HONORARY BGA MEMBER: PIET VAN ZYL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Celebrating Piet Van Zyl

Honorary Member of the British Gear Association

The British Gear Association is pleased to announce that Piet van Zyl has been awarded Honorary Membership, in recognition of his long-standing contribution to gearbox and transmission engineering across motorsport, automotive, off-road, and aerospace applications.

With a career spanning several decades in gear and gearbox design, Piet has combined sound theoretical understanding with practical engineering experience, gaining respect within the international power transmission community.

A Career Built on Technical Experience

Piet van Zyl is a Transmission Design Engineer with broad experience across a range of industries, including significant involvement in Formula 1 gear and gearbox design, where performance, reliability, and efficiency are critical. Alongside motorsport, his work has included:

1. Off-road vehicle gearbox design

2. Quiet gear design for road vehicles

3. Aerospace gearbox applications

4. Electric vehicle (EV) gearbox design over the past seven years that includes 2 and 4 speed gearboxes

   His EV experience covers gearboxes for racing, passenger vehicles, and heavy trucks, using spur gears—typically for racing applications—and helical gears where refinement and noise reduction are important considerations

5. Introducing wire cutting and manufacture of spur gears at McLaren Internation (now McLaren Mastercard F1 Team) in 1995, making as many as 1000 change gears per year.

   
   

Comprehensive Gearbox Design Capability

A key strength of Piet’s work is his ability to deliver complete gearbox designs, covering the full development cycle, including:

1. Gear macro- and micro-geometry design

2. Shaft and bearing specification

3. Gearbox casing design

4. Manufacturing detail drawings

5. Gear hob design specifications where required

   
   

For spur gear applications, he also supports wire cutting and subsequent gear grinding, selecting manufacturing routes appropriate to the performance and production requirements of each project.

This end-to-end approach helps ensure that designs are both technically robust and practical to manufacture for their intended operating environment.

Consultancy Practice: PVZ Gears Ltd

Piet has established PVZ Gears Ltd in 2005, a specialist consultancy providing gear and gearbox design services across a range of applications. As part of this work, he collaborated with Dontyne Systems, suppliers of advanced gear design and analysis software, combining modern digital tools with hands-on engineering experience.

To support efficient design and collaboration with clients, Piet has invested in SolidWorks Premium, including kinematic modelling and finite element analysis (FEA), enabling effective data exchange and streamlined development processes.

Influences and Engineering Perspective

Throughout his career, Piet has often acknowledged the influence of mentors and teachers who helped shape his approach to engineering problem-solving.

One such influence was Ray Hicks, inventor of the flexible pin for planetary gear sets, who worked with Piet from the late 1980s. Ray was known for his pragmatic view of learning through experience, often reminding younger engineers: “When you climb a ladder and you get to the top, you are going to fall. You may as well climb it as fast as possible, so you can find out what to do not to fall next time.”

Another lasting influence came from Piet’s university studies, where Professor Haarhoff, who taught fluid mechanics, encouraged patience and perspective when tackling complex technical problems. His advice was simple but effective:

“When you have been working all day on a problem with no result, then just leave it and your brain will solve it overnight.”

These principles reflect an approach to engineering based on curiosity, persistence, and experience.

Fun fact:

Here's a photo of the fifth gear ratio that Piet designed and made at McLaren that was out of the Race Box of Kimi Raikkonen that won the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2001. This was presented to Piet as his leaving present from McLaren Colleagues. How cool is that?

Recognition by the British Gear Association

Honorary Membership of the British Gear Association is awarded to individuals who have made a meaningful contribution to the field of gears and power transmission. Piet van Zyl’s career reflects this through his technical work, consultancy activities, and engagement within the wider engineering community.

The Association is pleased to welcome Piet as an Honorary Member.

Written by:

Lynne Gough, BGA Admin