45x18mm, the hand-operated fasteners exert a positive clamping force with assured location in all three planes

Aug 28, 2003, 8:55 PM

Their initial closing action draws a mating keeper towards the main body of the fastener. Continued operation of the lever pushes a square-section, spring-loaded bolt under the keeper, which acts on the bolt's tapered profile to ensure positive retention in all three axes. This allows the racecar's compound-curved panels to be secured simply and easily, without any need for supplementary location points.

The stainless-steel version provides an ultimate strength of 600kgf in the longitudinal and lateral axes and 900kgf in the vertical plane. This is ample to withstand the high cornering forces and extreme aerodynamic loads generated by the 320kph endurance racing sportscars.