Sealing relationships across a diverse range of industries

Growing numbers of customers are coming to appreciate the cost and time savings to be reaped from specifying seals that will last longer and protect engineering components more effectively, under even under the most arduous operating conditions.

Delivering bespoke seal designs for challenging applications where high performance, reduced size and weight saving are key has allowed Race-Tec to become a leader in this field. Today its products are specified not only by big names in Formula 1, Formula-E, and NASCAR, but its reputation for high performance under challenging conditions has seen other industrial sectors take notice.

Some of these new fields can be seen as a natural and time-honoured trickle-down of Formula 1 technologies into other areas of engineering, but in other cases it has seen new customers asking Race-Tec if it can manufacture seals with alternative performance characteristics to meet the needs of entirely different applications. 

As a result, the company has an expanding portfolio of products for sectors as diverse as aerospace, military, power generation and even high performance seals for domestic appliances including food processors. 

The Race-Tec solution is often a dynamically loaded, self-compensated rotary shaft seal that uses an integrated PTFE liner as the only interface with the shaft. This sealing lip design reduces surface wear and running friction while accommodating significant radial and angular misalignment.

Race-Tec’s hybrid elastomer seal design allows high surface speeds to be attained with reduced power losses. Produced by forming and chemically bonding a layer of PTFE onto the seal lip, the hybrid seal retains the inherent flexibility of the elastomer and combines this with the low friction performance of PTFE.

All Race-Tec products are designed and manufactured in-house in the UK where the company has invested heavily in FEA simulation and production technology.  Using its non-linear FEA capability, Race-Tec can simulate new seal designs to optimise their performance and deliver efficient and effective sealing solutions. The company has recently invested in new compression moulding machinery to produce larger components. 

All equipment is controlled using state-of-the-art technology, and maintained through planned preventative maintenance to assure continuation of supply. The company operates a BSI/ISO 9001:2008 quality management system to ensure that all products are given unique batch references, ensuring full batch traceability of manufactured products. 

Whether the requirement is for a reduction in frictional power losses, resistance to pressure or vacuum retention, reductions in size and weight, high angularity CV Boots or precision elastomeric components, Race-Tec says it has the ability to rapidly provide tailor made sealing solutions to meet the most challenging demands of industrial applications.