Formed in April 2000, SWR Motorsport LTD., a family run business, are the sole United Kingdom
and Ireland agents for SADEV gearboxes and their components. SWR Motorsport can offer its
customers advice and information and full technical support on all the SADEV products and
their components with the full back up of the SADEV factory.
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SWR Motorsport is Steve Waudby - Going Way Back
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Starting from 1977 Steve Waudby was involved in racing Formula Fords for four years and had 18
wins in this time, designing a new suspension for his car he then quickly triumphed with 6 more
wins. The next ten years followed with many more successes including the Honda CRX Championship,
Renault Turbo UK Championship and Clio European and UK Cup.
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UK & European Successes
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In becoming a partner and Team Manager in Harlow Motorsport Steve was able to develop the
Renault Clio further to allow the likes of Kenny Brack, Jan Nilsson and John Bintcliffe and many
others to enjoy successes in the UK series. Engineering and testing the difficult Renault 19 touring
car for Nigel Albon in 1994 with a class win was another triumph. Steve also has travelled throughout
Europe driving, advising and preparing race cars for single seaters, circuit saloons, single make
championships and many different formulas.
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World Wide Successes
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In 1995 the team travelled to Thailand with their design for engines, suspension components and
SADEV gearboxes for Volvo in the Thailand Touring Car Series achieving great success once again.
Under the Malaysian flag the team supported Nigel Albon and Hamman in the Ferrari 355 in Sicily
in 1997 and again in Hong Kong in 1998 at the Macau Grand Prix meeting. A second place was won
in Sicily competing against other Ferraris that had come from all around the world to compete at
this prestigious event and a commendable third place in Macau despite a deficit of 200 horse power
and competing against GT2 cars.
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2000:
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In April 2000 Steve started his own venture, SWR Motorsport, which serviced and rebuilt the
engines and gearboxes for Renault UK for the new state-of-the—art Formula Renault 2000 and
Renault Clio172 in the 2000/2001 season.
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2001:
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The partnership continued with Renault to look after and service the Fomrula Renault and
Renault Clio gearboxes as they use the SADEV sequential units. A partnership also started with Team
Jota for Steve to engineer and driver coach a two car team with the formidable Renault Clio V6 and
to race in Europe as the teams / drivers aspirations are to drive prototype cars in the future and
hopefully to race at Le Mans. We had great success throughout the year even with the drivers
relative inexperience and one of the highlights was a 3rd place at Spa with the arena of professional
drivers that were competing that year.
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2002:
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| The Renault partnership continued with the cars increasing speed year after year.
Steve continued the partnership with Team Jota and took on a new challenge with one of the
teams aspirations a Pilbeam SR2 prototype to be run in the European series and very nearly won
the championship in the first year.
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2003:
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The Renault partnership continued as the past years have been so successful with the
Formula Renault and Clio UK series. Steve also continued a 3rd year partnership with Team Jota,
engineering the Pilbeam SR2 hoping to win the championship in 2003. But even though there were
wins throughout the year, this was not the most competitive year and it came down to the last race
at Spa. The team drivers were winning comfortably but a mechanical problem arose and did not
finish the final race, this resulted in a second place in the championship. An association with RAW
Motorsport was formed to engineer and driver coach their Renault Spider race can Robbie Watts was
the driver and team owner. Robbie won most of his races and won the championship. Steve found
time to engineer a Ginetta for Alex Liversley.
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2004:
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Saw a continuation with the highly successful Formula Renault and Renault Clio for the UK.
Steve accepted another engineering challenge with Team Jota. The team bought a new Zytec LMP1
prototype car which took them to Le Mans. This car out qualified one of the works Audi R8 cars at
Silverstone and also the Japanese run Audi which won Le Mans in 2004, a good start with the LMP1.
Steve went into Asia to engineer a Porsche 996 to be raced around the notorious Macau circuit for
Nigel Albon. Nigel had not competed for a couple of years so there was a lot to do but came away
with a well deserved 5th place within 6 tenths of the winner.
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| 2005:
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| The fifth year as a Renault partner looking after the Fonnula Renault and Renault Clio
gearbox units. Steve engineered the Porsche 996 for Porsche Singapore with Nigel Albon as the
driver. Nigel was very competitive throughout the season finishing 5th in the championship.
