Motorsport firm lands the Italian Job

A Coventry motorsport company has completed a landmark deal to break into the Italian market.

Lifeline Fire & Safety Systems has secured a deal worth more than £50,000 to supply fire suppression and safety equipment to Italian manufacturer Fiat Abarth for their R5 rally programme.

The deal was completed as the company attended the Professional Motorsport World trade show in Cologne.

Lifeline specialises in providing fire suppression and safety equipment for cars used in world motorsport, including F1 and the WRC.

Its latest system was on-board the car that won the Monte Carlo Rally in January, driven by reigning WRC champion Sébastien Ogier.

Based in Charter Avenue Industrial Estate, the engineering company employs 28 people at its 16,000 sq ft premises and exports to 43 countries around the world.

Working closely with the Motorsport Industry Association (MIA), in 2007 Lifeline diversified into defence – gaining a number of contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence.

In the past 12 months, Lifeline have developed two new fire safety systems in-line with new regulations and managing director Jim Morris says this has given the company the edge over its competitors.

He said: “We have left our competitor base standing and they can’t keep up with what we’re doing.

“Fiat Abarth were really impressed with us and our engineering and design capabilities, they are actually talking about a further order of units in March.

“Motorsport stimulates development in high-performance engineering, allowing us to push the boundaries in what we do.”

Lifeline had received support funding through the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s international trade team to attend the Cologne event.

While at the show, Lifeline also finalised a deal with Hyundai, adding to its impressive customer list including Aston Martin, Mercedes Benz, Audi and BMW.

Brian Mountford, International Trade Adviser at the chamber, said: “I have been working with Jim for some time and I’m delighted that the funding we were able to give to Lifeline has helped with this milestone deal for them.”