GEOFF Turnbull doesn’t seem to be listening.

A question goes unanswered as he taps and swipes on his mobile phone.

He’s sitting in a red leather chair searching the internet; there’s something on Youtube he’s keen to see.

Seconds of stillness go by.

At the point I begin to raise another question, the silence is broken, and it’s then I realise the quiet wasn’t any sign of ignorance.

Moreover, it was a moment of calm, contented contemplation.

As the video starts, a smile appears, and Mr Turnbull is bringing his handset to show me the footage.

He’s also answering that question with plentiful enthusiasm.

The recording is a re-run of the Ricoh Woodbine Mile horse race, which took place in Toronto, Canada.

On the screen, Mondialiste, the horse he owns and is trained by David O'Meara, leaves the starting gates, its jockey making sure his mount is tucked in at the back of the field.

As the commentator hurriedly lists the horses and their changing positions, the pack rounds the bend and comes together.

Mondialiste, however, seems to be floundering at the rear, with its path blocked by rivals, and entering the home straight, it remains last.

“Watch this”, urges Mr Turnbull, “watch this next bit.”

Then, suddenly, the horse begins to rouse, and, helped by a gap in the field, starts to make progress.

Others start to suffer as the heavy turf takes its toll, but Mondialiste is excelling, and as it hits the final furlong, the difference in class is marked.

Searing past its rivals, the horse bolts to victory, its triumph putting it in line for a place at the Kentucky Breeders’ Cup.

Mr Turnbull stops the video and walks back to his seat, that smile still etched on his face.

“Unbelievable”, he says, the grin growing wider.

“I’ve never seen anything like that, it was phenomenal.

“To take on the best in the world and beat them on their own turf is a fantastic feeling.

“We didn’t just beat them; we marmalized them.”

Such a sense of achievement is nothing new to Mr Turnbull; he is more than used to success.

He’s the chairman of GT Group, based in Peterlee, east Durham, which is renowned globally for making emission reduction control valves for diesel engines, including marine and construction vehicles, diggers and excavators.

It has different businesses designing and manufacturing products, including safety systems for transporting oil, gas and hazardous liquids, and special vehicle bodies for the mining industry.

Operating GT Emissions Systems, which oversees exhaust gas controls, it runs GT Project Engineering, which has bases in Consett, County Durham and Pallion, in Sunderland, and is known for marine work, such as loading systems for subsea cable laying.

Its Alpha Process Controls division specialises in work on emergency release couplings, which are used to move liquid nitrogen gas (LNG) on ships, while its Aldona Seals arm looks after hydraulic seals and rubber mouldings.

As we sit in the red chairs, Mr Turnbull tells me the company is also now trialling heat recovery systems for heavy goods vehicles, which take used energy and put it to further use, boosting efficiency and fuel economy.

The business has come a long way since its formation more than 30 years ago, and Mr Turnbull has seen it all.

Forming GT Group in the 1980s, he was already armed with experience garnered from time as an apprentice at Castrol Oil’s Hartlepool engineering division, and picked up further nous as a tool maker while at Peterlee’s Precision Engineering.

Since those early days, GT Group has grown and evolved, and the privately-owned company now employs about 300 staff.

A further 50 are due to be recruited over the next six months.

They will support an order book boasting work until at least 2020.

Success is breeding success.

More than two-and-a-half million of its valves are now used in vehicles, with 300,000 expected to be made this year and another 500,000 next year.

The company has also supplied 89 different engine platforms this year, with its Emissions Systems division exporting to 16 countries.

Alpha supplies goods to 60 territories.

“We have built a very strong foundation, we’re well run and we’re self-sufficient”, says Mr Turnbull.

“We’ve worked very hard to get to this point and there are millions of vehicles out there using our products.

“We are probably the biggest in the world in our field right now and work with a lot of big names.

“Scania, Volvo, Renault Trucks, Daimler, JCB, John Deere; they’re just some of the companies we supply to.

“But we are also a world leader in research and development; that is important to our growth.

“The day you stand still is the day you die in this business.

“We have the confidence of the people and are working on engines for 2020.

“When I get a customer, I like to make sure our services are so good that they are far better than any of our competitors.

“It has to be a competitive service from day one.”

As we talk, Mr Turnbull takes a call from a horse racing friend, keen to offer his congratulations, and that smile returns again.

Putting the phone down, he hands me a pair of safety glasses and we walk downstairs for a factory tour.

Inside the bowels of the business, machines whir and hum their various tunes, Mr Turnbull telling me he can sense within seconds how the plant is working just from the sound.

Bright blue floor markers guide the way as we pass workers in black uniforms, while a forklift truck turns and leaves the plant through a door at the far end.

We pass equipment and endless boxes of parts to reach a set of double doors.

Opening them, we’re greeted by the smell of new carpet.

This room, with space for a product model, rotating display cases, supplier checklist and a presentation area, is a new addition to the site.

For Mr Turnbull, it is a showcase for the company, a platform to drive home its competitive advantage.

It is also another example of how his passion remains undimmed, his will to excel still clear.

“I love what I do; it’s a pleasure to come to work”, he adds.

“My contentment is seeing the company grow.

“We are a family company, we are family orientated and we have families working here.

“I love the people here and the support from the area has been fantastic.

“Our achievement is phenomenal and we are known worldwide.

“I’m not going to be here forever, but the company will continue to go from strength to strength.”