Reputation is a powerful thing, and SBD Motorsport's is as strong as any of its famed Vauxhall XE race components. Things have come a long way for SBD since the days when it was associated with all things go-faster Griffin though, with the company flexing its development muscles in the direction of the Hayabusa engine and most importantly for blue oval fans, the Duratec.

We've been championing the Duratec for a while now and SBD has been focussing its expertise in recent times to devastating effect. So it's fair to say if you're attempting any kind of motorsport or simply need a wild creation fuelled correctly, SBD should be one of the first places you turn. The man behind the brand is Steve Broughton, who set up on his own in the early '90s: "I originally worked at British Aerospace, then the ordinary motor trade before I went rallying, helping Dick (Hulbert, who still works at SBD now) in an Escort," Steve explains. "The motor trade was fading so I thought, 'where can I go from here?' and motorsport was obvious. I made nothing for about the first six months, but then I did work for a club driver with an Astra: I built him an engine and he started beating works cars! I then went on to work for Opel teams - doing club and works - until I got a big deal just as Opel pulled the plug on it."

We’ll give you the details of how SBD have managed to get to the headline figure of 304 bhp (with more to come!) in next month’s Classic Ford, but if you fancy 9000 rpm of naturally-aspirated blue oval action, then SBD is only too happy to provide everything you could need — with kits varying in tuning severity available.

Upgrade kits for XEs start at 225 bhp and rise to a balls-out full race 292-295 bhp, while the Duratecranges from 214 bhp to the mighty 304 of the latest developments. Of course, all manner of upgraded parts are available off the shelf as individual items, from conrods, pistons and camshafts (developed in conjunction with Kent Cams), to steel cranks, head gaskets and MBE management systems. “We try and carry enough stock for the Vauxhall and Duratec,” says Steve, as these are the motorsport bread and butter, “as motorsport often requires the stuff tomorrow.”

Headline Figures

Obviously, motorsport makes up the majority of SBD’s business, with a lot of components being shipped straight out to trade customers — whether it’s rally, sprint or circuit, there aren’t many cars out there that aren’t running at least one SBD-developed part. “My aim is to go out and show what we’ve developed and what we can do,” says Steve. Even more impressively, while Steve believes development of the XE has gone as far as possible — he literally doesn’t know how it can be improved on as an all-round package — he reckons there’s still more to come with the Duratec, which could see the headline figure pushing 320 bhp plus. But more on that next month...

One thing’s for sure, SBD has come a long way since the days when Steve started off in his garage and, after a couple of moves, has settled into its unit in Surbiton, Surrey. With only five members of staff, there’s still the close-knit workshop feel that belies the scale on which SBD operates. Product development is all dealt with in-house, and only shipped out for production en masse: “The main aim is to make everything affordable for the customer,” says Steve. “I’m not into making everything bespoke, as I want the customer to be able to buy off the shelf. Reliability has to be first though — people usually end up with an engine so reliable they don’t have to come back for more parts.”

Cleaning Up

We like flashy machines at Classic Ford, and on top of the constant research and development into the XE, Duratec, Hayabusa and induction, SBD’s recent investment in an injector cleaner allows it to offer customers a cleaning and testing service for £18 an injector. As well as providing a valuable service for customers, the Asnu ‘injector diagnostic testing and servicing system’ enables SBD to test new injectors; comparing brands for flow and spray characteristics to optimise atomisation in the engine.