CMHF News:
TORONTO ( August 16, 2016) – A major player in motorsport that quietly supplies high performance technology to winners in just about every racing series around the world, Canada’s Multimatic Motorsports Inc., is this years’ Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame’s (CMHF) International Inductee.
The Markham, Ont., company played a lead role in Ford’s triumphant return to the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, developing and producing the No. 68 Chip Ganassi Team USA Ford GT that Sébastien Bourdais, Joey Hand, and Dirk Müller drove to a class victory in June.
“When the Ford Motor Company needed a partner to develop its GT program for its return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it turned to Multimatic and went on to conquer the world,” said CMHF chairman Hugh Scully.
“But it’s not just Ford: Racers across the globe depend on Multimatic’s ingenuity and expertise to win races on all continents and in many different categories, including Formula One.”
Built using Canadian know-how and developed into a racing force through the experience of CMHF member Scott Maxwell of Toronto, the new Ford GT scored the GT LME Pro class win in its first entry at Le Mans. The win came exactly 50 years after the Ford GT40 Mark II driven by legends Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon took top honours in the 1966 edition of the famous race.
While the high-profile Ford GT program hogged the spotlight at Multimatic, the company’s involvement in racing spreads far and wide, with its carbon fibre components and suspension elements, such as Dynamic Suspension Spool Valve (DSSV™) dampers, being the product of choice for countless winners on all continents.
“Multimatic is a low-key company that usually works behind the scenes to help others find success, so basking in the spotlight isn’t something we do very often,” said Larry Holt, Multimatic vice-president of engineering.
“It is an enormous honour to be inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, and it’s something we will share proudly with our employees worldwide.”
In addition to the Ford GT, Multimatic also produced the track-focused Aston Martin Vulcan, which interestingly is based on the Aston Martin One-77 it also built for the British auto maker. That partnership also saw it help create the Aston Martin DB10s used in the James Bond SPECTRE film.
The company also has a core business of supplying engineering and high-volume automotive components to manufacturers around the world, ranging from suspension and closure systems, to carbon fibre products and complex mechatronic devices.
Multimatic was also named Toronto Star’s Wheels Automotive Newsmaker of 2015.
The 2016 CMHF Induction Ceremony presented by MAV TV and Lucas Oil will be held on Oct. 22, 2016 at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in downtown Toronto. The Canadian inductees for 2016 are rally driver Antoine L’Estage, stock car racers Peter Gibbons and David Whitlock, and motorcycle racer Jordan Szoke and drag racer John Edgar Petrie.