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| 2006:
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| The 6th year with Formula Renault and Renault Clio. Steve went to Asia to take on the best
from around the globe with the brand new Porsche 997 GT3 car with Nigel Albon at the wheel
sponsored by Vertu. Nigel had problems working with the new braking system and the sequential
gearbox but still managed to get a podium finish, he managed 5th in the championship.
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| 2007:
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| The 7th year association with Renault brought a new Renault Clio to the UK circuits with a
new Renault / SADEV 6 speed sequential gearbox, with the Formula Renault body update.
The contract for the Vertu Porsche 997 GT3 car was in its second year. With Nigel Albon behind the
wheel once again he got to grips with the car and again stood on the podi»um. The championship came
down to the last race at Macau of all places and the battle for the top four were all up for grabs.
Nigel finished the race in 3rd place and fourth in the championship. SWR took on the support of a
new championship in the UK called V de V, a sport prototype car all with Honda K20A engines and
with two thirds of the field using a SADEV 6 speed sequential called the SL75-14.
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| 2008:
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| SWR continued working with Renault UK supporting the Formula Renault and Clio. The series
going from strength to strength.The majority of the cars using the SADEV gearbox with great success
Some ventured into Europe to take on the best and came out on top. Great racing.
SWR continued its expansion and Matt Waudby relieved Steves work load by assisting with technical
information and running the workshop. Keeping up with the trends and demands of customers
SADEV introduced a new gearbox range.
Steve was busy in Asia once again and accepted a new challenge with Sri Lanka driver Dilantha
Malagamuwa who has raced all over the world in Formula to saloon GTs. There was drama and
successes, mostly in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia and the Asia Super Cup series when he added to
his trophy tally. Competing in the prestigious 12 hour race of the year in Malaysia with two other
drivers Tunku Hammam and Melvyn Choo driving a Porsche Cup S, took on the likes of the RSR's and
led the race for the first 6.5 hours. They then ran into mechanical problems, were out for 25 hours but
still came in 12th. Steve went to Japan to engineer a BMW in the World Touring Cars. Melvyn did
Macua at the end of the year to gain more experience. In Japan he equipped himself well in the 2nd
race running with likes of Menu. SWR worked on their good relationships with their Chinese customers
new and old and the SADEV name was becoming recognised as a good reliable product, resulting in
increased sales. Steve visited Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macau and more, meeting
old friends and new customers.
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| 2009:
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| 9th year with Renault UK, Formula Renault and Clio. The Sadev gearbox continues to give the
drivers the relability and peace of mind they deserve. A good NEC show starts the year off right plus
supplying Lotus Cars with a sequential gearbox for their 211 race car. SWR supplied the sequential
gearbox for the Nemesis built by Bowler Off Road and the Wildcat vehicle by QT Services.
Whilst Steve spent 6 months of the year in Asia. SWR continued to expand in the UK assuring things ran
smoothly in his absence Steve again engineered for Dilantha and planned the year with Porsche Asia
Cup, Aston Martin N24 and his Malaysian Super Cup series, plus a few GT3 races. But after the first race
with Porsche in China at the Shanghai International Circuit, speed and times perfect, sponsorship failed.
Decisions had to be made and it was decided to only race the Aston Martin and the Asian Super Series.
Leading the championship all through the year with a 12 point lead, Dilantha was pulled at the Sepang
Circuit for a driving infringement, points were deducted and afterwards he could not get back to race
form. So despite lots of podiums and fastest lap times he finished 2nd. Saving money in the Malaysian
12 Hour Race an old Porsche Cup car was used with an increased engine HP. Ready this time to take on
the big boys, drivers Dilantha, Nigel Albon, Michael Lee ran 3rd for over 9 hours catching the leading
works BMW's. 0ne of the drivers buzzed the engine on the 3rd lap of his stint. What a finish to the year.
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| 2010:
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| SWR\SADEV exhibited at the NEC Show Birmingham for the 9th year. Resulting high level sales
indicate that the market may be improving or that it is that the SWR/Sadev partnership is the way
forward.
SADEV produce a new 7 speed gearbox for the new Formula Renault 2010. This is a great step forward
for both Renault and SADEV.
The SWR team are designing and manufacturing new mounting plates to cater for all new customer
requirernents. SWR now have a great range to match the many engines to gearboxes.
Steve has taken on a partner in Asia, Alan Chin, and formed a company SWR Motorsport Asia. Alan has
long term experience within the motor sport industry from running his own race team to building cars.
So a great strength for Steve in Asia. Watch this space for updates.
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