Ricardo Engineering Consultants, or Ricardo as it is often more simply known, is a publicly listed company named after its founder Sir Harry Ricardo, that creates designs for specialist or advanced combustion engines used particularly in the automotive and aerospace industries. It is a specialist and does not mass-produce engines, although many of its designs are quietly incorporated into the production of well-known, high-volume brands.
Company
The company was one of several founded by Sir Harry Ricardo; it was incorporated on 30 June 1927 at Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England. Its main facilities are now at:
- Shoreham-by-Sea (head office) [1]
- Royal Leamington Spa
- Cambridge
- North America (Chicago and Detroit Technical Centers)
- Germany
- Czech Republic
Notable designs
- the Comet diesel engine with its IDI diesel combustion system. First used in AEC London Buses and the 1935 Citroen Rosalie passenger car, its pre-combustion system is still used in today's diesel engines and has been improved over the decades
- gas turbine Barostat fuel supply systems for jet engines, in conjunction with Sir Frank Whittle.
- the draft sensing three point linkage used by tractors. Ricardo's innovation was to automate it so that it is only operational when moving.
- investigations into the Stirling engine for fuel-efficiency - commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy in 1978, it has scope for use in hybrid engines
- the Voyager's Teledyne Continental aircraft engine, modified to fly around the world non-stop without refuelling.
- direct fuel-injection systems for aircraft and automobile engines.
- transmissions and engines for motor sport and speed records, notably the consistently-successful Audi 24 Hours of Le Mans team and the JCB Dieselmax diesel land speed record holder and the DSG gearbox of the Bugatti Veyron.
